ProPublica senior editor & reporter. Author, The Price of Admission and Spy Schools; co-author, The Ransomware Hunting Team. Religion: Red Sox-ism
Joined March 2014
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4 Aug 2025
The Trump admin's spurious attacks on Voice of America mirror Joe McCarthy's in nationally-televised hearings in 1953. I trace the parallels and explain why VOA has been a perennial target: cjr.org/analysis/joseph-mcca…
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Dan Golden retweeted
10 Apr 2024
Ecstatic to have our investigative series, Uprooted, honored by #Columbia Journalism with the Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award. It recognizes outstanding work covering racial injustice in the US. Thanks to a great collaboration @propublica @VCIJ_Tweet @WHRO @brandkells @DanLGolden
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29 Jan 2024
File under Long Overdue! It took a compelling ProPublica/VCIJ series to prod Newport News VA and Christopher Newport University to re-examine the school's location and expansion, which eradicated a thriving Black neighborhood. Are reparations next? propublica.org/article/chris…
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17 Jan 2024
So many scammers were laundering gift cards at Walmart that they often ran into each other at self-checkout counters! Check out (pardon the pun) this absorbing look at how the retailer's lax oversight fostered a boom in fraud: propublica.org/article/walma…
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22 Dec 2023
Former Christopher Newport president Paul Trible, now a distinguished professor, isn't teaching this year and has no university responsibilities. But he's making $524,000, more than anyone else at the state school. propublica.org/article/chris…
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22 Dec 2023
At least Paul Trible was consistent. As president of Christopher Newport University for 26 years, the ex-senator's policies drove out nearby Black residents, and reduced the numbers of Black students and faculty. Read the latest in our "Uprooted" series: propublica.org/article/chris…
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Dan Golden retweeted
28 Nov 2023
ProPublica Event: Next week, join us for a discussion led by @brandkells, @HansenLouis and @DanLGolden.
In partnership with @chronicle, @VCIJ_Tweet and @WHRO.
RSVP: propub.li/3MU15rs
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21 Nov 2023
Richard Dyke, a folksy Maine turnaround artist, helped popularize the AR-15. Now his home state is grieving. Read James Bandler's compelling account of the businessman behind the mainstreaming of assault-style rifles. propublica.org/article/how-b…
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10 Nov 2023
Should universities that have uprooted Black communities pay reparations, or give scholarships to descendants? Virginia officials discuss remedies in light of our reporting. propublica.org/article/commi…
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14 Oct 2023
Now that local newspapers are vanishing, we remember them as the bedrock of democracy. But the reality was more complex. As a young reporter for a long-defunct paper, I learned a lot of important lessons, and some that I had to unlearn. propublica.org/article/local…
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14 Oct 2023
The first floor of the newspaper building in Springfield, Mass., where I learned to be a reporter, is now a marijuana dispensary. Here's what I found when I returned to my old haunts after more than 40 years: propublica.org/article/local…
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14 Oct 2023
In their heyday, local papers covered their towns as closely as the London media cover a coronation. But they also could be cozy with power-brokers. My look at the mixed legacy of now-departed papers: propublica.org/article/local…
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3 Oct 2023
A provision in Virginia law makes it harder for the public to know the inside story of how Christopher Newport University has uprooted a Black community. And that's how the higher ed lobby wants it. propublica.org/article/virgi…
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19 Sep 2023
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey wants to deploy the National Guard at shelters to help with a housing crisis. Here's another idea: how about filling the 2,300 empty state-subsidized apartments? propublica.org/article/massa…
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11 Sep 2023
Ex-residents of Lamberts Point in Norfolk, Va, return for reunions, but the area where they grew up is gone, demolished to build a college. Read the next article in our series about how Virginia universities have expanded by dislodging Black communities: propublica.org/article/these…
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Dan Golden retweeted
The story, by @brandkells and @HansenLouis, edited by @DanLGolden, follows a family in Newport News, Virginia, that has seen its once vibrant Black neighborhood reduced to just five Black households. It’s a saga shared in many Black communities throughout #Virginia and the U.S.
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5 Sep 2023
A thriving Black community in Newport News, Virginia, was about to develop more land and attract more residents. Then city leaders seized the core of the neighborhood by eminent domain to build a college. Why? They wanted to erase a "Black spot."propublica.org/article/how-v…
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5 Sep 2023
Brandi Kellam spent more than a year digging into the destruction of a Black neighborhood in Newport News, Virginia. She explains why this history means so much to her: propublica.org/article/why-d…
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5 Sep 2023
Newport News leaders established a college in the middle of a growing Black community because they wanted to erase a "Black spot" close to an all-white country club. Brandi Kellam and Louis Hansen tell this disturbing story: propublica.org/article/how-v…
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5 Sep 2023
At a time when some politicians want to restrict how the history of race relations is taught, Brandi Kellam and Louis Hansen document how universities have expanded by eradicating thriving Black communities. Read their compelling account: propublica.org/article/how-v…
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