Hundreds of thousands of school children face violence at the hands of school officials who are legally allowed to forcibly restrain them for acting out.---

Top of the Alty World

“Violent and Legal: The Shocking Ways School Kids are Being Pinned Down, Isolated Against Their Will”--ProPublica

Rolling Stone runs down 5 connections between the seemingly disparate worlds of private corrections and higher education.--Rolling Stone

More and more cities are using urban design to keep the homeless away from public spaces.--The Atlantic

Navajo activist Amanda Blackhorse used an unusual tactic in the fight to change the name of the Washington Redskins football team—going after the team trademark.--Democracy Now!

Top of Alty Utah

Poll shows public support for Medicaid expansion through Governor Herbert's “Healthy Utah” proposal—Utah Political Capitol

But no matter what the public thinks, lawmakers are still wary of Medicaid expansion.--Utah Policy

The Deseret News is using anti-plagiarism software to vet freelance copy.--Salt Lake City Weekly

A scholarship program for children of incarcerated parents struggles to gain traction with prison officials and inmates.--Salt Lake City Weekly

Rantosphere

Teacher Stephanie Lauritzen reflects on the end of the school year and the challenges a teacher faces.

“After graduation, a parent grabbed my arm and thanked me for teaching her son. She told me I gave her hope that her son would be successful in the adult world, and thanked me for noticing a quiet but passionate student who is overlooked in public education. In those moments, I feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of my job.

Sometimes I compare teaching to treading open water. You kick and paddle and try not to drown for 180 days. But this year, for a few moments on the last days of the year, I managed to swim to shore. I looked back on the past year and realized I wasn’t treading water; I was swimming across oceans. More importantly, I managed to pull a few students along with me.”--Salt Lake City Weekly

The Long View

A look at freelance muckraker Jason Leopold and his method for uncovering government secrets simply by asking for them in Freedom of Information requests.

“A poster of I.F. Stone, the independent journalist and muckraker, hangs on the wall, along with a small, framed piece of paper that Leopold recently found sitting on a table at the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay. It’s one of his favorite document scores ever: a “Public Affairs Smart Card” created for the military’s PR folks, telling them to “Own the Interview” and “Stay in your Lane” and listing the many topics they’re not allowed to discuss, including “Investigations or their Results,” “Suicide,” “Construction,” “Presidential Remarks,” and “Attorney Allegations.” (To Leopold, this one scrap of paper made the whole trip worthwhile because it revealed how the government tries to control information. “I’m like, you idiots, why did you leave that lying around?”) And everywhere, stacked on bookshelves and on his desk, are piles of paper from every imaginable government agency, state and federal, topped by response letters: Dear Mr. Leopold… Dear Mr. Leopold…”--Medium