Trees goes up in flames at the High Park Wildfire west of Fort Collins, Colo., on Thursday, June 17, 2012. The fire started June 9 from a lightning strike and has consumed tens of thousands of acres of forest and grassland, destroyed homes, and mobilized more than 1,700 personnel from the U.S. Forest Service, state and local resources. (U.S. Department of Agriculture via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons)
Marrton Dormish

Need in the News, Vol. I, Issue 6

Trees goes up in flames at the High Park Wildfire west of Fort Collins, Colo., on Thursday, June 17, 2012. The fire started June 9 from a lightning strike and has consumed tens of thousands of acres of forest and grassland, destroyed homes, and mobilized more than 1,700 personnel from the U.S. Forest Service, state and local resources. (U.S. Department of Agriculture via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons)
Trees goes up in flames at the High Park Wildfire west of Fort Collins, Colo., on Thursday, June 17, 2012. The fire started June 9 from a lightning strike and has since consumed tens of thousands of acres of forest and grassland, destroyed homes, and mobilized more than 1,700 personnel from the U.S. Forest Service, state and local resources. (U.S. Department of Agriculture via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons)

An overview of “stories of need” with links to news articles, editorials, press releases and blog posts from around the nation and the world:

 

Front-Page Worthy

  • UNITED STATES: On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act and what has become known as the “individual mandate” to purchase health insurance, adding fuel to the already contentious election-year battle between Pres. Barack Obama and Republican challenger and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
  • SYRIA: The New York Times reported on June 29 that 190 civilians were killed in Syria in a 24-hour period, topping May 25’s news of more than 100 civilians killed in Houla.
  • PARAGUAY: A recent parliamentary coup led to the impeachment of now former Pres. Fernando Lugo.
  • SUDAN: Student-led protests of the current regime’s austerity measures spread across Khartoum. Authorities used tear gas to quell unrest.
  • UNITED STATES: Well injections of industrial fluids could lead to significant problems across the U.S.

 

Fighting the Good Fight

  • AROUND THE UNITED STATES: During a recent three-day sweep in 57 cities, the FBI and local law enforcement arrested 104 alleged pimps and rescued 79 teen prostitutes.
  • UNITED STATES: A Native American comic talked about the challenges he faced in trying to live the American Dream.
  • GHANA: Last week, an American couple in the process of adopted four children from Ghana was detained after being suspected of child trafficking. No more recent update was available before the publication of this review.
  • LIBERIA & ANGOLA: Protracted refugee situations in both countries have in effect ended according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

 

Major Troublespots

  • YEMEN: Aid groups and the U.S. government warned that the food crisis in Yemen is being overlooked.
  • COLORADO, U.S.A.: Destructive wildfires are raging in Colorado where temperatures in the Front Range area have hovered over 100 degrees for the last week.
  • DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: The government of Rwanda criticized a U.N. report for suggesting it is involved in the ongoing conflict in the eastern D.R.C. Meanwhile refugees fled for Rwanda.
  • WORLDWIDE: The global refugee crisis reached unprecedented proportions last year, according to figures recently released today by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Forced displacement “from a string of major humanitarian crises that began in late 2010 in Côte d’Ivoire [were] quickly followed by others in Libya, Somalia, Sudan and elsewhere. In all, 4.3 million people were newly displaced, with a full 800,000 of these fleeing their countries and becoming refugees.”

 

Reflections & Reviews

  • PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN: Could it depend more on meeting basic needs than military security?
  • RECOMMENDED READS:
    • The Starfish and The Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom. Cut off a spider’s legs and it can’t walk. Cut off a starfish’s legs and they become new starfishes (in some cases). An essential resource for forward-thinking faith communities, grassroots leaders and initiatives like ours!
    • The Dream of the Celt: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa. Nobel laureate Llosa resurrects and re-examines a human rights story through the life of Sir Roger Casement, a British-consul-turned-Irish-martyr
      who was executed for questioning the oppressive policies of the British government.

 

Published in May on EverydayEpics.com

  • Best of Past Profiles — We revisit several of our favorite stories from the last few years.
  • Meals for Summer — A news brief about free meals for kids during the summer throughout Colorado.
  • We Made the News — My role in researching and writing The Sweep Report was mentioned in our local newspaper, the Broomfield Enterprise, last month.
  • Finding Oscar — Courtesy of ProPublica, we republished a moving feature about a man from Guatemala who learned his real identity after an investigation into a military-sponsored massacre in 1982.

 

Coming Up

  • Commentary: Church, the Gospel and the story of need.
  • Stories: An updated look at health care in Colorado.

 

Feel free to share your thoughts about this month’s review of “need in the news” or offer additional links below.

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