Front page: Los Angeles Times | Sunday, August 17, 2014

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Early jail releases have surged since California's prison realignment

Paige St. John, who covers criminal justice and investigative stories from Sacramento, writes, "Across California, more than 13,500 inmates are being released early each month to relieve crowding in local jails — a 34% increase over the last three years. A Times investigation shows a significant shift in who is being let out of jail, how early and where." Read the story

Ferguson, Mo.'s mounting racial and economic stress set stage for turmoil

Tim Logan, who covers housing and residential real estate, and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, staff writer who covers national news, write, "The police shooting of Michael Brown was the spark. But the tinder fueling the anger and resentment that has exploded in Ferguson has been building for decades." Read the story

Iraq massacre reported as U.S. strikes target militants at Mosul dam

Shashank Bengali, South Asia correspondent, David S. Cloud, who covers the Pentagon and the military from Washington, D.C., and Patrick J. McDonnell, who covers the Middle East, write of the significant expansion of the U.S. air campaign in Iraq and the reported massacre of scores of minority Yazidi men. Read the story

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, others cry partisan foul over felony indictment

Mark Z. Barabak, who covers state and national politics out of San Francisco, writes, "Perry denied any wrongdoing and said he was the victim of a partisan persecution — a notion that drew not just Republican support but the backing of some Democrats and legal analysts." Read the story

Americans rediscovering a taste for hard cider

Shan Li, California economy reporter, writes, "The drink once favored by colonial America has been rediscovered by hipsters nearly a century after Prohibition helped kill the cider buzz." Read the story