Some stories remind you that accountability takes a very long time.

Yesterday, the House and Senate voted to release the so-called Epstein Files . For years, people have demanded to know who enabled Jeffrey Epstein, who looked away, and who decided that protecting a powerful man mattered more than protecting the children he harmed. Even now, it is unclear how much we will really learn. It has taken almost two decades just to reach this point.

I used to think that kind of silence was impossible in a local community. How could people close ranks around someone who hurt a child? How could civic leaders decide that keeping a reputation intact mattered more than the 15-year-old girl whose life was shattered?

Then I spent half the fall reporting on the Joshua Headley case in Auburn. And now

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