Latest news with #GilbertGoons'
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Yahoo
'Gilbert Goons' documentary by Arizona Republic named finalist for video storytelling
The Arizona Republic and coverage of the 'Gilbert Goons' has earned national recognition from two prestigious journalism organizations. The 'Goons' documentary has been named a finalist in the local video storytelling category in the Scripps Howard Journalism Awards. The documentary was compiled by videographer Michael Chow and reporters Robert Anglen and Elena Santa Cruz. The fatal beating of 16-year-old Preston Lord in the Phoenix suburbs drew widespread attention, and The Republic's reporters were the first to tie his beating to the "Goons," a gang of suburban teenagers whose attacks on other teens had gone unchecked by police for more than a year. The Scripps Howard competition focuses on high impact reporting, recognizing 'journalism that spurs action, news organizations that go the extra mile to expose previously undisclosed or misunderstood information and journalists who embrace new tools, channels, technologies and approaches to provide more immersive experiences for their audiences,' according to its website. Scripps Howard names three finalists in each category in its competition, with the category winner to be announced online at on June 10. In addition to "Preston Lord's Death Uncovers 'Gilbert Goons,'" other finalists in the local video storytelling category are ABC 15 Arizona for "Policing Phoenix: The DOJ Report" and Frontline (PBS) for "Maui's Deadly Firestorm." Anglen, Santa Cruz and Chow also were named finalists in the 2025 Investigative Reporters and Editors contest for their 'Goons' reporting and documentary. Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. The judges said: 'In an exhaustive, winding investigation reported over months, The Arizona Republic tied the deadly beating of a 16-year-old to a string of assaults by a gang of elite teenagers. The reporting showed significant cover-up attempts, community outrage and inaction by local police who appeared to look the other way as teen assaults mounted up, months before one turned deadly. ' won the category with a story on Alabama's parole system, and a team from the Miami Herald was the other finalist, with coverage of a botched investigation into a deadly boating crash. Guilty plea: Teen pleads guilty to manslaughter in Preston Lord death This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Gilbert Goons' documentary named finalist for video storytelling
USA Today
25-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Why did Gilbert police investigate a high school book battle?
Why did Gilbert police investigate a high school book battle? A Higley high school teacher was investigated for assigning a book with sexual content, despite following district policy to get parent approval. Morning. In today's opinions newsletter: The battle over high school books, Arizona's possible Donald J. Trump Highway and why we might not want to 'just do something' on water. The battle over books took a turn this fall when a parent, upset about a sexual assault scene in the book 'Homegoing,' made a complaint to Gilbert police. Higley teacher Brittany O'Neill was investigated on suspicion of committing two felony charges for assigning the book to high school seniors in an honors literature class. The book follows two sisters who are sold as slaves. It is included on the district's approved reading list but requires a permission slip warning parents about the sexual content. O'Neill sent home the slip and provided an alternate assignment for those who opted out. The case was later dropped, but not before a Special Victims Unit investigator showed up in O'Neill's classroom twice while she was teaching. And columnist Greg Moore questions why police got involved in the first place. 'I'm not sure what's more mind-boggling: that the police were called or that they found this worth investigating,' he writes. 'As if they didn't have enough to do with the 'Gilbert Goons' running around in a city — err, 'town' of 275,000 people.'
