In March 2022, I delivered a deep dive for POLITICO Europe into how big tech companies are beefing up their legal and lobbying teams in Europe as they prepare for a tougher regulatory environment. I also scooped competitors when I reported that the same firms had boosted their lobbying spending in Brussels just as talks over new tech rules were heating up.
After a deadly bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy, in August 2018, my colleague and I investigated, for Dow Jones Newswires, Autostrade per l’Italia SpA’s investment in the toll-road network it manages. Autostrade manages about half of Italy’s roughly 4,000-mile-long highway network, including the bridge that collapsed last week, claiming 43 lives. We found that the company had reduced investment by two-thirds over the past six years.
For The WSJ, I traveled to southern Italy to investigate the plight of African laborers and, with colleagues in Europe and Africa, I wrote a front-page investigation into a high-profile trial of an alleged migrant smuggling kingpin.
For The Washington Post, I co-authored the front-page investigation “Probable Cause,” which looked at how police officers in Washington, D.C. secure and execute residential search warrants. We found that, pursuing drugs and guns on scant evidence, D.C. police sometimes raid wrong homes — terrifying the innocent. The story was published in March 2016. It was one of the best criminal justice stories in 2016, according to nonprofit news organization The Marshall Project, which focuses on the U.S. criminal justice system.
At the Post, I also contributed to two enterprise, data-driven stories. The first one was published in January 2015, the second ran in March 2015.
In May 2015, Reveal and WAMU published “Assault on Justice,” to which I contributed with my colleagues at the Investigative Reporting Workshop. The report won several national awards, including an AP award for Outstanding Enterprise Reporting and the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize.
In June 2016, the Investigative Reporting Workshop published my “New Journalism Ecosystem Thrives Worlwide,” a yearlong research on nonprofit newsrooms around the world. Te work is a core part of “The New Newsrooms,” which was awarded the 2016 Research about Journalism prize by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Big Tech gears up for tougher regulatory environment in Europe
The largest tech companies in the world are beefing up their legal and lobbying teams in Europe as the regulatory environment steadily becomes less friendly toward Big Tech.
Big Tech boosts lobbying spending in Brussels
The world’s largest tech companies increased their spending for lobbying activities in Brussels last year as discussions over new and far-reaching tech rules were heating up.
Exclusive – Autostrade Highway Investment Reduced Before Genoa Bridge Collapse
Atlantia SpA’s (ATL.MI) highway arm, thrust into the spotlight by last week’s deadly bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy, reduced investment in the toll-road network it manages by two-thirds over the past six years, company statements show.
The news of Autostrade per l’Italia SpA’s waning investment comes against a backdrop of a general decrease in spending on Italy’s highway system, at a time when the country faces the challenge of adapting its decades-old infrastructure to current traffic volumes.
A Migrant Smuggling Kingpin Is on Trial—What If He’s the Wrong Man?
For several years, as Europe’s migration crisis grew, investigators pursued one of the world’s most wanted people smugglers, a fugitive know as “the general” for the efficiency of his network. […] A year on, a growing stack of evidence suggests that one of the biggest trafficking manhunts in Europe got the wrong guy.
Migrants Reap a Bitter Harvest in Italy’s Orange Fields
In Italy’s orange belt, a crash in citrus prices is colliding with Europe’s migration crisis.
The best countries to be a Social Entrepreneur 2016
I was lead reporter and data journalist on a project on social enterprises worldwide. I coordinated a team that included interns and reporters; helped draft a survey; analyzed the data and wrote the main story.
Probable Cause, The Washington Post
Front-page story of The Washington Post on March 6, 2016. This year-long investigation looks at how police officers in Washington, D.C., secure and execute residential search warrants.
Pursuing drugs and guns on scant evidence, D.C. police sometimes raid wrong homes — terrifying the innocent.
New Journalism Ecosystem Thrives Worldwide, Investigative Reporting Workshop
Nonprofit muckrakers have gone global, and I followed them for a year. Let me tell you how a “New Journalism Ecosystem Thrives Worlwide”
Assault on Justice
A five-month investigation by WAMU 88.5 News and the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, co-produced by Reveal, documented and analyzed nearly 2,000 cases with charges of assaulting a police officer. The results raise concerns about the use or overuse of the charge. Some defense attorneys see troubling indicators in these numbers, alleging that the law is being used as a tactic to cover up police abuse and civil-rights violations. For this story, my colleagues and I researched more than 2,000 cases of assaulting a police officer charges in the District of Columbia Courts from January 2012 through December 2014, analyzed them and built a database.
Shaken Science – A Disputed Diagnosis Imprisons Parents, The Washington Post
Front-page story of The Washington Post on March 22, 2015. This year-long investigation looks at how prosecutors build murder cases on disputed Shaken Baby Syndrome diagnosis. It is the second investigation I contributed to at The Washington Post. I read scores of media accounts, court, police and medical records, and conducted interviews with lawyers.
Broken by the Bubble, The Washington Post
On Jan. 26, 2015, the first investigation I contributed to was the front-page story of The Washington Post. It is the second part in a series looking at the plight of the black middle class, particularly in Maryland’s Prince George’s County (United States)