Beenish Ahmed
Criminal Justice ReporterBeenish Ahmed is Michigan Public's Criminal Justice reporter. Since 2016, she has been a reporter for WNYC Public Radio in New York and also a freelance journalist. Her stories have appeared on NPR, as well as in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, VICE and The Daily Beast. Additionally, Beenish spent two years in Islamabad, Pakistan, working with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, covering the country’s first democratic transition of power as well as Pakistan's education system.
Much of her reporting has focused on covering under-reported stories and adding nuance to major headlines. That included covering stories related to DACA and the #MeToo movement as well as reporting on the personal challenges Muslims in metro Detroit faced in taking a public stand against President Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban.”
She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and has a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge. She was also a Spencer Fellow at the Columbia School of Journalism in New York, and an NPR Kroc Fellow.
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It's still unclear how much or when people enrolled in SNAP will get benefits this month. Thursday night a judge ordered the Trump administration to fully fund the food stamp benefits. But the administration has already appealed. -
As a lifeline for low-income families, Head Start programs provide vital assistance with childcare, health support, and educational resources, but a prolonged government shutdown threatens to disrupt these essential services. -
Voters in Southfield will decide between longtime incumbent Kenson Siver and former city council president Sylvia Jordan in the nonpartisan race for the city’s next mayor. -
Through workshops and discussions, Congregation T’chiyah in Ferndale has been grappling with their views of Israel, with many coming to disavow the version of Zionism they once held sacrosanct. -
When the federal government unexpectedly withheld $1.3 billion in funding for summer and afterschool programs last month, program leaders across the country were left scrambling to keep operating. -
Current mayor, Kenson Siver is running against former longtime city council member and entrepreneur Sylvia Jordan as well as Ryan Foster, who previously worked in various fields including for the Michigan Department of Corrections. -
Israeli bombings have left thousands of children in Gaza without limbs. One of them has come to Flint to be fitted a prosthetic leg through the nonprofit HEAL Palestine. -
The dismissals for those charged in relation to a “Festifall” protest mean that all 11 of the pro-Palestinian protesters charged by the state attorney general have now been cleared. -
Attorney General Dana Nessel's office dropped trespassing charges against students charged with trespassing during a May 2024 raid on an encampment on U of M's campus. -
In a major reversal, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office moved to dismiss felony charges against seven pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan Monday.
