What is the impact of Act 10 on public education in Wisconsin? What’s keeping us from accessing government records that should be open to the public? Why is it that the authorities lose track of fugitives on probation or parole? Where do Milwaukee and Chicago rank among U.S. cities with the most lethal shootings? And what’s the connection between Marquette University, Milwaukee and the Pulitzer Prize, the highest honor in journalism, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary?

Each fall, Marquette’s Diederich College of Communication aims to convene people affected by or responsible for the systems and policies related to vital public matters. It does so by presenting the work and research done by our O’Brien Fellows – journalists who spend a year working with students at Marquette on major journalism projects that reveal solutions as they uncover problems.

This year’s O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism conference will be held on Thursday, Oct. 13, from 4 – 7 p.m., and Friday, Oct. 14, from 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. It will feature the 2015-16 O’Brien Fellows: Justin George of The Baltimore Sun, Liz Navratil of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, independent journalist Miranda Spivack and Dave Umhoefer of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. George will focus on homicides across the U.S., Navratil on probation and parole systems, Spivack on various open-government laws and practices and Umhoefer on the consequences of Act 10.

To register for the free event, visit http://www.marquette.edu/obrien2016. Participants may attend all of the sessions – or just one or two.