Experience

The Florida Times-Union I Jacksonville.com

• United States
• Newspaper Publishing
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Metro columnist

  • Jan 2019 - Present

  Write a twice-weekly metro column, assist with in-depth reporting efforts and editing, represent The Florida Times-Union before civic groups, classrooms and in other public speaking engagements.

• Government and enterprise reporter

  • Oct 2013 - Dec 2018

  Part of a team that covered Jacksonville city government, the largest municipal government in Florida. Responsible for day-to-day coverage, weekend enterprise stories and long-term investigative projects.



Pensacola News Journal

• United States
• Newspaper Publishing
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Government and watchdog reporter

  • Apr 2012 - Oct 2013

  I handled day-to-day coverage of Escambia County and City of Pensacola governments and led on all government watchdog reporting. I also wrote a weekly metro column on local politics that included reported commentary and analysis. In a typical week, I'd write four or five daily stories, including an A1 Sunday piece that went in-depth on the controversy of the week, plus one column each Thursday. Pensacola, at the far western edge of the Florida Panhandle, is a region with a rich history of public corruption and government dysfunction. The job required keeping tabs on Pensacola City Hall and the Escambia County Commission - government agencies that represented an area of about 500,000 residents. In my time there, a scathing U.S. Department of Justice report on unacceptable conditions in the county jail ignited a war between the sheriff and the county commission over who would control and reform the facility. The county and city governments were still struggling through the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, which squeezed local budgets. The State Attorney made the remarkable decision to force the local chamber of commerce to open its books to public inspection, following our reporting on the chamber board's scandalous decision to fire the organization's former CEO in the backroom of a local tavern. And city and county officials often descended into recrimination and personal scandal when faced with tough decisions over growth management and economic development. Show less



Daily Comet

• United States
• Writing and Editing
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Reporter

  • Jul 2010 - Mar 2012

  I covered parish and city government for a small afternoon daily newspaper in Lafourche Parish - a bayou community about an hour south of New Orleans - which entailed writing about everything from tropical storms to oil spills, murders and small-town corruption. That part of the world is rural but not quiet: It is heavily dependent on massive federal flood-control infrastructure, which required us to scrutinize decisions being made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - an agency with the power to protect a small community or surrender it to the Gulf. My time in South Louisiana also overlapped with the BP oil spill and its fallout. Our coverage area was ground zero for the economic and environmental devastation that followed. We were charged with making sense of the impenetrable bureaucracy of the oil-spill claims process while capturing the fury and confusion of local residents who had lost their livelihoods. I was there, too, for the once-a-decade redistricting process, when the Voting Rights Act still required local officials to submit maps for everything from congressional boundaries to dog catcher to the U.S. Department of Justice. The job expectations included one, preferably two, stories per day, plus news briefs as needed. Weekend and night work was required, as was general assignment reporting in addition to regular beat coverage. Reporters were expected to produce centerpiece-worthy stories for A1 multiple times per week, as well as contribute to special sections, help write obituaries, and rotate responsibility for writing weekly features. Editors also expected reporters to pitch and complete impactful enterprise and investigative reporting on their assigned beats. Show less



Chicago Tribune Media Group

• United States
• Newspaper Publishing
• 700 & Above Employee

• Editorial board intern

  • Jun 2009 - Aug 2009

  I was an intern with the Chicago Tribune's editorial board in the summer of 2009. I assisted with research and reporting to support editorial staff writers; helped write editorials; contributed to the board's discussion about editorial positions to take on state, local and national issues; and edited letters to the editor. I was an intern with the Chicago Tribune's editorial board in the summer of 2009. I assisted with research and reporting to support editorial staff writers; helped write editorials; contributed to the board's discussion about editorial positions to take on state, local and national issues; and edited letters to the editor.