THE WEEKLY REVEAL
Saturday, April 1, 2023
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THIS WEEK’S PODCAST
The Suspect Detective
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Philip Nordo, a third-generation cop, was a rising star in the Philadelphia Police Department, helping to secure nearly 100 convictions in his eight years as a homicide detective. But then people Nordo helped send to prison and witnesses and informants in his cases started to tell disturbing stories about his behavior on the job. There were rumors of a porn business, secret payments, and sexual assault and abuse.
An investigation by the Philadelphia district attorney’s office would lead to Nordo being charged with a number of violent crimes, including rape and sexual assault. It took a jury less than two days to reach a verdict: guilty on all 18 counts. In December, he was sentenced to a minimum of 24 and a half years in prison.
How did Nordo get away with his abuses of power for so long?
This week on Reveal, Philadelphia Inquirer reporters Chris Palmer and Samantha Melamed take us inside Nordo’s career and the district attorney’s case and examine what the Philadelphia Police Department has done to prevent the next Nordo.
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🎧 Other places to listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
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RELATED
📝 Predator in Blue (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
📝 Four Takeaways From the ‘Predator in Blue’ Investigation Into Homicide Detective Philip Nordo (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
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NEW
Kentucky Lawmaker Pushes to Regulate Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers After Reveal Investigation
By Laura C. Morel
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A sign outside an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center in Massachusetts advertises free pregnancy tests. Credit: Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
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A Kentucky state lawmaker filed a bill that called for the regulation of anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers after reading Reveal’s reporting on a center in the state.
A Kentucky nurse became a whistleblower when she reported infection control issues at a pregnancy center where she volunteered.
The center was using an expired disinfectant to sanitize equipment used in transvaginal ultrasounds. And that disinfectant had no efficacy against the human papillomavirus, a widespread and potentially deadly sexually transmitted infection responsible for more than 90% of cervical cancers, as well as cancers of the genitals and throat.
State Rep. Sarah Stalker, a Democrat from Louisville, said she was concerned about the effect that unlicensed and unregulated centers could have on public health. In Kentucky, most counties do not have an OB-GYN, and the state’s maternal mortality rate is more than twice the national average.
The Kentucky bill is among a wave of legislative proposals in more than a dozen states that target these centers. Many of the bills were filed following a Reveal investigation that found that only a few states require centers providing medical services to be formally licensed as clinics, with most centers operating in a kind of regulatory dead zone, free of significant state and federal oversight. In many states, tanning salons, massage parlors and even pet stores face significantly stricter oversight.
“What I want people to have a conversation about is keeping people healthy and safe and their privacy protected. And that’s what this bill would do,” Stalker said.
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RELATED
📝 This Nurse Wanted to Help Women Avoid Abortions. Then She Saw Infection Control Problems at a Crisis Pregnancy Center. Read.
📝 How Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers Can Claim to Be Medical Clinics and Get Away With It. Read.
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Florida Republican lawmakers are poised to approve $25 million in taxpayer funding for anti-abortion pregnancy centers. That’s more than a fivefold increase over last year’s funding of $4.45 million. The proposal is tucked at the bottom of a new bill that would ban abortions past six weeks of pregnancy, dramatically reducing access from the 15-week limit signed into law last year.
The proposed funding increase is part of a national anti-abortion campaign spearheaded by Republican-dominated state legislatures. Florida is among 14 states that fund pregnancy centers through “alternatives to abortion” programs, funneling millions in taxpayer money to the anti-abortion movement. This year, at least three additional states – Kansas, Tennessee and West Virginia – are considering new plans to fund pregnancy centers.
📝 Read the full story.
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This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Kassie Navarro, edited by Kate Howard and copy edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend. Have some thoughts? Drop us a line with feedback or ideas!
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