The six people running for mayor in Denver’s 2019 election were fascinating in their differences, from a former Black Panther to the two-term incumbent. I profiled each one, including interviews at their homes. Readers reported that the pieces provided critical perspectives for their decisions. The first official words of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s re-election campaign were defiant. […]
I investigated reports of unsafe conditions at Denver’s largest homeless shelter. Our reporting showed that a lack of coordination among city agencies put hundreds of people at risk of catastrophe. Later, the leader of Denver’s Road Home was transferred and I reported on complaints about his inexperience and leadership style. More recently, a city audit found […]
One of my first larger pieces for The Denver Post, this investigation of Denver’s curfew system involved reviews of court and police records, hours in court and nights on Federal Boulevard. We found a significant and increasing police focus on Latino neighborhoods, due in part to a change in staffing strategy. The city administration has […]
This piece began as a traffic report about a cyclist injured by a driver in a horrific crash. It became a story about how and why human psychology endangers cyclists on the road. Later, Gary Suydam won $52.5 million in a jury verdict. Lisa Suydam waited just before 5 p.m. on a warm winter Friday, wondering […]
I combined maps, analysis and on-the-ground reporting to explain why a flood-control project became immensely controversial in Denver — and to provide realistic answers to residents’ fears. It would start in the streets, water beading together on the pavement of Park Hill and sloughing into the gutters and underground pipes. It might take an hour before […]
This is my first cover story for Westword, Denver’s alt-weekly, published in December 2015, a few months after my arrival here. The regulars on Stoner Hill tell legends about the place. They say the gentle mound’s grassy curve conceals garbage or haunted graves — maybe both. It’s the kind of spot discussed with some reverence […]
This story was my last investigation for The News & Observer. It began late in 2014, when Renee Pinkney showed me evidence that her son, Dontay Jones, was living in unacceptable conditions. Jones has a disability and is a “ward” of Wake County, meaning the government is his legal guardian. Thanks to his mother’s diligent efforts, […]
This story about a massive development proposal first appeared in The News & Observer in 2014. The town of Pittsboro approved Chatham Park’s master plan on June 9, 2014. Above, Pittsboro as it stands today. CHATHAM COUNTY — Bob Epting’s tour-guide narration cut in loudly over the headsets as his Piper Cub droned a few […]
This investigative piece ran in The News & Observer in November 2013. I wrote shortly thereafter about another apparently sedation-related death. The cases prompted the state’s dental authority to re-examine its rules about dental sedation. CARY — Dr. Toni Mascherin’s parting letter to her Cary dental patients said that she was retiring from her long […]
People argued about Jordan Lake before it existed, and they argue about it now. The planners knew 40 years ago that the trouble wouldn’t stop when the dam was built and the churches were relocated, or even when people forgot that someone actually built the 28-mile long lake. They knew more than anything that they’d […]
This ran in The News & Observer. I tried to address an issue that I believe school systems and law-enforcement haven’t caught up with yet: The potential for abuse to go viral through social media, the same way photos and videos can. This new kind of bullying exponentially multiplies the number of people involved, and […]
A different edit of this story appeared in The Cary News and The News & Observer in January 2013. I had first heard of Michael Mendy’s case a year earlier, through his obituary, when the reasons for his death still were unclear. In the months afterward, his doctors and his mother realized the awful rarity […]