Some of the better investigative pieces I've been involved with, as a reporter and editor.
As energy drilling boomed in the West, there was a corresponding "death boom" among the roughnecks who worked the energy fields. A 2007 investigative/narrative project that won the Sidney Hillman Award for magazine reporting, which recognizes journalism that furthers social and economic justice. The project was also named a finalist for the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and received an honorable mention in the Heywood Broun Award. Ray Ring, winner of the 2006 George Polk Award and one of the best journalists you probably don't know, wrote the story. I edited. The full package.
A 13-month, multipart investigation of how nuclear researchers handled -- and grossly mishandled -- the Cold War's most dangerous radioactive substances at the Hunter's Point naval shipyard in San Francisco. By Lisa Davis, with commentary and editing by me. Winner of the George Polk Award, an Investigative Reporters and Editors certificate and Northwestern/Medill's John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism. The full package
An elegant, exhaustively researched story that provides a simple prescription for reducing wrongful convictions: better journalism about crime and punishment. By Steve Weinberg, a former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors, a lecturer at the University of Missouri and a wide-ranging author of books.
The full story.
While it condemns other nations for nuclear testing, the U.S. plays a semantic game, calling new weapons "old" and spending billions on reconfiguring its nuclear arsenal. Written by David Pasztor, now managing editor of the Texas Observer; edited by me. Won third place in Northwestern University's John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism. The full story
Zipped Up
Two investigative pieces on the Catholic Church's pederasty problem in San Francisco, written by Ron Russell, formerly of the L.A. Times and one of the country's leading journalistic authorities on the scandal. I edited.
Blind Eye article
Zipped Up article
How San Francisco International Airport officials used airport employees and city money -- probably illegally -- in a very odd privatization of Honduras's airports. A finalist in the prestigious Gerald Loeb Awards for business journalism, run by UCLA's Anderson School of Business. By Matt Smith, who in a previous lifetime covered Mexico and Central America for Dow Jones. I edited. The full story
An investigation that showed the Harris County (Houston) DA's Office had filed a criminal charge in a whopping one-half of one percent of the cases referred to it over a three-year period. Who benefited? Oh, Exxon, Mobil Chemical -- the usual suspects. The full story
A Houston Post investigation that showed the city of Houston paying more for food it served to jail inmates than it cost to buy the same or better food at the grocery store. In fact, the city was paying up to 400 percent more than the county paid for its inmate food. The full story