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AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

  • Log Cabin Republicans push for acceptance in Travis County GOP
  • In this piece, I shed light on the county GOP's internal struggle over whether LGBT or LGBT-supporting individuals are too much at odds with the party platform to serve in leadership roles and what that says about the party's current state. It took time to build trust with sources in order to do this story, but I'm glad my editor allowed me that time and hope it's reflected in the story.

  • Officials stunned to learn of Kyle Housing Authority and its problems
  • This was one of the most unbelievable ineffective-government stories I've ever written. A city housing authority had gone without oversight for potentially decades. The mayor only learned of the agency because he received a letter from the regional HUD office indicating rampant mismanagement and lack of oversight.

  • Martindale roiled by bookkeeper theft charges, fate of police chief
  • This was a story I broke by being present at a dramatic smalltown city council meeting. The District Attorney happened to also be at the meeting and confirmed to me the scoop that the former bookkeeper had been charged with theft of $20,000 from the city. During the meeting, the council was supposed to discuss firing its police chief, which some of the community suspected was retaliation for whistleblowing. The item was later removed from the agenda. This story resulted.

  • Before phishing scam came along, report showed San Marcos at risk
  • This was a watchdog story I broke by obtaining information about a cybersecurity training program that the city paid for but with which it never followed through. Months later, a city employee accidentally fell for a fishing scam and released more than 800 current and former employees' W-2s. The city still does not have a training program, though it says it is in the works.

  • Donated bikes bring delight to refugee children in Austin
  • This was a heartwarming feature I had the opportuntity to report and write about more than 40 refugee children who received free bikes during a giveaway for families using resettlement services from a nonprofit. The story was picked up by the AP.

  • Fewer Mexican shoppers are heading to San Marcos outlet malls
  • This was a business feature I did about a decrease in sales tax revenue that the city attributed to fewer Mexican shoppers at the normally very popular outlet malls. I went to the malls to collect color and talk to people about why that might be.

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

I helped in coverage of Ferguson protests for several afternoons and late nights in downtown Los Angeles in November 2014 by sending reporting feeds and using various forms of social media, including Twitter and Instagram.


I blogged about several panels at the L.A. Times-hosted Festival of Books.


Where's my data desk work?

It can be hard to physically show. On the data desk, there is a lot we did that involved helping other reporters in the newsroom. There is also a lot we created that is used as internal tools for reporters. For example, I worked on updating an internal arrests database (a Django app) to include a new police agency. This project involved loading emails, scraping HTML files, feeding data into the database, adjusting search queries and automating an email to staffers.

TAMPA BAY TIMES

  • The thrill of the sandy hunt is their treasure - Floridian magazine
  • This was a feature story I did about a retired couple that traveled the country in their RV on metal-detecting trips. It was a fun piece to write, and my photo even ran with it in Floridian, the magazine. I was fortunate enough to meet the lovely and talented Lane Degregory, who mentored me through edits on this piece, as well as Bill Duryea.

  • One dead in Largo mobile home fire
  • This was a piece I was able to follow from covering the breaking news story to doing a bit lengthier profile of the deceased woman. It was a valuable learning experience having to contact surviving relatives and talk with them about their lost loved one.

  • Light plane businesses cause controversy on Dunedin Causeway
  • This was a centerpiece I wrote about a controversy over whether to allow amphibious planes on a sliver of beach off an over-water causeway in Clearwater.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

This is a news feature I did about an appreciation ceremony that medical students held to honor body donors. I had the reporting opportunity to witness the acquaintance of a medical student and the son of the man whose cadaver the student had studied.

This was a story I pitched to the politics editor, and it ended up running A1.

This is a news feature I did where I followed one applicant's journey through Chicago's lifeguarding program and detailed the rigorous recruitment and training process.

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC

Editors often talk about their desire for reporters to go above and beyond the confines of an assignment. This is my one example of my doing so. It was a piece for the community section that had been planned as most likely a profile or event coverage on a 91-year-old competitive weightlifter. After speaking to the man and hearing his story, however, I knew we had a lot more there than we expected. Sy's story caught the eye of many, and the article ended up going viral. It was picked up by USA Today, the Associated Press, Drudge Report and more. Jay Leno even mentioned Sy in his monologue that week! The experience was very rewarding, and Sy and I still keep in touch today.

