This story aired on Marketplace. It's a version of my three-part series that I did on closing nuclear plants. I also did versions of the story for Inside Energy and Great Lakes Today. I worked hard on this story and I'm proud to see that it went as far as it did.
To me, nuclear is a fascinating problem here in the United States. It's low-emissions energy that has built up some of these small towns, but it also creates hazardous waste that will last for thousands of years - and we don't know how we're going to deal with it.
To me, nuclear is a fascinating problem here in the United States. It's low-emissions energy that has built up some of these small towns, but it also creates hazardous waste that will last for thousands of years - and we don't know how we're going to deal with it.
These are the kinds of stories I really enjoy doing—talking to real people about a national issue affecting my little corner of the world in a unique way. There are no easy answers in this piece, but I brought up a question that we all need to mull over—what are the costs of producing food the way we do?
I feel like I broke new ground with this story, at least in the radio sphere. This story was shared with several stations around the Great Lakes region and hopefully opened people's eyes to the fact that the microbead ban is just the first step in controlling tiny plastic pollution.
I really felt like I made a difference with this story. This 1,4 dioxane plume was largely forgotten in Kalamazoo, but yet it continues to drift west, contaminating more drinking water wells. The story went far beyond Kalamazoo though, famous environmental activist Erin Brockovich picked this story up on social media and now thousands are aware of the dangers of this chemical.
With all of the talk about bike-friendly streets and the anniversary of Kalamazoo's own bike tragedy, I wanted to see how Michigan stacked up against other states in bicyclist fatalities. I loved digging up this data and bringing it to life with real people like Valerie.
Tick-borne illnesses have been on the rise across the country and the tick that is most likely to transmit Lyme disease in Southwest Michigan—the black-legged tick—has seen a population boom in the past few years. (Photo: Donna Ross has been living with lyme disease for six years. She flips through photos of symptoms of the illness online)
Here's an example of my hosting skills. I often fill in for my boss by reading the afternoon newscast.
I created this map (zoom out to see whole state) and chart to accompany my story on how Michigan lighthouses are degrading without sufficient restoration funding. I've fallen in love with Google Fusion Tables lately - the visuals look very clean.
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Recycling is such a basic part of protecting the environment. I'm happy I was able to inform our listeners about this issue as well as engage them on a personal level. I got the idea for this story from a discussion on the Kalamazoo sub-Reddit. One user mentioned he didn't have recycling at his apartment and I was appalled by the number of people who said they didn't either. I ended up sending the story to the original poster and he was grateful that someone was listening to his concerns.
This story was actually thanks in part to the TV show Parks and Recreation. A friend and I were discussing the episode about the controversial murals in the show when he brought up the fact that a similar mural was in Battle Creek City Hall. I found out it wasn't a mural at all and in fact the official seal of the city - which was odd because the city uses another seal for public spaces. This story opened up a great dialogue with our listeners about race, history, and public relations.
This story is part of WMUK's show 'Why's That' where listeners ask questions and reporters answer them in the form of a radio feature. Oddly enough, this was a question I asked for our first promo for the show. We did not plan on pursuing it as a story, but eventually I was too curious and had to investigate the origins of the park - whether it became a story or not. This feature was very popular with our listners and - at least in Kalamazoo terms - went viral online. It got about 9,800 hits on our website. WMUK's average is 700.
I won a 2nd place PRNDI Award for Best Use of Sound on this story. At first, this was not going to be an audio postcard at all - but after reviewing the tape, I thought it would be neat to make the listener feel like they're on the walk themselves.
While some Southern birds are moving in to Southwest Michigan, native birds might be moving out. Last year the Audubon Society released a report predicting about half the birds in the United States will be threatened by climate change in the future.
This story is very close to my heart. Many of these girls seem like good kids who grew up in difficult family situations. I thought it was important to make an audio postcard to fit in more time for their voices and perspectives.
I enjoy making short videos to accompany my stories when I can. This is from a story on the U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships held in Kalamazoo.
Though Kalamazoo is rich in history, it's best known for the original Gibson Guitar Factory. The fate of the iconic smoke stack is still an issue in the city today.