Samantha Max
Samantha Max covers criminal justice for WPLN and joins the newroom through the Report for America program. This is her second year with Report for America: She spent her first year in Macon, Ga., covering health and inequity for The Telegraph and macon.com.
Previously, she was an investigative reporting intern for the Medill Justice Project and a bilingual multimedia news intern atHoy, Chicago Tribune’s Spanish-language daily. She returned to her hometown of Baltimore in 2015 and again in 2016 to work as a newsroom intern for NPR-affiliate WYPR.
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In New York, lawmakers and at least one pension fund are pushing credit card companies to create a category for gun and ammunition purchases. They say it could help flag suspicious purchases.
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A New York law that makes it easier to sue gunmakers based on their marketing strategies is viewed as a test case for other states monitoring the outcome.
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Tennessee lawmakers have passed a bill that could mean prison time for sleeping in public spaces. It's the latest effort to regulate homelessness in a state. The bill now goes to the governor.
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Some Tennessee lawmakers are pushing for those convicted of crimes to serve their full sentences. But critics worry that without incentives for early release, prisoners won't be motivated to change.
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As states broaden legal gun ownership, perceived threats to police can increase. Tennessee reports more shootings involving police.
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Nashville police academy graduates are overwhelmingly white and male. A new recruitment approach that stresses real world scenarios over militaristic courses promises more diversity.
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A man who faced execution for a crime he maintains he did not commit is no longer on death row. A judge in Memphis vacated the death sentence for Pervis Payne this week. But his conviction remains.
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The Nashville Police Department has changed its policy and now allows officers to wear a hijab, the Muslim headcover, on the job. Police say it creates trust in communities they're trying to reach.
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Torrential rains in Tennessee have left roads impassable. It was one of the highest rainfalls in Nashville's history. Rivers and creeks crested so high that homes and roads brimmed with water.
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Nashville police were warned last year that Christmas Day bomber Anthony Warner was building an explosive device. Previously, authorities had said Warner was unknown to them.