Georgia’s governor repeatedly ignored advice from the state’s top health official and withheld critical details about the pandemic’s toll in favor of easing restrictions on businesses, reporter Alan Judd found after examining 15,000 pages of emails that took eight months to obtain. ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
A Chicago police officer who was captured on video bragging about killing someone was assigned to a team designed to improve the department’s relationship with the community, a team reported. CBS CHICAGO
The Texas attorney general has refused to release text messages about attendance at a pro-Trump rally that later turned into the insurrection at the Capitol. Five Texas news outlets have banned together to push for the release of the texts and to review the agency’s open records practices. THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS/HOUSTON CHRONICLE
California regulators got more resources and tools to crackdown on environmental hazards, but enforcement is still lax, Janet Wilson reported. DESERT SUN/PROPUBLICA
Officials vowed to improve an Oklahoma jail a decade ago, but instead the jail has a death rate more than double the national average and six of its officers have been charged with misconduct since October, Brianna Bailey reported. THE FRONTIER
America’s largest coal power plant dumped toxins in Georgia and many who lived nearby fell ill, but the company has deployed lobbyists and disinformation to dodge billions in environmental cleanup costs, Max Blau reported. GEORGIA HEALTH NEWS/PROPUBLICA
Harvard largely declined to include the 20th century in the university’s study of its history with slavery, so student reporter Simon J. Levien detailed Harvard’s numerous run-ins with the KKK. THE HARVARD CRIMSON
Texas legislators want to change state law to require mental hospitals to be more transparent after reporter Alex Stuckey found almost nonexistent oversight put those in the state’s care in danger. HOUSTON CHRONICLE
South Carolina health officials vowed to untangle a bureaucratic web preventing some from accessing vaccines, yet the state paid more than $100,000 for its own system that several key providers say they won’t use or didn’t know it existed, Sam Ogozalek reported. THE ISLAND PACKET
A Miami commissioner recommended his politically-connected friend who had just gotten out of federal prison for a management job at a taxpayer-funded redevelopment agency, Joey Flechas and Nicholas Nehamas reported. She is now under criminal investigation for her time spent at the agency. MIAMI HERALD
Thousands of people in Jackson, Miss., were without water for weeks after a storm because of an outdated system that regularly and predictably fails the people who depend on it, Anna Wolfe reported. MISSISSIPPI TODAY
Federal prosecutors charged the former head of a massive homeless shelter network in New York with bribery a month after reporter Amy Julia Harris exposed his history of sexual abuse and financial misconduct. NEW YORK TIMES
Leading up to a massive Labor Day wildfire, an Oregon utility didn’t preemptively cut power to communities though weather conditions surpassed the dangerous thresholds set in the utility’s own emergency plan, Ted Sickinger reported. THE OREGONIAN
The family of a Black student in a Maine school district says administrators rebuffed her concern that a teacher used a racial slur in the classroom, Rachel Ohm reported. PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
A South Carolina councilman’s criminal past should have barred him from holding public office. Yet after he was suspended over the issue, he continued to collect government pay and charge taxpayers for his travel, Avery G. Wilks and Travis Jenkins reported. THE POST AND COURIER/THE NEWS & REPORTER
A former Virginia Parole Board chairwoman skirted board rules to cut short supervision requirements for more than 100 people without contacting their parole officers, Mark Bowes and Patrick Wilson reported. RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
Utah lawmakers have known for decades that dozens of schools would collapse in an earthquake, but have taken little action, Courtney Tanner reported. The state doesn’t even know which schools are the most dangerous, a problem one former lawmaker said was a deliberate choice to avoid liability. THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Before falsely claiming that a Black newspaper carrier threatened his life, a newly elected Washington sheriff had no fewer than two other off-duty run-ins with alleged suspects that drew a priority response from law enforcement, Lewis Kamb reported. SEATTLE TIMES
Minnesota lawmakers are pushing to end private hospitals’ ability to use the state as a collection agency for medical debt after reporter Marissa Evans reported on how the system harmed people and didn’t require a court order or judgment. STAR TRIBUNE
South Carolina law enforcement hired a man to solicit sex acts for weeks from massage parlor workers, despite signs of human trafficking, David Weissman reported. Authorities charged taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars for the investigation. THE SUN NEWS
Florida’s governor, a close Trump ally, swears that contract tracing is ineffective in combating COVID-19. Yet his administration paid a hefty no-bid contract to a startup co-founded by the son of a Palm Beach billionaire Trump donor, Steve Contorno reported. TAMPA BAY TIMES
A Florida lead-smelting company for years exposed workers to toxic levels of lead in the air, leaving them vulnerable to serious health risks, a team reported. Executives moved slowly to fix faulty mechanical systems and even offered bonuses to workers who kept lead levels in their blood low. TAMPA BAY TIMES
The latest twist in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s widening scandals was first exposed by the local newspaper: His administration prioritized COVID-19 testing for people close to the governor, including his relatives, Brendan J. Lyons reported. TIMES UNION
A committee to reduce Chicago’s crime during a year of historically high violence, impaneled by the mayor, met only once in six months — and it was in secret, Lakeidra Chavis reported. THE TRACE
Oregon state officials launched an investigation into a Portland police commander after reporter Tess Riski revealed the officer urged residents to vote out a district attorney to reduce crime. WILLAMETTE WEEK
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Local Matters was founded by Joey Cranney, Alexandra Glorioso and Brett Murphy. This week's list is by Cranney, Murphy, Lulu Ramadan, and Bethany Barnes. We draw largely from front-page stories published by more than 100 daily newspapers in all 50 states. Local stories from online publications or weekly newspapers are occasionally considered. If you have a published story that deserves consideration, please email us.
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