Curtis Gilbert

What an Alabama crime spree might reveal about the Curtis Flowers investigation.

The city's police department has hired a new psychologist to improve the way it screens recruits after an APM Reports investigation revealed that its procedures didn't meet national standards.

The protocol is less rigorous than best practices nationally and the evaluator lacked the proper license. Police leaders are moving to replace him for another reason: They believe he screened out too many minority candidates.

Rural America, which supported Trump in the election, could be left out of water and road building investment as states and the president leverage private investment. Trump's plan offers little detail on federal spending and timing. Adding to the uncertainty, a presidential adviser has indicated that states should help themselves.

In 34 states, training decisions are left to local agencies. Most, though, conduct no, or very little, de-escalation training. Chiefs cite cost, lack of staff, and a belief that the training isn't needed.

A flawed, confused system prevents judges, social services officials and guardians from discovering critical information about the condition of the residential treatment facilities regulated by the Department of Corrections. Mesabi Academy, scheduled to close next month, is a case study. Since opening in 1998, the juvenile correctional facility had been seen as a reliable jobs provider, receiving subsidies from government and tens of millions of dollars in loans from its parent. But attempts to sustain the business may have compromised resident and worker safety.

The decision to close Mesabi Academy raises short-term questions about where troubled boys will be sent but also longer-range questions about whether the state's system is sufficient.

The parent company of an Iron Range juvenile residential treatment center said it planned to close the facility by the end of next month. The decision came after several counties pulled residents and the state froze new admissions, actions that followed several APM Reports stories about Mesabi Academy.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections said the juvenile corrections facility agreed to suspend new admissions while an investigation proceeds into allegations of maltreatment.

DFL Sen. David Tomassoni, who represents the area that is home to Mesabi Academy, says agencies pulling boys from the facility are endangering jobs.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services is removing five boys it has jurisdiction over at the Iron Range residential treatment facility Mesabi Academy. It also told other states with boys there of its action.

Ramsey County officials said Monday they would pull the remaining 21 boys the county's courts have sent to the private correctional facility in Buhl, Minn. The action follows similar steps by Hennepin County on Friday and comes a week after APM Reports published results of an investigation into the facility, Mesabi Academy.

Interviews and records indicate troubling incidents and practices. Twin Cities counties are looking more closely at a facility where they've sent boys who need help.

Ramsey County social services authorities said Thursday they are not placing any more boys in the care of Mesabi Academy, a treatment facility in Buhl, Minn., in the wake of an APM Reports investigation into the center.

St. Louis County investigators asked for a tape recording a woman made of her son, talking about whether he had sex with a staffer at Mesabi Academy.

On the Iron Range, investigations have created tension between Mesabi Academy and St. Louis County. Job loss, though, was the main concern when county commissioners discouraged a health and human services leader from ending a critical contract with the company.