This piece was part of an investigation I prompted at the end of my internship but ran out of time to continue to pursue. This was a city that had recently announced that it misallocated milllions of dollars and was trying to repay some of that money using a development fee. The fee had been outlawed with the exception that it could be used to repay debt. The city was then challenged in court by a home builders' association over whether money owned to oneself counts as debt. FOIAs that I had sent had not been returned properly before I left.

I would consider this to be my first attempt at a literary feature. It reads more like a normal feature, but nevertheless, it was a very fun foray.

This is a news feature I did on one of the largest fireworks companies in the state and how they survived the economic downturn.

THE DAILY HERALD

This was the story that made me realize what a passion I have for investigative journalism. It is still, to this day, one of my proudest and most rewarding reporting moments because it brought on one of the largest investigations the paper did in 2012.

I had been out covering a village board meeting when I learned of a harrassment lawsuit against the local rescue squad that wasn't being covered. I sensed red flags and was given the chance to work with Peter Lisagor Award winner Lee Filas, a senior reporter, on investigating the squad. Despite the limited information we had on their financial activity, we knew even then that money appeared to be missing. We were right.

Our reporting led to city and state involvement, the resignation of top officials and the arrest of one, who pleaded guilty to theft.

This was a story I pitched after stumbling upon an online forum where company owners that worked with this football team were complaining about advertising promises not coming through. I followed up on the claims, and this was the result.

This is an in-depth piece I pitched to my editor after hearing that legislators were going to amend a bill in which they admitted to forgetting to include townships. I knew this story would be applicable to every county, not just the zone my bureau covered, so I called every township in the newspaper's coverage areas, with my editor's consent of course, and wrote this story.

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES MEDIA'S PIONEER PRESS

The Pioneer Press has completely transformed since I worked there, and my clips have disappeared from the interwebs. For some awful quality PDFs of what I have salvaged, read on, but don't say I didn't warn you:


CHICAGO READER


INVESTIGATIVE

  • Officials stunned to learn of Kyle Housing Authority and its problems - Austin American-Statesman
  • This was one of the most unbelievable ineffective-government stories I've ever written. A city housing authority had gone without oversight for potentially decades. The mayor only learned of the agency because he rececived a letter from the regional HUD office indicating rampant mismanagement and lack of oversight.

  • Martindale roiled by bookkeeper theft charges, fate of police chief - Austin American-Statesman
  • This was a story I broke by being present at this dramatic meeting that the District Attorney also attended. Not only did I get the color from that meeting, he also confirmed that the former bookkeeper had been charged with theft of $20,000 from the city. During the meeting, the council was supposed to discuss firing its police chief, which some of the community suspected might have been related to him reporting the bookkeeper's potential wrongdoing (and in turn made them look bad for hiring her). The item was later removed from the agenda. This story resulted.

  • Before phishing scam came along, report showed San Marcos at risk - Austin American-Statesman
  • This was a watchdog story I broke by obtaining information about a cybersecurity training program that the city paid for but with which it never followed through. Months later, a city employee accidentally fell for a fishing scam and released more than 800 current and former employees' W-2s. The city still does not have a training program, though it says it is in the works.

  • Antioch Rescue Squad accused of harassment in lawsuit - Daily Herald
  • Antioch Rescue Squad accused in lawsuit of not paying contractor - Daily Herald
  • This was the story that made me realize what a passion I have for investigative journalism. It is still, to this day, one of my proudest and most rewarding reporting moments because it brought on one of the largest investigations the paper did in 2012.

    I had been out covering a village board meeting when I learned of a harrassment lawsuit against the local rescue squad that wasn't being covered. I sensed red flags and was given the chance to work with Peter Lisagor Award winner Lee Filas, a senior reporter, on investigating the squad. Despite the limited information we had on their financial activity, we knew even then that money appeared to be missing. We were right.

    Our reporting led to city and state involvement, the resignation of top officials and the arrest of one, who pleaded guilty to theft.

  • Funds for Surprise City Hall draw lawsuit - Arizona Republic
  • This piece was part of an investigation I prompted at the end of my internship but ran out of time to continue to pursue. This was a city that had recently announced that it misallocated millions of dollars and was trying to repay some of that money using a development fee. The fee had been outlawed with the exception that it could be used to repay debt. The city was then challenged in court by a home builders' association over whether money owned to oneself counts as debt. FOIAs that I had sent had not been returned properly before I left.

FEATURES

VIDEO

LIVETWEETING