A Deadly Error

Coming up on today’s show:

• Just five days ago, Devin Kelley walked into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas and murdered 26 people with a AR-15 style military rifle. As officials try to figure out why, the Air Force has admitted that a lapse in oversight made it easier for Kelley to buy his weapons. Geoffrey Corn, who served in the U.S. Army for 21 years as an officer and is now a professor at the South Texas College of Law, examines this oversight failure. 

• Ohio voters killed a resolution aimed at lowering drug costs in the state. But many voters said they were confused by the complicated ballot measure. Andy Chow, a reporter forOhio Public Radio’s Statehouse News Bureau, he joins The Takeaway to explain what the measure was all about, and why it was defeated.

• On Tuesday, voters in Maine backed Medicaid expansion in the state, which will make at least 80,000 residents eligible for Medicaid. The vote is a direct rebuke to conservative Governor Paul LePage, who says he will not enforce the voters’ mandate. Sara Gideon, the Speaker of the Maine House Representatives, discusses the fight over Medicaid in The Pine Tree State. 

• Several programs in Oklahoma give defendants the ability to choose addiction recovery treatment instead of jail time. But according to an ACLU lawsuit filed on behalf of former participants, some of these facilities are actually being used as work camps for private poultry companies. Amy Julia Harris is a reporter for the investigative public radio program and podcast Reveal, and she joins The Takeaway to explain how programs like these operate. 

• ProPublica conducted a review of 83 Supreme Court cases between 2011 and 2015. Reporters found seven errors that, in some cases, helped determine the outcome of a ruling. Ryan Gabrielson, a reporter for ProPublica covering the U.S. justice system, explains. 

• Former White House Photographer Pete Souza discusses his new book, “Obama: An Intimate Portrait.” It’s a compilation of some of the nearly two million photographs he took of President Obama throughout his years in office. Souza was also the chief official White House photographer for U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan.

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich.