Investigative Journalist in Houston, Texas
This is a cool tool for history buffs: Google unveiled a vast, searchable archive of Life Magazine for all 1,860 issues from 1936 to 1972. Run a search for “San Antonio” and you’ll find all kinds of stories and photos: A 1938 feature story about Thomas Jefferson High School, with photos of its ROTC classes … Read more
Randy Bear, one of the more thoughtful bloggers in the San Antonio area, lamented the slow decline of newspapers and cautioned his readers yesterday that blogs aren’t authoritative: Bloggers such as myself don’t have the time to invest in vetting stories to make sure the information is completely accurate. In many cases I rely on … Read more
What others are saying about watchdog journalism: Nieman Journalism Lab: How much money did it cost for a 13,000-word article investigating patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital during Katrina? Answer: A lot. Try six figures. Street Roots: Interview with Harper’s editor Ken Silverstein about the state of investigative journalism. “I don’t know where the … Read more
Express-News Reporter Guillermo Contreras has been covering an unusual scandal at the Bexar County courthouse: Thousands of stolen airline tickets were sold at a discount to county employees — including judges and other public officials: What happens in Las Vegas may stay in Vegas, but how you got there apparently doesn’t — at least not … Read more
As CPS Energy seeks to invest in an expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear plant, the San Antonio Express-News set up a timeline of the plant’s history and safety record. You can check out what we’ve found so far, and also submit information in an online forum. We’ll plug relevant events into the chronology. … Read more
Texas relies heavily on property taxes to raise revenue, and homeowners have a right to protest the appraised value of their land set by county officials. The lower the appraisal, the lower the tax bill. Express-News Reporter Karisa King has been examining a county database that tracks protests filed by homeowners. She obtained the data … Read more
The San Antonio Express-News is investigating CPS Energy’s plans to invest $5.2 billion in a proposed expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear plant in Matagorda County. Here some more resources about the project and the nuclear plant: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Includes links to inspection reports and enforcement actions at STP. San Antonio Current: … Read more
A team of journalists working for Hearst-owned newspapers and television stations across the country have spent months investigating the little-known but deadly problem of medical errors in the United States. The stories reveal that more people die every year from medical mistakes than car accidents. At the San Antonio Express-News, Database Editor Kelly Guckian analyzed … Read more
Meg Marco at the Consumerist blogged about a quirky New York Times article that offered car maintenance tips — from 1907. In the process, she highlighted the usefulness of an awesome research tool: Digital, searchable newspaper archives dating to the 1800s. We were poking around the NYT archives when we stumbled across this gem, car … Read more
Even people living outside Texas have heard of Don’t Mess with Texas, the public relations campaign by the Texas Department of Transportation. TxDOT wants to persuade litter bugs to stop throwing trash out of their cars. Buy what exactly do people tell TxDOT when they report a litterer? In her newspaper column today, Peggy Fikac … Read more