Reparation Generation is helping Black Detroit residents purchase a home and trace their ancestral roots.

A growing reparations initiative in Detroit, Michigan, is helping Black residents access funding for homeownership and trace their ancestral roots.

After appointing its first executive director, Christian Harris, last year, Reparation Generation — a group dedicated to building Black wealth and supporting data for a potential federal reparations program — is expanding its impact. The organization recently selected six new recipients for its third round of homeownership grants, with each receiving $25,000 in down payment assistance, home-related expenses, and genealogy research support.

“I’m looking to build a legacy through home ownership and build generational wealth,” Stephanie Coney, a 2023 recipient, told the Detroit Free Press. “What better way to do it than with home ownership?”

The program helped Coney overcome the challenges of buying a home and achieve a major milestone. Along with purchasing her first house, she was able to trace her family lineage back to the late 1800s and learn just how close her ancestors were to slavery.

“You’re the recipient for not just you, but for your ancestors who paid the price for you to be here,” Coney said.

Founded in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder, Reparation Generation is a national nonprofit helping Black descendants of enslaved people in metro Detroit achieve homeownership and trace their ancestry. Initially self-funded, it now raises money from individuals, foundations, and corporations, redistributing wealth from those who’ve benefited from systemic harms to Black homebuyers.

One contributor, Joni Tedesco, a white Detroit native, saw her family build generational wealth through her father’s military service and the GI Bill — a privilege often denied to Black veterans, contributing to a lasting racial wealth gap. After learning about Reparation Generation last year through a church group, she became actively involved, hosting home meetings to raise awareness and, with her husband, Jim, contributing monthly to the organization’s $25,000 homeownership grants.

“This really struck home to me, the whole idea of helping with reparations in a way that helps provide people the opportunity to obtain housing,” Tedesco said.

Since 2022, 12 metro Detroit residents have become homeowners through the program. The third-round application ran from Sept. 1–10. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, Black descendants of enslaved people (with ancestry traceable in the 1870–1900 census or linked to the South through the 1940s), identify as Black in the 2020 census, reside in Wayne, Oakland, or Macomb counties, and commit to buying a home in the area.

Accepted applicants complete orientation, including homebuyer education and a financial readiness assessment, and apply via an official link. Applications are sorted by Detroit median family income to ensure income diversity, then randomly selected within categories. Selected participants schedule genealogy and financial consultations, while others join a waitlist. Enrollees have 120 days to purchase a home, after which the $25,000 grant is wired to an escrow account. Participants also commit to two years of program evaluations.

“Families will see a different future for themselves and for their children and I think that it will also have a broader impact on the community,” said Glenda Price, a Reparation Generation’s board member.

Robert and David Bintz, the brothers released after serving nearly 25 years in prison for a Green Bay murder, were each awarded $25,000 amount from the State of Wisconsin Claims Board.

$25,000 is the maximum statutory compensation the Wisconsin Claims Board can award.

Also, the Bintz brothers were awarded money for their attorney fees, which were around $130,000 each.

Compensations greater than $25,000 need to be approved by state legislature. Both brothers were seeking $2 million each from the legislature. The claims board recommended the legislature to further compensate $1 million to each brother.

In 2000, the Bintz brothers were found guilty in connection to the 1987 murder of Sandra Lison and were sentenced to life in prison.

In 2019, The Great North Innocence Project stepped in with hopes of proving the brothers' innocence.

In 2023, the organization reached out to Ramapo College for assistance in analyzing the evidence through Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG).

Within two days, a team involving six students found a lead revealing now-deceased William Hendricks as the potential suspect. According to criminal records, Hendricks had a violent criminal history.

The IGG center, using public DNA testing, found genetic connections through Hendrick's cousins. Hendrick's body was exhumed, tested and a match was found.

The Bintz brothers were set free in September of 2024.

Michael Carbo, age 57, has again been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty by a second jury for the 1986 rape and murder of Nancy Daugherty according to St. Louis County Attorney Kim Maki.

Carbo was first indicted by a Grand Jury in April 2022, for the rape and murder of Daugherty in her home in Chisholm after genetic genealogy pointed law enforcement to Carbo through his DNA left at the crime scene, explained the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office.

“In a divided opinion dated May 8, 2024, the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed Mr. Carbo’s conviction, finding that Mr. Carbo should have been allowed to present limited alternative-perpetrator evidence,” further explained the office.

