Carmen Molina Acosta
Dow Jones News Intern for The Accountability ProjectCarmen Molina Acosta is Connecticut Public’s 2022 Dow Jones News Fund digital media summer intern, assisting The Accountability Project’s investigative reporting.
A Banneker-Key scholar, Molina Acosta graduated from the University of Maryland in May 2022 with a B.A. in journalism and a minor in international development and conflict management.
Passionate about stories concerning race, identity, labor and immigration, she’s worked on several projects about the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on vulnerable populations. In 2021, she made up part of the award-winning team at the Howard Center of Investigative Journalism that looked into the lack of protections for Mexican migrant seafood workers in the Mid-Atlantic— a project that prompted officials from the Mexican embassy to check on their conditions. In 2020, while interning for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Molina Acosta spearheaded an investigation into how ICE misused solitary confinement to isolate detainees with Covid-19. She also contributed fact-checking to their international FinCEN Files investigation, a 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Her work has been published in The Associated Press, The Washington Post, NPR and The Intercept, among other outlets.
-
About 40% of all use-of-force incidents reported by Connecticut law enforcement agencies in the past two years involved someone officers determined to be either “emotionally disturbed” or suicidal. Some communities are experimenting with new approaches to bring those numbers down. -
State officials declared a stage 3 drought level for New London and Windham counties in eastern Connecticut. -
"It’s only a matter of time before you do have spillover into other populations," an infectious disease specialist said. -
A CT teacher was fired for using the N-word & stereotypes in class. Now, she’s getting her job back.Three years ago, a Connecticut high school teacher was fired for violating a non-discrimination policy when she taught a lesson plan that magnified racist stereotypes during Black History Month. Now she’s headed back into the classroom after she won her job back. -
Amid national shortage, state launches education initiative to bolster health care workforce numbersConnecticut’s $35 million initiative to address the health care worker shortage is expected to create more than 1,000 additional seats in nursing and behavioral health programs, provide tuition aid for students and support recruitment of more faculty to train them. -
After Connecticut saw a record-high year for accidental drug overdose deaths in 2021, lawmakers are weighing a new approach to curbing the state’s opioid crisis: overdose prevention centers.
-
Gov. Ned Lamont recently signed new legislation that speeds up the time it takes young offenders to be seen by a judge and to get access to therapy and other services. The laws also allow judges to order GPS monitoring to track repeat juvenile offenders. Bob Stefanowski says he supports the reform, but if elected, he plans to use the state’s budget surplus to invest in more youth programs.
