Susan Ferriss

Aug 2, 2024 | pulitzercenter.org | Susan Ferriss

War wounds and drug-resistant infectionsOn its own, the term “superbugs” doesn't fully capture the threat posed by drug-resistant bacteria. But superbugs are a deadly serious global health concern. That's why the Pulitzer Center was eager to support journalist Eli Cahan’s ambitious new investigation into how war injuries are contributing to the proliferation and spread of new breeds of bacteria.

Aug 1, 2024 | pulitzercenter.org | Susan Ferriss

Part of the "Fuel, Foul Air, and Fallout: The Health Tolls of Energy and Defense in the United States" webinar seriesOn Thursday, July 25, 2024, Thomas Novelly, Military.com reporter, and Bill Burich, director of the Torchlight Initiative and a former Missileer, discussed the linkage between exposure to carcinogenic chemicals like PCBs, radon, asbestos, and sodium chromate during Air Force members’ posts at ICBM missile bases and increased risks of blood cancers and other diseases.

Jul 2, 2024 | pulitzercenter.org | Susan Ferriss

For a generation, immigration has been a divisive “wedge issue” for American politicians. In 1986, Republicans and Democrats once united to acknowledge that employers hired undocumented immigrants because they needed them. They went on to provide an amnesty for such workers and mandated new—yet tepid—penalties against hiring them. But since immigrant visas for crucial blue-collar jobs are virtually non-existent, U.S. employers have kept hiring undocumented workers.

Jul 1, 2024 | usajaunnews.com | Susan Ferriss

On June 18, President Joe Biden unveiled a plan to allow an estimated 500,000 undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for "parole in place." This would provide them with work permits, protection from deportation and a chance to avoid a harsh punishment: exile from the United States, usually for 10 years or even more before they can become eligible for legal resident green cards.

Jun 27, 2024 | palabranahj.org | Susan Ferriss

Back in 2007, I interviewed Jerald  Peterson of Oklahoma about this dilemma. A staunch Republican, he was a retired CIA station chief who’d served in Mexico, among other countries. His daughter had met and married an undocumented man who was her co-worker at a plant nursery in Oklahoma. When her husband applied for a green card and was barred from eligibility, she moved to Mexico with their baby to keep the family together. Peterson sent a letter of protest to President George W. Bush.