A second jury trial was conducted in January 2025, and this jury also found Carbo guilty on both counts.

The jury determined that Carbo, when was 18-years-old, attacked 38-year-old Nancy Daugherty at her home wehre she lived alone.

“When questioned by law enforcement, Mr. Carbo denied knowing Ms. Daugherty or ever being inside her residence.  However, during the second trial he testified that he must have had a consensual sexual encounter with Ms. Daughtery, despite having no memory of it,” continued a release from the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office.

Carbo’s sentencing was delayed when Carbo challenged the jury’s conviction in district court.

“The family of Ms. Daugherty has shown the greatest strength and courage throughout this process, even though it has been extraordinarily long and painful,” said County Attorney Maki. “They endured uncertainty, frustration, and hardship, yet their resolve never wavered.”

“While no sentence can erase the harm done, this outcome marks a meaningful step toward justice. It sends a clear message that delays do not equal impunity: those who commit crimes will be held responsible,” continued County Attorney Maki.

MyHeritage’s ever-growing historical record count has recently jumped by an incredible 1.2 billion — with records added across 24 new and updated collections from the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, the U.K., Spain, and Poland. What makes this update especially exciting is how many of the new records are newspaper-related. Newspapers are full of rich stories, elusive vital record substitutes, and names that might not show up anywhere else. These records are packed with searchable details like relationships, residences, occupations, and full article summaries.  Check it out at https://myheritage.com.

The Grantsburg Area (Wisconsin) Historical Society (GAHS) invites all to attend a program on genealogy by guest speaker, Jill Fuller, from the Wisconsin Historical Society at the Grantsburg Public Library, at 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16.

Do you want to find out about your family's history but don't know where to start? This program will present the basics of genealogy research so you can confidently start your own family history project.

Fuller will walk through the research process, demonstrating how to set a research goal, locate records, analyze evidence, and share your findings.

Find out how the Wisconsin Historical Society's collections can also help those involved in genealogy research.

There will be short presentation at the end of Fuller’s program about the resources available in the GAHS History Room and how GAHS volunteers can help those seeking information on family genealogy and the history of the community.

Refreshments will be served after the program.

A 33-year-old cold case in Portland has been solved. Workers clearing brush near the St. Johns Bridge in North Portland found skeletonized human remains. Testing over the years failed to identify the remains until DNA genealogy was conducted. Investigators identified the person they thought might be the brother and a DNA test confirmed the remains were Bryant Deane. He was around 39-years-old when he died. His parents died in 2017 and 2019, not knowing what happened to their son. They left a space for him on their headstone, so he can now be laid to rest with his family.

Lisa Medina

The Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society invites the community to hear a presentation titled Mexican Genealogy Research: Civil & Church Records and Beyond, 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 18.

The talk, which is free to attend, will be given by Lisa Medina, a professional genealogist and lecturer, at the Genealogical Society meeting,

Participants will discover the essentials of Mexican genealogy research including language resources, naming conventions, and key civil and church records, while exploring lesser-used sources, such as newspapers, immigration files, and colonial records, according to the Genealogical Society.

Examples from early Santa Barbara families will illustrate how these resources bring family history to life.

Medina is a professional genealogist, who applies her background in teaching to all of her presentations. She is an alum of several genealogical institutes and education programs (ProGen, SLIG, Gen-Fed); her research expertise is in Mexican genealogy.

Medina is the director of admissions and university registrar at a California State University.

Doors open at 9:30 a.m. for refreshments and informal discussions with the society’s special interest groups, covering a variety of topics from getting started in genealogy to writing family histories.

A short business meeting begins at 10:30 a.m., followed by Medina’s presentation.

The Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society helps people discover, document, share, and preserve their family histories. An all-volunteer organization, the society operates a research library with 16,000+ books and a computer lab offering access subscription genealogy websites.

Annual memberships start at $40. Learn more and join at SBGen.org.

FRIDAY 24th OCTOBER from 10am – 4pm

Join us for a Family History Fair at Central Library on Friday 24 October 2025, between 10am and 4pm!

Come along to talk to experts from the following organisations who will be on hand to introduce their collections and answer questions about using materials to search for missing details in your family history.

