2018-2022
State government/politics reporter covering legislature, governor, state and federal judiciary, and major/breaking regional news from California and northern Nevada.
Covered three regular and two special legislative sessions, government COVID response, state and federal elections (three cycles); area spot news. economy, local government, and industry (e.g., Tesla, gold/lithium mining).
Produced 100+ stories during each of three 120-day legislative sessions, including daily coverage, weekenders, analyses, and enterprise stories.Clips
2017-2018
Salt Lake City-based reporter covering city (primary), county, and state government and politics. Wrote definitive analysis of controversial legislative priority seizing control of major Salt Lake City-sponsored local economic initiative. Clips
2014-2017
State government/politics correspondent covering legislature, governor, executive agencies; federal officeholders. Covered three legislative sessions, state/federal elections; wrote daily/weekenders and enterprise stories. Frequent panelist on weekly PBS-affiliate televised news program and campaign debates. First reporter in the role to use data-driven analyses in routine coverage on topics including state spending, healthcare expenditures. and excessive costs for debt issuance. Clips
#DATA REPORTING
Idaho lawmakers resisted expanding Medicaid on grounds that they don’t want to make Idaho more reliant on the federal government or have the feds dictate policy. But Idaho already takes billions from Washington. More than one-third of all state spending is federally funded, higher than average for all states and 15th overall. Article
A man who killed three in California had only to drive to Nevada to legally buy the gun he used.
View Story#INVESTIGATION
The semiautomatic rifle a shooter used to kill three people in Gilroy, Calif., is banned for sale in that state. It lists for $700 at a Fallon, Nev., gun dealer where the man legally bought the weapon over the internet. Article
The longest story ever published online at the RJ, and among our most visited links, was our wrap-up of the 2019 legislative session.
View Story#BEAT REPORTING
The longest story ever published online at the Review-Journal ran in two parts in the print edition. A functional session reference, it was among the most visited news story pages ever. Article
A sheriff with a checkered past and present keeps winning election in spite of it.
View Story#INVESTIGATION
The embattled sheriff of a rural Nevada keeps winning re-election amid charges of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination, allegations of sexual crimes, and three confirmed state ethics violations. Article
State lawmakers rolled right over the city’s plans for thousands of acres in its undeveloped northwest.
View Story#BEAT REPORTING #ENTERPRISE
As the 2018 legislative session rushed to a close, leadership of the GOP-controlled body engineered a modern-day land grab to wrest control of a lucrative economic development plan from Democrats in Salt Lake City. Article
Idaho wasted millions of dollars borrowing more than it needed and forgoing competitive bidding.
View Story#INVESTIGATION
A review of the costs of issuing debt in Idaho showed the longtime state treasurer’s practices wasted millions of public dollars financing the borrowings. Article
Religious freedom collides with the state's laws on keeping children safe.
View Story#ENTERPRISE
Idaho’s faith-healing exemption removed penalties for withholding medical assistance in cases where a parent or guardian “chooses for his child treatment by prayer or spiritual means alone.” Lawmakers face the the question of whether First Amendment religious freedoms protect the faithful at the cost of protecting children. Article
#BEAT REPORTING
Idaho dragged its heels on expanding Medicaid coverage as provide for under Obamacare. Opposition to doing it was built on a raft of faulty or flat out wrong assumptions. Article
Open range laws in Western states favor livestock owners, hold motorists liable.
View Story#ENTERPRISE
Those unlucky enough to collide with livestock in the open range are financially liable not only for their injuries and damage to their vehicles, but also for the animal they strike. In Idaho and other Western states, as traditional land uses cede ground to development and people, not everyone thinks that’s a fair deal. Article
Idaho's tax burden is light – and fair – compared to nearby states.
View Story#BEAT REPORTING #DATA REPORTING
Idaho Republicans always want to cut state taxes. But the state’s taxes are already lower, and fairer, than most other states. The state spends less per capita on its residents than any state in the nation. And its stingy spending matches its overall tax burden: it ranks 41st in taxes paid as a percentage of personal income. Article
A 1950s witch hunt targeted gay men in Boise. It still haunts the city.
View Story#ENTERPRISE
In 1955, a county probation officer arrested three men for “immoral acts involving teenage boys.” In McCarthyesque fashion, he alleged hundreds more incidents. Eventually 16 men would be charged in a witch hunt that, decades later, still makes Boiseans squirm. Article
Who are the deep-pocketed corporate patrons contributing to Idaho candidates for office.
View Story#DATA REPORTING
The top corporate contributors to Idaho elections might just be who you thought they’d be in an mostly rural agricultural state with vast natural resources. Article
Lawmakers in Nevada’s second-largest county reject a multi-pronged, legally questionable rewrite of county election procedures […]
At a debate in Reno, Republican governor candidate and Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo appeared, […]
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, an unapologetically left-leaning blogger posted a screenshot of a […]
Could Nevada voters in 2022 follow Virginia’s lead Tuesday, electing Republicans in statewide races next […]
What redistricting means for Nevada, how it’s done, and why you might care. Website link […]
The first-term governor looks ahead to a race that will surf pent-up voter reaction to […]
With global demand for cleaner energy to power cars, smart homes and phones predicted to […]
I teamed up with one of our drone-piloting photogs to produce this video for a […]
The BBC interviewed me and an Arizona reporter on the post-2020 election fracases in our […]
In a state where gold mining dates to the 1830s, two major new deposits could […]
A former county sheriff got caught up in a Reno man’s attempt to abscond with […]
The assailant in a Gilroy, Calif., shooting crossed state lines to buy a semiautomatic rifle […]
Nevada’s 2019 Legislature was the first in the nation to have a female majority, and […]
An embattled sheriff in rural Nevada keeps winning re-election amid charges of workplace sexual harassment […]
I shot and produced this video to go with a story on the Tesla Gigafactory […]
Tesla opened its Gigafactory facility in rural Storey County, Nevada in 2016. Its impact on […]
Democrats cleaned up in Nevada’s midterm elections as the state continued its move into solid […]
The Legislature rolled right over the city’s plans for thousand of acres in its undeveloped […]
At midterm, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski is in a position big city mayors […]
Salt Lake City crime declined for two straight years after a peak in 2015. An […]
A look at the costs of issuing debt in Idaho showed the longtime state treasurer’s […]
Idaho has faith-healing exemptions in state child protection laws that exonerate caregivers who decline medical […]
One bloc of Idaho lawmakers votes consistently against spending money on even the most basic […]
I was an occasional panelist on the weekly Boise PBS news progra “Idaho Reports” for […]
I was interviewed by Rachel Maddow in 2016 when the Idaho Democratic party caucus went […]
Discussing the legislature’s abbreviated debate of Medicaid expansion under Obamacare on Idaho Reports (Boise PBS) […]
Idaho lawmakers like to rail against the federal government, but the state gets a third […]
Open range laws mean if you hit a cow on the road, you’re liable not […]
Idaho lawmakers routinely agitate to cut taxes. But the state’s tax structure is lower — […]
Agriculture, energy, and natural resources corporate interests contribute the most to Idaho campaigns, an analysis […]
The 800-pound gorilla of Idaho’s special interest lobby gets singed by its own scorched-earth approach […]
21 December From the Latin sol, for sun, and sistere, to stand still, comes solstice […]
Tiny Cressona nestles in the Appalachian coal country of southeastern Pennsylvania, about 130 miles […]
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