We partner with The Competition podcast to go behind the scenes as a group of high school girls process the fall of Roe v. Wade.

View in browser ([link removed]) | Support our newsroom ([link removed])
[link removed]

Between the 500-plus public radio stations where we broadcast and the Reveal podcast, our work touches millions of people every month. But only about 3,000 listeners donate to help pay for the journalism.

Imagine the impact we could have if everyone donated! Please stand up for independent journalism and donate today. ([link removed])


** THE WEEKLY REVEAL
------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, December 14, 2024

Hello! In this issue:
* A national competition for high school girls is disrupted by news of the fall of Roe v. Wade.
* Across the country, hospitals are giving drugs to people in labor and then reporting them to child protective services when they test positive for those drugs.
* When Carol Stuart was murdered in 1989, Boston was all too willing to believe her husband’s story: A Black man did it.


** THIS WEEK’S PODCAST
------------------------------------------------------------


** 50 States of Mind
------------------------------------------------------------
On a stage, a group of dozens of young women in heels and brightly colored pageant dresses are banded together in a big group hug, smiling and looking emotional.
Contestants at the 65th Distinguished Young Women of America finals Credit: Shima Oliaee

Every summer, 50 of the nation’s best and brightest teenage girls gather in Mobile, Alabama, to embark on two of the most intense weeks of their lives. Everybody wants the same thing: to walk away with a $40,000 college scholarship and the title of Distinguished Young Woman of America.

Reporter Shima Oliaee competed when she was a teenager. Invited back as a judge in 2022, Oliaee decided to bring her audio kit and capture it all.

In the final days of the competition, there was news from Washington that had big implications for women across the nation. Roe v. Wade had fallen. The girls are faced with a tough decision: Do they speak up for their political beliefs or stay focused on winning the money? And what might this mean for their futures—and their friendships?

This week, Reveal is partnering with The Competition podcast, from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios and hosted by Oliaee, to explore the dreams of young women, America’s promise, and what it takes to survive being a teen girl today.
Listen to the episode ([link removed])
🎧 Other places to listen: Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) , iHeartRadio ([link removed]) , Pandora ([link removed]) , or wherever you get your podcasts.


**
------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement
[link removed]


** Our Latest
------------------------------------------------------------


** Hospitals Gave Women Medications During Childbirth—Then Reported Them for Using Illicit Drugs
------------------------------------------------------------
By Shoshana Walter

Illustration by Marci Suela/The Marshall Project. Source: Getty Images; Alexander Grey, via Unsplash

Across the country, hospitals are dispensing medications to patients in labor, only to report them to child welfare authorities when they or their newborns test positive for those same substances on subsequent drug tests, an investigation by The Marshall Project and Reveal has found.

The positive tests are triggered by medications routinely prescribed to millions of birthing patients in the United States every year. The drugs include morphine or fentanyl for epidurals or other pain relief; anxiety medications; and two different blood pressure meds prescribed for C-sections.

In a time of increasing surveillance and criminalization of pregnant women since the end of Roe v. Wade, the hospital reports have prompted calls to the police, child welfare investigations, and even the removal of children from their parents. ([link removed])


** A Quote to Remember
------------------------------------------------------------
"He wasn’t acting as a person that just got shot and saw his wife get shot."

Robert Ahearn was a Boston police detective assigned to investigate the murder of Carol Stuart, a pregnant woman shot on her way home from birthing class. Ahearn was quickly skeptical of her husband, Chuck, who was also shot and told police it was a Black man.

Ahearn was soon taken off the case, and the city’s intense manhunt focused on the countless Black and Latino boys and men who loosely fit the description. But it was the husband all along.

Listen: The Racist Hoax That Changed Boston ([link removed])


** In Case You Missed It
------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]
🎧 Buried Secrets: America’s Indian Boarding Schools Part 1 ([link removed])

[link removed]
🎧 The Many Contradictions of a Trump Victory ([link removed])


** Impact Update
------------------------------------------------------------
Reveal's Nathan Halverson has been documenting the impact of sprawling hay farms in the Arizona desert for nearly a decade, most recently in our feature-length documentary The Grab ([link removed]) .

Halverson reported that neighbors around one Saudi-owned hay farm have watched their water quality worsen and their wells run dry as the farm grows the crop and ships it to feed Middle Eastern dairy cows.

This week, the Arizona attorney general took action ([link removed]) . She sued the Fondomonte farm, alleging it was a public nuisance and asking a judge to stop excessive groundwater pumping. The company is “taking advantage of Arizona’s failure to protect its precious groundwater resource,” the lawsuit says.
Advertisement
[link removed]
This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Kate Howard and edited by Daniel King. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Have some thoughts? Drop us a line (mailto:[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
Copyright © 2024 The Center for Investigative Reporting. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for The Weekly Reveal newsletter.

Our mailing address is:
The Center for Investigative Reporting
PO Box 584
San Francisco, CA 94104
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from all Reveal emails ([link removed])
.