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This was an exclusive I broke on the troubles going on at the attorney general's human trafficking unit that led the once-productive unit's work to dwindle to almost nothing at a time when the crime was on the rise. It was a situation where I knew not many would be willing to speak on record, so I found as many folks as I could to talk on-background to bolster the story. I'm grateful they were willing to trust me because it made the story that much stronger.
This is just the latest example of a story I broke and continue to pursue because I think it's really important at a time when President Donald Trump and other Republicans have spread false claims of rampant voter fraud. In this latest iteration, I showed that Attorney General Ken Paxton's voter fraud unit, which had been stymied by a court ruling that stymied its ability to file criminal cases, was still taking in millions and accomplishing very little.
See above description.
This was the original piece that started them all. It was about the time when the unit started receiving record-high increases to its budget, and this was a major political issue at the time because President Donald Trump and Attorney General Ken Paxton were spreading the notion that voter fraud was rampant.
This was the first story in a series about lack of access to paid parental leave in Texas. I found that the Republican-led Legislature had rejected a statewide parental leave program in favor of a private insurance model, but when I looked into it, I learned just a few companies had signed up to offer the policies.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This was a feature that I pitched about the right-wing groups in San Bernardino County for whom the Dec. 2 shootings provided a "told you so" moment. The county has strong conservative undertones despite being part of a largely blue state.
In this analysis, I sought to answer the question of "Where did $340 million in turf replacement rebate money go?" and honed in on Los Angeles County. After gathering and analyzing the data (mainly in MySQL), I wrote a story and created an interactive map to go with it. The package ran as a California section centerpiece.
I wrote this feature on Powerball fever that ran A1.
I went on a reporting trip to San Francisco to write this feature story on a mystery contaminant that had killed hundreds of birds and the rescue efforts that ensued.
This was a spot feature I did on a commemoration parade and festival for a deceased mariachi icon. This was one of many times that being a Spanish-speaker came in handy.
I did analysis that produced findings that were the basis of a story and graphic on a disparity in voter turnout. The story ran A1.
I covered the opening of one of the world's largest solar farms and spoke to officials about its meaning for the sustainable energy industry.
As a member of the drought team, I've helped cover California's historic, four-year drought.
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.
My colleagues Jon Schleuss and Maloy Moore digitized hundreds of records and published a database of Los Angeles County's unclaimed, and I helped in reporting on the claiming process and the mass funeral/burial.
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 features legend and editor Bill Duryea.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
This was an exclusive I broke on the troubles going on at the attorney general's human trafficking unit that led the once-productive unit's work to dwindle to almost nothing at a time when the crime was on the rise. It was a situation where I knew not many would be willing to speak on record, so I found as many folks as I could to talk on-background to bolster the story. I'm grateful they were willing to trust me because it made the story that much stronger.
This is just the latest example of a story I broke and continue to pursue because I think it's really important at a time when President Donald Trump and other Republicans have spread false claims of rampant voter fraud. In this latest iteration, I showed that Attorney General Ken Paxton's voter fraud unit, which had been stymied by a court ruling that stymied its ability to file criminal cases, was still taking in millions and accomplishing very little.
See above description.
This was the original piece that started them all. It was about the time when the unit started receiving record-high increases to its budget, and this was a major political issue at the time because President Donald Trump and Attorney General Ken Paxton were spreading the notion that voter fraud was rampant.
This was the first story in a series about lack of access to paid parental leave in Texas. I found that the Republican-led Legislature had rejected a statewide parental leave program in favor of a private insurance model, but when I looked into it, I learned just a few companies had signed up to offer the policies.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
This was a feature that I pitched about the right-wing groups in San Bernardino County for whom the Dec. 2 shootings provided a "told you so" moment. The county has strong conservative undertones despite being part of a largely blue state.
This was a feature story I did about a retired couple that travled 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.
Editors often talk about their desire for reporters to take a mundane story and make it more interesting. This is my an example of my doing so. It was an assignment 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 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.
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 get some color and talk to people about why that might be.
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.
Much of my livetweeting isn't curated like this, so be sure to check out my Twitter feed.