Quick note: We launched a nationwide reporting collaboration to look at issues surrounding the 2020 census. What stories are most important to you? We would love to hear about them. ([link removed])


** Louisville take a close look at its rape clearance rates
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On Wednesday, a representative for Louisville, Kentucky’s Metro Police Department will testify ([link removed]) before the city’s public safety committee about how the agency handles rape cases.

The testimony is a direct response to Prosecution Declined ([link removed]) , the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting’s December 2019 investigation, which grew out of our Case Cleared Reporting Network. ([link removed])

Using data and training we provided, KYCIR’s reporters found that Louisville police “cleared” – that is, closed without actually solving – 122 out of 194 rape cases that were reported to them in 2017. Only four of those cases led to convictions.

Louisville’s mayor responded ([link removed]) to KYCIR’s investigation by saying that his department “places a priority on getting justice” for victims of rape and sexual assault. But Louisville Metro Councilwoman Jessica Green, who called on police to testify this week, said the department’s policies discourage victims from coming forward.

“It’s essentially a message of … don’t report, because if you do and start the process, you’re going to be disappointed,” she told KYCIR. “You’re going to be let down and you’re never going to have your day in court.”

Louisville isn’t the first city to zero in on its police department’s rape investigation policies in light of our 2018 investigation with Newsy and ProPublica ([link removed]) . In the span of just six months, authorities in Texas launched an audit of the Austin Police Department, concluded the city improperly cleared rape cases ([link removed]) and then ordered another deeper investigation. ([link removed]) Shortly after that, the Texas House of Representatives voted unanimously ([link removed]) to create a sexual assault task force designed specifically to reform how rape cases are handled. Meanwhile, Liz Donegan, a retired Austin
police sergeant – and a key source in our investigation – is running for sheriff there. ([link removed])


** Scuttling science
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This week, we’re revisiting an episode ([link removed]) looking at the Trump administration’s pattern of pushing expert scientists out of policy discussions.

The episode’s first story examines federal advisory committees – expert panels that advise the federal government on everything from air pollution to clean drinking water. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will eliminate hundreds of them and is removing scientists from those that remain. Reveal’s Elizabeth Shogren travels to Capitol Hill to interview an environmental chemist who says the administration’s actions are an assault on science itself.

Then host Al Letson interviews Sacoby Wilson, an environmental health scientist who helps poor communities of color fight against pollution. He serves on an Environmental Protection Agency advisory panel that could be eliminated by Trump’s executive order.

Our next story looks at the Trump administration’s rollback of Obama-era fuel efficiency and emissions standards for cars. Jeff Alson spent more than 40 years at the EPA and tells the story about how the Trump administration justified those rollbacks based on scientific modeling he and many other experts say doesn’t make sense.

Finally, Letson talks to Mandy Gunasekara, who helped engineer the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the Clean Power Plan. The former senior policy adviser at the EPA defends the Trump administration’s deregulatory approach to the environment, adding that warnings about the dangers of climate change are exaggerated.

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