I studied biology and communication at Illinois Tech in Chicago before working for a regional daily newspaper in central Illinois. After that, I covered Illinois state government and politics for the State Journal-Register as part of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield. After school, I spent time doing data and visuals at Government Technology, a magazine specializing in covering the ways state and local governments use information infrastructure in the 21st century.
Currently, I'm a reporter for Capitol News Illinois, a non-profit newsroom covering state government and politics in my home state. There, I blend traditional reporting, data methods and visual journalism.
I have produced award winning work analyzing the effects of stimulus programs during the pandemic, conducted academic research into rising levels of gun violence across the state and done watchdog journalism about school boards, special taxing districts, city councils, courts, state agencies and the Illinois legislature. I have also written about community events, protests, activist movements and small businesses. I've lived in rural towns and big cities.
In short: there are many things that I understand about the ways communities and governments work because I've been there, I've seen it and I've spoken with people at the center of the story.
My writing, regardless of where you read it, always goes through my own reporting process and an external editing process.
I get the information I share from interviews with people affected by whatever topic I'm covering, consulting with experts, reviewing publicly available data or speaking directly to those in power. As much as possible, I rely on my own first-hand knowledge of a situation from seeing something happen directly. When I rely on other sources, I identify them.
Every story requires different research. Some take a few phone calls to trusted sources and some take months of knocking on doors and reading hundreds of pages of public records.
Everything that I've published has also gone through an editing process. This looks different at every outlet, but always consists of at least one person, often multiple, reviewing my work to ensure it is accurate, that everything I say is well supported and that my writing is stylistically consistent.
After publication, I correct my errors and update my stories when I learn more information.
I write about democracy in action. I often speak with people who believe things very passionately. Frequently, the people I talk to disagree with each other. Sometimes they disagree with facts I've independently observed, leaving me to sort out what's actually happening. This has led to me having a deeper understanding of the topics I cover than most people. Over the years, I've come to believe certain things about government, politics and power.
In speaking to thousands of people about issues that are important to them, I've realized that people are generally kind, hard-working and honest. More harm is caused by bad policies, honest mistakes and broken systems than individual wrongdoers.
That said, sometimes people act in ways that go against the public interest. I have watched families of murder victims describe the pain they have experienced, have documented politicians lying to gain power and seen what mismanaged government programs can mean for marginalized communities.
These kinds of things erode people's trust in civil society and erode their trust in each other, especially when they are directly affected by them. A healthy democratic society requires people to believe actions like this should have consequences.
These consequences are only possible if people have a shared, factual understanding of the world. Reasonable debate about a subject requires a common understanding of truth, one that is based on empirical evidence.
Open government and transparent business practices lead to it being more difficult for abuses of power to happen unchecked.
These beliefs don't change my reporting process, but they do influence what I find interesting and how I choose what to write about. If you disagree with anything I've said, that's okay! You can still rely on me to give you factual information. If you think I've made a mistake somewhere and published something that was wrong, let me know.
If you'd like to read some of my stories, I've collected some examples of my work. I've also collected some of my favorite photos that I've taken. You can see my latest work at Capitol News Illinois.
If you'd like to reach me about my work, either because you'd like to share information with me or work with me, feel free to reach out to me via email or phone (+1/312/291/1417). You can find my PGP public key or send me an encrypted message here.
Here is a link to my LinkedIn profile if you want to find me there.
You can also find me on X, where I post things about data and politics.