Things we explored and loved this week

At America Tonight, we set out to bring you coverage of urgent, important and underreported issues -- even if we didn't report it ourselves. Here are a few of our favorite stories from other news organizations this week:

The Pentagon's transgender problem (Mother Jones)

New studies suggest that transgender civilians are twice as likely to enlist, and transgender veterans are 20 times as likely to commit suicide.

The Racial Dot Map: One Dot Per Person for the Entire United States (Coopercenter.org)

This map is an American snapshot; it provides an accessible visualization of geographic distribution, population density, and racial diversity of the American people in every neighborhood in the entire country. The map displays 308,745,538 dots, one for each person residing in the United States at the location they were counted during the 2010 Census. Each dot is color-coded by the individual's race and ethnicity.

Chicago Under the Gun (Chicago Tribune)

Tribune photographers chronicle violent crime in this ongoing special visual report

Rebuilding a city by selling homes for $1 (CNNMoney)

The city of Gary, Ind., is running a real estate fire sale: A dozen homes for $1 each. The catch: "They need work," said Gary's mayor, Karen Freeman-Wilson. "It's up to the homeowners to provide the sweat equity."

Can you solve Slate’s gerrymandering jigsaw puzzle?

Sure, gerrymandering may be a way for parties to gain unfair political advantage at the cost of true democracy, but who doesn’t love the crazy congressional district shapes it makes?

American tells of odyssey as prisoner of Syrian rebels (The New York Times)

Photographer Matthew Schrier shared his story of being kidnapped, interrogated, robbed and beaten by rebels in Syria.

When the torture ended Mr. Schrier could not walk. His captors, he said, dragged him to his cell. He remembers their parting phrase: "Have you heard of Guantánamo Bay?"

Spot an interesting or underreported story that deserves more attention? Tweet us @AmericaTonight.