Investigative Journalist in Houston, Texas
The crackly radio chatter of police, firefighters and paramedics doing their jobs has always been a lively soundtrack in the newsroom. But Columnist Scott Stroud explains how the scanner traffic in San Antonio is about to grow quieter: Related: Fake Steve Jobs misses the real point Starting today, reporters at the Express-News and other local … Read more
If you’re researching a topic related to the federal government, chances are the Government Accountability Office has already looked into the issue and published a detailed report about it. Now the GAO, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, is going all social media on us by setting up accounts on Twitter and YouTube. Related: A … Read more
Using the Texas Public Information Act, reporter Karisa King obtained a huge database that tracks property tax protests in Bexar County and San Antonio. She analyzed the data and here’s what she found: Everybody wants lower property taxes. But those with the least ability to pay rarely protest their appraised values, while owners of upscale … Read more
Today’s front page of the San Antonio Express-News was dominated by stories that all relied on public records: Karisa King analyzed a public database that tracks property tax disputes in Bexar County. “Everybody wants lower property taxes. But those with the least ability to pay rarely protest their appraised values, while owners of upscale homes … Read more
Here’s a recording of my radio interview last week with KTSA’s Paul Alexander. We talked about a San Antonio Express-News investigation of the thrill ride industry, and how the public can check a little-known government database that tracks amusement ride injuries in Texas. The Express-News posted the injury data online for anyone interested in checking … Read more
Nice to see Brooks Egerton at the Dallas Morning News used our new database of amusement ride injuries to check the safety record of the Texas Giant rollercoaster at Six Flags Over Texas. In his blog post today, Egerton discussed how the Texas Giant is closed and he was quickly able to check whether people … Read more
Our second story in our series about the safety record of amusement parks in Texas focused on Kiddie Park, a San Antonio landmark that opened in 1925 but has fallen on tough times. In at least three incidents, the park’s aging rides malfunctioned or broke with scared children on board. One 6-year-old boy knocked his … Read more
Ten years ago (wow, I’m getting old) I wrote a series of stories about the safety record of San Antonio’s major theme parks — Six Flags Fiesta Texas, SeaWorld San Antonio, and Splashtown. I learned state officials keep a little-known database that tracks amusement-ride injuries in Texas. The database isn’t perfect. The injuries are self-reported … Read more
You can check the safety record of Texas theme parks and carnivals by searching a unique database of 1,800 reports detailing broken bones, chipped teeth and other injuries. Officials at the Texas Department of Insurance collect injury reports from amusement ride owners and type the information into a database. We obtained a copy of the … Read more
Last week military reporter Scott Huddleston and I covered the story of Capt. Michael Fontana, a nurse who has been charged by the Air Force of killing three patients at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio. This is Military City, USA, and there’s lots of interest in the case and concern about it. Here … Read more