written work & interactives

The Salt Lake Tribune

As water wanes, two Utah towns stop building

This was one of my first bigger stories I wrote for the Tribune. Originally I was planning to write it as a quick piece that this town had paused development, but in talking to some sources at the town, I thought it would be better to go there and get a sense of the area - and how the moratorium was impacting people - in-person. This turned out to be the right choice, and The New York Times decided to write about these two towns just a few weeks after this story was published. Later on, another story I wrote on a community imposing similar restrictions told me they had read this story when they were discussing their own moratorium.

‘I don’t want to die’: Bodycam footage shows Salt Lake City police restraint of woman that led to her death

This was an extremely difficult piece to write. The body camera footage was hard to watch, but I knew it was important to get Mohn’s story out — with additional context of how she died, since it had been months since the confrontation. The cause of death police released was fairly convoluted, even though it was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, so I reached out to an expert on restraint-related deaths to explain what the cause meant. He explained that restraint deaths like these are fairly common.

Law charging woman with hate crime after she stomped on a ‘Back the Blue’ sign could be unconstitutional, law professor says

This story was one of my favorites from the summer I interned. After writing up the original story on the hate crime charge, I still had some questions - and a source I’d found who helped author a recent bill on hate crimes was there with some interesting answers, on a story our audience had already showed interest in.

Black Hawk crash damage totaled $9.23M; Utah National Guard to reevaluate landing near Snowbird

This story followed a helicopter crash that occurred very close a ski hill at Snowbird Ski Resort. The crash didn’t result in any injuries, but video footageshowed that pieces of the wreckage landed near a group of skiers at the bottom of the hill, so I decided to look into why a helicopter would even be landing that close to skiers. Since I stayed on the story beyond the initial crash, I uncovered the cost of the crash amounted to over $9.2 million — and was the result of pilot error. The Utah National Guard also ended up reevaluating all of its helicopter landing zones, or “HLZs,” to “determine their suitability for training operations,” after the story.

The OU Daily

How OU, Cleveland County COVID-19 cases rank against others in Big 12 and what’s key as spring semester starts

This was one of the lengthiest projects I’ve ever worked on. It was also one of the most rewarding after months of data-crunching and spreadsheet work to put the data in terms I and others could understand. This was one of my first real times delving into data journalism, and although taxing, I’m proud of the final project.

OU Evans Hall sit-in: Demonstrators plan to keep fighting after protest ends

Covering a sit-in for 57 hours was the toughest reporting I’ve ever done. News was breaking every other minute as numerous departments and organizations released statements or demands, and as conversations continued between the demonstrators and administration. I covered the first shift of the sit in for four hours, then for the next two days covered the news away from Evans Hall, and wound up at the last four-hour shift when the protest ended. I wanted to write something that would do those 57 hours justice, and explain to our audience what this sit-in actually meant and looked like to the people who participated in it.

OU Gaylord College professor uses racial slur during class in comparison to 'OK, boomer' phrase

This story was odd because the sources were some of my colleagues. The incident happened in a capstone class that is essentially the last journalism class you’re required to take at OU, and it was only taught by one professor. I was a junior at the time, so I wrote the story since I had not been in his class. With careful, thorough reporting, we set the story live with an editor’s note on how it was written. This story also placed first in the 2019-2020 Hearst Breaking News competition.

The Houston Chronicle

Sindy Barnett delivers smiles and a packet of fun at Charlton Park community center

This story was one of my favorites that I wrote over the summer for the Houston Chronicle. It was my first Heroes of COVID-19 assignment, which is a series of mini-profiles done by the Chronicle on individuals who were nominated because they went beyond the call of duty during the pandemic. The woman I spoke to was so genuine that I wanted to be sure I told her story in a way that would bring some peace during a hectic time.

The Enid News & Eagle

911 dispatchers go beyond call of duty

When I was at the Enid Police Department one day over the summer of 2019, we went to get some of the call logs by the 911 office. I was really intrigued by how the operators did their job in an office with dozens of computer monitors, so I decided to sit in on a morning shift and take it all in to write about the day-to-day crises these operators deal with — and the one I was present for.

photography