Selected Articles:
The Atavist Magazine
A Harvard-trained lawyer was convicted of committing bizarre home invasions. Psychosis may have compelled him to do it. But in a case that became a public sensation, he wasn’t the only one who seemed to lose touch with reality.
(Winner of a 2022 Excellence in Journalism Award in longform storytelling from the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California chapter and a 2023 Greater Bay Area Journalism Award from the San Francisco Press Club. )
Among the Undercover Inflation Trackers
The New Yorker
A trip to the store with one of the secretive bureaucrats who fan out across America recording how much the price of milk or doggy day care has risen.
The New Yorker
Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, a YouTuber from Kyiv started live streaming calls to strangers across the border.
Can Guaranteed Income Help Americans Escape Poverty?
Marie Claire
Ciara McDonald, a single mother of three in Jackson, Mississippi, received $1,000 a month for a year — no strings attached. Here’s what happened.
Mother Jones
Alaska's universal basic income program is beloved and effective. So why is its future at risk?
(Winner of a 2018 "Best in Business Award" from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing and a 2019 Excellence in Journalism Award in longform storytelling from the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California chapter.)
Learning to Cook My Mother's Borscht Helped Get Me Through Quarantine
Elle.com
On cooking my mom's recipes for the first time during the pandemic, and grappling with mortality.
Pacific Standard
How a tech geek is using machine learning to hold human rights abusers accountable.
San Francisco Magazine
A father has spent two years behind bars on the brink of deportation. A new team of public defenders is his only hope.
Forbes
Elisa Stephens and her family built an $800 million fortune converting student loans into questionably valuable art degrees and pouring the profits into San Francisco real estate. After two decades of blistering growth, her empire of false hopes is finally facing regulatory glare.
(Cited in the City of San Francisco's May 2016 lawsuit against Academy of Art University.)
Forbes
Liz Elting founded one of America's leading translation companies with her boyfriend from business school. But nearly 20 years after calling off their engagement, the ex-lovers are waging an ugly battle for control that's landed them in corporate divorce court and may cost them their billion-dollar baby.
Forbes
How a nomadic Syrian orphan became one of France's richest men.
The Ruling That Could Change Everything For Disabled People With Million-Dollar Trusts
The Village Voice
A pissed-off judge, a $3 million inheritance and a neglected autistic man.
Contractor Blacklisted By World Bank Still Gets Millions In Work
The Washington Post
How a company using a rented mailbox in Chicago got millions of dollars from international agencies and the U.S. government, despite official allegations of lying and repeated sanctions.
(A longer version appeared in The Center For Public Integrity.)
Fake Visits And Unnoticed Deaths At Agency Serving The Vulnerable
City Limits / The New York World
For years, overloaded caseworkers at New York City's Adult Protective Services have struggled and sometimes failed to provide mandated services to the city's most vulnerable residents. At least twice, those failures contributed to the death of a client.
Troubled Group Homes Escape State Scrutiny
Miami Herald
How hundreds of unlicensed assisted living facilities operate off the radar of Florida authorities.
Jobless Find Hope In NYCHA's Post-Sandy Cleanup
City Limits
For some public housing residents, the disaster brought a silver lining: a long-awaited paycheck and redress of housing issues that long preceded the hurricane.
6 Ways To Get More Credit Card Rewards Without Wrecking Your Finances
Cosmopolitan