Longform Profiles, Features and Investigations
Why Derf Backderf might be the cartoonist we need in these uncertain times. Cleveland Magazine, May 2020
Samuel Little confessed to killing 93 women on society's margins, including four in Northeast Ohio. The FBI says he is the most prolific serial killer in American history. Cleveland Magazine, February 2020.
The Michael Louis Palumbo Jr. Act gives firefighters access to workers' compensation in cancer cases. But cities are contesting first-responders' claims. Euclid firefighter Dave Rowell and others are fighting back. Cleveland Magazine, December 2019.
Nine inmates died at the jail in 2018 and 2019. How did it happen? And where do we go from here? Cleveland Magazine, October 2019.
Fifty years after the river caught fire, I travel the Cuyahoga to experience its legacy, beauty and danger. Cleveland Magazine, June 2019. Also appeared on Longform.
One baker, a legendary bakery and the slow march of suburban sprawl. Cleveland Magazine, March 2019.
In her Glenville apartment building, Julie Ezelle-Patton cultivates a community of artists and preserves her mother's painterly legacy. But new development threatens it all. Cleveland Magazine, February 2019.
Familiarity is Superman’s strength, and his kryptonite. But does the octogenarian champion of “Truth, Justice and the American Way” have anything interesting to say in the era of Trump? I profile Brian Michael Bendis, the new writer of several Superman comics, and trace the Man of Steel’s cultural lineage on his 80th birthday year. Cleveland Magazine, December 2018.
Cleveland car dealer Bernie Moreno gambles big on Blockland, an effort to transform the city into a Mecca for as-yet unproven blockchain technology. Can he sell his idea to a skeptical city, and an equally skeptical tech world? Or will Blockland end up in the dustbin of history? Cleveland Magazine, October 2018.
Developers Frank and Malisse Sinito muscled into the top tier of Cleveland’s top real estate players in 2018, snapping up the Garfield Building, 925 Euclid and Key Tower, the city’s tallest skyscraper. But the Sinito family legacy also extends in an unexpected direction — to the Cleveland mob. Cleveland Magazine, August 2018.
Blaine Griffin recently dove into the Cleveland City Council spotlight after a long career behind the scenes. Every sign points to eventual mayoral aspirations. But does he have what it takes? Cleveland Magazine, March 2018.
Leonor Garcia, who entered the country illegally at 15, took sanctuary from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at a Cleveland Heights church. If she leaves the church grounds, she could be deported — and separated from her U.S.-citizen children. Selected as a best profile finalist at the 2018 City and Regional Magazine Association, less than 60,000 circulation. Also won first place for personality profile at the 2018 Press Club of Cleveland Excellence in Journalism Awards. Cleveland Magazine, December 2017.
Opioids are ravaging Northeast Ohio, challenging law enforcement, taxing treatment centers and making politicians dig deep into taxpayer pocketbooks. I contributed writing (including co-authoring an introductory feature), reporting, editing and project management to the Our Epidemic cover package, which illuminated the effect of opioids on Northeast Ohio and asked what can be done to turn back the tide. The package won first place for magazine news at the 2018 Cleveland Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards and first place for explanatory journalism at the 2018 Ohio SPJ Awards. Cleveland Magazine, September 2017.
Liz Maugans is the beating heart of Cleveland’s artistic community. As the county’s method of funding artists changes, what will it mean for her, and the artists she represents? Cleveland Magazine, August 2017.
In a single year, it feels like Cleveland turned its fortunes around. LeBron James came back, and brought with him a championship, ending the 50-year drought. The Republicans took over the city for one of the most-watched political conventions in decades. Downtown and the lakefront are finally booming. Clevelanders, at long last, are starting to think of ourselves differently. Our entire identity has gotten an overhaul. We are underdogs no longer. But who does that make us now? I wrote the introductory essay to the Who Are We Now cover package, which won first place for consumer features at the 2018 Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. Cleveland Magazine, July 2017.
Painesville judge Michael Cicconetti became a viral sensation for his unconventional sentences, like making an offender dress up in a chicken suit. He says the shaming punishments discourage recidivism. Does the judge’s oddball approach really work? Cleveland Magazine, June 2017.
After decades of struggle with disinvestment, suburbanization and upheaval, Cleveland’s schools continue to garner Fs on state report cards. But the district’s new CEO, Eric Gordon, thinks he can get its grade to improve. If wary teachers and shifting state standards don’t mess it up first. Cleveland Magazine, January 2017.
The Ratner family, through their historic real estate company Forest City, have owned Cleveland’s most iconic skyscraper, Terminal Tower, for decades. Then they sold it, amid pressures from Wall Street and a new reality for downtown Cleveland. What does it mean for the Ratners, perhaps Cleveland’s most prominent family, and the city’s future? Cleveland Magazine, November 2016.
In 2015, firearms claimed 134 lives in Cleveland, including five young children. And despite the chief of police’s viral-video plea, the way of the gun continues with little end in sight. For an investigation into the rate of gun deaths in the city, I retrieved and collated police and coroner’s reports for every gun death in Cleveland in 2015, and with the magazine’s designers created maps and infographics to show the extent of the violence. I also interviewed numerous experts, law enforcement members, politicians and family members affected. The resulting story won first place for magazine public service/investigative and second place for magazine news at the 2017 Cleveland Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. It also won first place for best public service journalism and best investigative reporting at the 2017 Ohio SPJ Awards.
Commentary
Cleveland’s limited “renaissance” won’t ever be enough to halt the city’s overall decline. How, then, to view “progress“? Cleveland Magazine, January 2020.
Cleveland's economy is out of a 10-year slump. But Cleveland’s deep segregation means the benefits are being distributed unevenly along racial lines. Cleveland Magazine, September 2019.
As Cleveland’s business community gears up for a planning summit to, they hope, kickstart the region’s flailing economy, where are the politicians? Cleveland Magazine, January 2019.
As Cuyahoga County’s cigarette tax revenues decline, the arts and culture organizations it supports must clear the air about new funding options. Cleveland Magazine, July 2018.
Clevelanders need to keep their eyes wide open when contemplating the city’s revival narrative. Cleveland Magazine, February 2018.
With an election in the offing, it’s high time to change how Cleveland is governed. Cleveland Magazine, March 2017.
Local activists and techies are spearheading an effort to bring data to bear on Cleveland’s civic problems. But without support from City Hall, and the public sector, it could fizzle before it starts. Cleveland Magazine, January 2017.
Interviews, Q&As and Short Profiles
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland resident, talks Trump, bipartisanship and his dog. Cleveland Magazine, April 2017.
Interviewed the day after his historic fourth-term win, the mayor talks Public Square, police relations and more. Cleveland Magazine, January 2018.
Upon the release of his new book, Hot Type, Cold Beer and Bad News, the legendary reporter talks about the Hough riots, Carl Stokes, journalism and more. Cleveland Magazine, December 2018.
The first Latina on City Council is looking to get more equitable growth for her West Side ward. Cleveland Magazine, June 2018
Shontel Brown takes over a Cuyahoga Democratic party split by a tug-a-war between centrists and progressives. Cleveland Magazine, December 2017.