Ryan Schill

jjie.org — When Anthony Richards, Jr., was born on an early Sunday morning in June, the only complications involved his family getting the cameras in focus to capture his arrival into the world. He was a healthy baby and his parents, Queenyona Boyd and Anthony Richards, Sr., couldn't have been happier. Yet, only four days later Anthony was put in foster care after doctors discovered an unexplained broken femur, his distraught parents the suspects of child abuse.

Cartoon Movement — A groundbreaking piece of comics journalism exploring what it means to be American through the story of one undocumented immigrant, brought to the U.S. as a child, unwillingly caught at the center of the debate. Written by award-winning journalist and JJIE assistant editor, Ryan Schill, with art by Greg Scott, “Jessica Colotl: In the Eye of the Storm” follows Jessica from her arrest in 2010 following a routine traffic stop on her college campus, to her weeks in an Alabama detention center awaiting deportation. But while Jessica navigated her frightening new reality, the rest of the nation was locked in a heated discussion about the rights of undocumented immigrants.

muckrack.com — The social media editor's role in the newsroom is still quite new, and ever-evolving as social media continues to shape the way we see the world. However, recent discussion (on Buzzfeed and right here, on Muck Rack) has begun to question the very usefulness of having a single person responsible for the strategy and coordination of a news organization's social media presence. Should a newsroom have a social media editor? Nevertheless, as thoughtful as this dialogue may be, it assumes a homogeneity among newsrooms and publications-saying that, in effect, all journalism is produced by large news organizations. This is clearly not true.

jjie.org — A new television show highlights intervention programs for at-risk kids, but experts -- and 30 years of research -- say the programs are doing more harm than good.

www.thecrimereport.org — In March 1989, on a cold, snowy day in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, nine-year-old Cameron Kocher fatally shot a seven-year-old playmate with a high-powered hunting rifle. He had been playing video games with the girl at her house, when she told him that she was better at the game than he. Soon, the girl went outside to ride snowmobiles with other friends. Kocher, angry that his parents wouldn't let him join them, retrieved the rifle from his father's gun cabinet, loaded it and pointed it out the window of his home.

jjie.org — Heroin may be about to get a mean on. That's what JJIE's Ryan Schill writes in a three-part series this week. Though statistics don't show an enormous surge in heroin arrests, both current and former users, as well as counselors report an upsurge in use among teens, mostly white, mostly suburban. Increased supply, its relative low cost and the prevalence of opiate-based prescription medications all play a role in what seems to be going on. For the most part, it's a sad story. Yet even in this nightmarish place, there is some hope and in this case it is recovery.

jjie.org — If you were expecting Dickens, forget it. Homeless kids in Georgia do not have a special look. They're hiding right in front of you. That's the first thing we learned from Mary, who looks like any other teenager in Atlanta. Her hair is tied up with a pink ribbon on top of her head and several subtle piercings adorn her face and ears. Dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans, she is quick to flash her big, bright smile. Mary is one of an unknown number of homeless young people living in Atlanta. Mary's experience is not very different from that of many homeless teens.

tedxpeachtree.com — For millennia, the human race has been building upon the face of the Earth, carving out more and more environments in which to live, chiseling away the mountains and chopping down the forests to build cities, using technology not to sustain our lives but to improve them-to make our lives more comfortable and convenient. The Earth has been nothing more than the ground beneath our feet and the foundation for our building, sustaining us while we abuse it. But then, each April, comes Earth Day, a yearly opportunity to slow down for just a moment, take a deep breath and reassess our relationship with the giant rock floating in space that we call home.

jjie.org — Every isolation cell in every juvenile detention center in the United States could be redesigned with calm muted paint colors, cushioned mattresses with soft sheets and blankets, and luxurious, private bathrooms but it wouldn’t matter. Their purpose would remain to isolate the youth from contact with others.