Karen Brown

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People with mental illness are jailed at a much higher rate than the general population — but should they be? To separate criminal cases from clinical ones, about 150 special mental health courts have cropped up nationwide in recent years.  WFCR’s Karen Brown reports on a new court in Springfield — the second in Massachusetts, after Boston. First aired on WFCR on July 28, 2010.

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Thanks to the federal G.I. bill, the number of veterans on American college campuses is expected to jump by 30 percent this year — some estimates put it at 100,000 people nationwide, with about 400 at Umass-Amherst alone. But even with financial help, the transition from combat to campus can be tough.

Story first aired on WFCR, Sept. 30, 2009. A version also aired on NPR’s Weekend Edition, Oct. 10, 2009. Click here for national story.

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Mario Hornsby Jr

A father of a slain teenager — who was the unintended target of a gang hit in Springfield, MA — tries to overcome his grief, and help the city, with a poignant memorial. He’s erecting a community garden on the very spot where his son’s killers carried out their crime.

This aired on WFCR on Aug. 19, 2009.

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Alice Rossi harkens from the old guard of feminists — a contemporary of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem.

Alice (right) and Nina Rossi

She helped create “NOW” (the National Organization for Women) and led some of the early abortion-rights rallies of the sixties. She sparked a national controversy in 1964 when she called for equality in parenting. But Rossi’s three children have often pointed out that Alice wasn’t as successful in her home life. Today, Alice is 85 and suffering from emphysema, her daughter Nina is 47 and a single mother, and the two women have been recording a video memoir together about family, work, and politics.

This version aired on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.

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The city of Springfield, Massachusetts — like many poor, urban areas — is facing a severe problem with youth violence. Kids as young as 13 or 14 are getting pressured into joining gangs, dealing drugs, and carrying guns. And an ongoing feud between two major gangs in Springfield — called the Ave and Sycamore Street — means those guns are getting used more and more, to tragic ends. Police try to round up the most prominent gang leaders, with limited success. So one community organization is trying a different approach; they dispatch street outreach workers to intervene before young people go down a violent path. This story chronicles a day with the workers and the young people they’re trying to reach.

Story aired on WFCR, May 2008.

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Kristin Brennan and Daniel Staub are an unusual breed of “live-off-the-land” homesteaders. They bought 3/4 of an acre of land in the middle of an urban neighborhood in Springfield, MA that’s been known for drug dealing and occasional gang activity. And that’s the point, they say — that low-impact living with minimal use of fossil fuels (they have no car) is possible anywhere.

Story aired on NPR in May, 2006