VNN This Month In America | June 2022

New partnerships and network projects

Hello, Verified News Community! VNN’s Brittany Harlow here. Welcome to This Month In America June 2022. 

In case you didn’t know, we love telling diverse stories you don’t hear anywhere else, and we don’t stop there. We want to make our communities better through our coverage.

VNN held our first “From Adversity To Entrepreneurship” in-person event this month, partnering with community members and leaders to find out what people need to thrive, not just survive. We have our second FATE event coming up in July. All learning will be published by the end of August. 

We also partnered with VNN affiliate Big If True to provide context for this series. Their first story is out now, describing how more mental health resources could reduce Oklahoma’s female prison populations and save the state millions. 

Our coverage of the April Wilkens case continued this month, with news of a new podcast named “Panic Button”. Produced in part by the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the first season will be dedicated exclusively to Wilkens’ case. 

New VNN affiliate The Black Wall Street Times shared facts about Black Freedmen descendants being ignored as Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt clashes with tribes. 

And this just in- five out of the nine Supreme Court justices sided with the State of Oklahoma this month, saying the state has concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes against Indians on tribal land. 

Expect more Freedmen coverage and Native coverage in July. 

And our journalists have been busy across the country.  

VNN Michigan Journalist Rachael Schuit tells us the officer who killed Patrick Lyoya has been charged with second degree murder. 

And in New York, Rocky Brown shared the story of a local man starting a youth league for community children. 

Space for people’s “true selves” expanded in the metaverse this June and that’s not all. There are more stories from VNN Journalists, Affiliates, and other users in the VNN app. Register your free account at app.verifiednews.network to enjoy the full social news media experience.

We have a lot of behind the scenes work we’re looking forward to presenting to you in next month’s special “That Year In America”.

For VNN, I’m Brittany Harlow. See you then!