A toxic chemical, a powerful comic, a law to stop corporate landlords from gobbling up property, and more stories. 

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]
Photo by Meron Tebeje

This week’s episode: Reproducing Racism ([link removed])

As racial disparities in health come into the spotlight amid COVID-19, we explore how the legacy of racism affects maternal health in the United States.
------------------------------------------------------------


** Five Reveal stories that made a big impact this year
------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed] passed a law to stop corporate landlords from gobbling up California real estate during the pandemic. The last time the economy went into deep recession, after the 2008 housing bust, nearly 8 million families lost their homes to foreclosure. But a bill signed into law in California ([link removed]) in September seeks to prevent a repeat of history by overhauling the way foreclosures are sold in the state. It bans bulk auctions of homes, giving tenants and other community stakeholders exclusive windows to match bids made by speculators, with the idea of keeping property in the community’s hands. The bill was prompted in part by Reveal reporter Aaron Glantz’s reporting on “Homewreckers." ([link removed])

•••

[link removed]
An immigrant girl in U.S. custody for nearly seven years learned her family didn’t abandon her. Doña Amalia didn’t know what had happened to her granddaughter. When the girl was 10, she arrived at the U.S. border with her brother, aunt, and cousin, seeking asylum. She was taken into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and held for the next seven years. All these years, the family didn’t know what had happened to their girl and the girl didn’t know what had happened to her family. Reveal reporter Aura Bogado was finally able to tell the family where the girl was as she reported the heartbreaking story The Disappeared. ([link removed])

•••

[link removed] is asking questions about Amazon’s working conditions. After we reported on sky-high injury rates in Amazon warehouses ([link removed]) , 13 members of Congress, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), pressed the Department of Labor to investigate Amazon’s labor practice and the House Education and Labor Committee held hearings on the issue. We’ve now documented injury rates at 150 Amazon warehouses around the country. ([link removed])

•••

[link removed] York passed a ban on a toxic chemical linked to fetal heart defects. Reporter Elizabeth Shogren illuminated how EPA scientists found that TCE ([link removed]) , a chemical used in industrial processes, damages fetal heart development. But the Trump Administration rewrote their assessment. The EPA’s Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals cited Reveal’s reporting when it demanded that “the EPA must investigate allegations that it downplayed research showing a cancer-causing solvent could damage the hearts of babies exposed in the womb.” Also spurred by our investigation ([link removed]) , the New York Senate and Assembly passed a bill that bans
TCE.

•••

[link removed] helped people around the world understand the impacts of COVID-19. Our In/Vulnerable comics series ([link removed]) about inequity amid the pandemic was named one of 2020’s best works of graphic medicine ([link removed]) by the Journal of the American Medical Association. We made the 15 nonfiction comics free to download, and librarians, educators, and teachers have put them to use all over the world. A doctor at a hospital in Nepal says, “We are facing the COVID-19 in a resource-reduced situation… This comic will be useful in teaching our staff and community.” A reader in Brazil says they are sharing the comic “in public health community forums for stimulating consciousness about the pandemic, its relation with capitalism and its increase in social and economic disparities.”
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
Donate ([link removed])


** In the Field
------------------------------------------------------------

Protecting Democracy from Disinformation

On Tuesday, Reveal is hosting a free panel discussion about fake news: “Protecting Democracy (and Ourselves) from Deep Fakes and Disinformation." ([link removed]) It will feature Reveal Editor-in-Chief Matt Thompson in conversation with Danielle Citron, a professor at Boston University School of Law who writes about privacy, free speech and civil procedure, and Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley whose work focuses on digital forensics, image analysis and human perception.

The internet is filled with countless ways to spread disinformation designed to destabilize the world and our daily lives. As technology improves, fake information becomes increasingly difficult to spot. Join us for a lively conversation with two experts who study the intersection of privacy, free speech and technology. Citron and Farid will talk about the recent election, what they see coming next and how we can protect our democracy and ourselves from deep fakes and other tricks to manipulate facts and information.

Tune in: Tuesday, December 8 Noon PT/3 p.m. ET

Brought to you via Zoom. Click here to register. ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------


** Reveal Recommends
------------------------------------------------------------

Emma Schwartz is an associate producer at Reveal. She’s part of what she calls a “wonderful team” at Reveal producing an investigative feature documentary.

Listening: I'm always on the edge of my seat waiting for the next episode of "Rough Translation" ([link removed]) from NPR. At a time when travel feels far away, this podcast brings artful, engaging stories of familiar conversations from all over the world.

Reading: Just finished Malcolm Gladwell's "Talking to Strangers," ([link removed]) where he breaks down some of the most infamous cross cultural communication breakdowns of all time, from Amanda Knox to Montezuma. As a journalist, field producer and generally chatty human, I feel heavily invested in the ways we relate to each other.

Watching: I'm obsessed with "The Mandalorian ([link removed]) " (Baby Yoda!)

You can keep up with Emma on Instagram @em__uh ([link removed]) .
------------------------------------------------------------

Do you have feedback for Reveal? Send it over! This newsletter was written by Sarah Mirk (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Weekly%20Reveal%20feedback) , who will share your thoughts with the team.
------------------------------------------------------------

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
Copyright © 2020 The Center for Investigative Reporting, All rights reserved.
You're on this list because you signed up for The Weekly Reveal newsletter.

Our mailing address is:
The Center for Investigative Reporting
1400 65th St., Suite 200
Emeryville, CA 94608
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.