Red, White, and Bruised
When Donald Trump and the GOP Convention arrive in Cleveland, they will find a city with a long history of violent outbursts, racial tension—and brushes with fascism. In short, the perfect stage for the 2016 presidential campaign. Kyle Swenson explores the history of his hometown.
Get Freaking Huge
Inside the strange saga of Jason Genova, an amateur bodybuilder whose earnest YouTube workout videos have earned him an international cult following.
Valerie Bozeman Is Pardoned by Obama as America Wrestles With Fallout From the War on Drugs
Caught up in a cycle of drug use and abuse when she was sentenced to life in prison, Valerie Bozeman was no kingpin; she was just a woman struggling with addiction, dealing to further her own habit. President Obama commuted Valerie’s sentence in May, and she was free to go after serving twenty-three years. Since then, she has been struggling to adjust to life on the outside, and to understand the no-mercy laws that put her in prison in the first place.
A Broken System
An investigation into Florida’s laxly supervised state-contracted group homes finds teen prostitution, drug use, and zero accountability.
Wigs, Costumes, and ID Theft
The story of a major ID theft ring and the cops who brought them down.
The Real Batman
The true creator of Batman never got his due, and now his granddaughter is fighting to correct history.
Good Kids, Bad City
Ricky Jackson and the Bridgeman brothers were convicted of murder based on the coerced testimony of a 12-year old. This is the story of their exoneration after 39 years of wrongful incarceration.
Looking for Lilly
A complicated parental kidnapping cracks a window into the Sunshine State’s growing right-wing fringe, a bizarro world where Lincoln and Obama are a tag team bent on destroying America, the end times are ever nigh, and the Confederacy lives on.
A Sister’s Sleuthing Unravels a Teenage Love Triangle Murder Mystery
A twisted tale of teenage love and cold-blooded murder in Hollywood, Florida.
For detectives, the killing at first glance must have seemed an all-too-common crime: another dead thug, likely felled by the same drug culture that had left him homeless and broke. Yet Savage’s life and death — as told through hundreds of pages of police records, text messages, and interviews with his family and itinerant friends — were far more complex.