Ruaridh Stewart

ALT 'ONLY THE BRAVE: Wildfire Hotshots' zReportage #756 by ZUMA Press Photographer Paul Kuroda, Wildfires in California continue to burn, ravaging entire communities and the blazes will soon hit a tragic milestone: 4 million acres burned. The unprecedented fire season has already killed 30 people, burned down thousands of buildings and homes and forced more than 96,000 residents to evacuate. While wildfires are a natural part of California's landscape, the fire season across the West is starting earlier and ending later each year. Climate change is considered a key driver of this trend. Warmer spring and summer temperatures, reduced snowpack, and earlier spring snowmelt create longer and more intense dry seasons that make forests more susceptible to severe wildfire. Federal Hotshot hand crews are like the special forces of fighting wildfires. Welcome to: 'ONLY THE BRAVE: Wildfire Hotshots'

ALT Check out the latest zReportage.com Photo Story of the Week #750: OVERLOOKED FORGOTTEN DISCARDED by award winning ZUMA Press photojournalist Karen Pulfer Focht. Karen worked together with The Institute for Public Service Reporting on this investigative project on neglected rape cold cases. Many victims are still seeking justice, answers and closure from cases dating back 30 years or more. #neglected #dna #rape #police #crime #investigation #photojournalism #zumapress

ALT zReportage.com Story Summary: zReportage.com Story of the Week #751: TUESDAY September 1, 2020: ASYLUM LOTTERY by ZUMA Press Newspaper San Diego Union Tribune photographer Nelvin C. Cepeda together with reporters Kate Morrissey and Lauryn Schroeder worked together multi-part series that explores the asylum system and whether it is working the way it was intended. The administration has already remade much of the asylum system, claiming it is rife with abuse and overwhelmed with undeserving claims. Its policies include making asylum-seekers wait in Mexico while their claims are heard in U.S. court and denying asylum to anyone on the Mexican border who passes through another country on the way to the U.S. without first seeking protection there. An asylum seeker's chances at protection hinge on numerous factors that often seem arbitrary, from location to nationality to individual judge assigned, according to a Union-Tribune analysis of immigration court records. For the world's most vulne