We’ll be joined by:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Edinburgh Central Library – Edinburgh and Scottish Collection and Digital Teams

Edinburgh City Archives

Historic Environment Scotland

National Library of Scotland

National Records of Scotland and Scotland’s People

National War Museum Library

Scottish Genealogy Society

and The Royal Scots

There will also be a series of presentations held throughout the day. Both the day and talks are free to attend, but the talks should be booked in advance via TicketSource.

Read the full Family History Fair programme on the blog at https://zurl.co/mQieA

We hope to see you there!

Image: Photograph of group of children, Newhaven, c. 1921, © The City of Edinburgh Council Museums and Galleries

In December 1984, the body of 16-year-old Theresa Fusco was found buried under leaves in a wooded area near the roller-skating rink where she had worked in Lynbrook, in Nassau County, New York. Several law enforcement agencies responded and began collecting evidence and investigating. They determined her body had been there for weeks and she had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Three men were later convicted of the murder, but DNA testing unavailable in the 1980s found that someone other than the three had committed the killings and they were exonerated in 2005.

In 2023, the Nassau County Office of the Medical Examiner, working with the FBI, submitted forensic evidence to Othram in The Woodlands, Texas to determine if advanced DNA testing could help identify the suspect. Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from the provided evidence and then used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the unknown suspect.

Once the profile was created, it was provided to the FBI’s forensic genetic genealogy team, who worked to develop new leads in the case using forensic genetic genealogy.

With this new information, a follow-up investigation was conducted leading investigators to potential relatives of the suspect. This investigation led to the positive identification of the suspect, who is now known to be Richard Bilodeau, 63, of Center Moriches, a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York. He was indicted on two counts of murder on October 14, 2025.

Individuals who have taken a consumer DNA test can aid ongoing forensic investigations by joining the DNASolves database. Expanding the pool of available DNA profiles increases the likelihood of successful identifications, helping to reunite families with their missing loved ones and resolve cases that have remained unsolved for years.

The identification of Richard Bilodeau represents the 16th case in the State of New York where officials have publicly identified an individual using technology developed by Othram. Visit DNASolves to learn about other New York cases where your support can help bring long-awaited answers to families.

Credit: Othram

In September 1964, 50-year-old Catherine Bik Blackburn was sexually assaulted and murdered in her home on Colonie Street in Albany, New York. Several law enforcement agencies responded, including the Albany Police Department, and a homicide investigation was opened. Investigators collected a significant amount of evidence, including blood samples, a footprint in the yard, and slips of paper believed to be connected to the killer. Blackburn, a foreman at the Fuller Brush Company, rented out a room in her home and was separated from her husband, who was an Air Corps veteran working in Japan.

Investigators learned that Blackburn had recently cancelled newspaper ads to rent out the room and painted the rental unit the same weekend she was killed. Investigators found a slip of paper with the same numbers as the house, "117" and receipt torn from Catherine's receipt book. Investigators were able to read the name on the missing receipt by examining pen impressions on the next sheet of paper in the book. That name did not lead to any known person and was determined to likely be fictitious. Despite an extensive investigation that went on for years, the case went cold and no suspect was identified.

In 2023, the Albany Police Department, working with the FBI, submitted forensic evidence to Othram in The Woodlands, Texas to determine if advanced DNA testing could help identify the suspect. Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from the provided evidence and then used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the suspect. Once the profile was created, it was provided to the FBI’s forensic genetic genealogy team, who worked to develop new leads in the case using forensic genetic genealogy.

With this new information, a follow-up investigation was conducted leading investigators to potential relatives of the suspect. The potential suspect, who had died in 1998, was exhumed and DNA was collected and compared to the DNA from the 1964 crime scene. This investigation led to the positive identification of the suspect, who is now known to be Joseph Nowakowski, born in 1931.

Nowakowski died in 1998 after several stints in prison, according to officials. He was convicted of a similar assault of an elderly woman in Schenectady in 1973 and officials believe that Nowakowski is likely connected to other criminal cases in the area.

Advanced DNA testing at Othram was made possible through a grant from Season of Justice, a nonprofit dedicated to providing funding to investigative agencies and families to help solve cold cases.

This case is a reminder that every piece of preserved evidence has the potential to unlock long-awaited answers. If you would like to support efforts to solve more cases like this, consider contributing your DNA data to the DNASolves database which aids law enforcement in identifying suspects and giving families the answers they deserve.

The identification of the suspect represents the 14th case in the State of New York where officials have publicly identified an individual using technology developed by Othram.