August 2011
9 posts
7 tags
Mom, don't freak out
I was in one of those positions yesterday, where it probably would have been a good idea to be armed.
Before going any further, I’ll say that I’ve seen a dead body and covered stabbings and shootings - including two on my own street when I was a Citizens’ Voice intern last summer. I almost never feel wary walking into a crime scene or weird situation. After all, when I get sent...
Busting out the ol' social media methods
I used Storify for the first time to help recap all of the Citizens’ Voice’s social media reporting on Hurricane Irene.
It’s kind of long, so I posted it after the jump.
5 tags
Python and free GIS software FTW!
Friend and coworker Andy Staub put together a great piece about how Wilkes-Barre’s mayor was hiring his family members for city jobs. With the help of a few in the newsroom, he put together a spreadsheet of all of the hires since 2004.
We used that to create a Fusion Table map of all the hires. What was evident almost right away was that a lot of the hires came from the mayor’s own...
“What people recognize is that there’s a fear that the United States is in an...”
– GOP presidential contender Michele Bachmann in a radio interview, stating that Americans are worried about the rise of the Soviet Union, which ceased to exist 20 years ago. (via officialssay)
5 tags
The outlier graphic problem: Ciavarella
I was tasked with creating an infographic of all the sentences laid down so far in the corruption probe. A judge handed down Thursday the latest sentence on one of the key figures, former Luzerne County Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., who took money from operators of a for-profit juvenile detention center.
The largest sentence before Thursday was 30 months. Ciavarella got 336 - 28 years. That...
Ambiguity Uh-Oh
I filed the largest Right-To-Know request in PennDOT history.
At least that’s what happened when I wasn’t quite specific enough about what I wanted from the agency.
They provide spreadsheets of bridge data online, but they don’t include all the fields that are maintained, such as the latitude and longitude and estimated cost of repair. I asked for the complete databases and -...
6 tags
The Next Big Thing
OK folks, I need some help brainstorming my next big project.
My data-heavy story on Northeastern Pennsylvania’s crumbling bridges ran Sunday and it’s time to find another story to fill the void.
Of course, I don’t expect everyone who reads this to have a good idea of the Wilkes-Barre area, so I’ll start by pitching a few ideas for you guys to tear apart.
1. Sewers
The...
4 tags
Making a difference
Brittany Burgess came home.
I wrote a story a couple weeks ago about Brittany, who ran away from home, and her family’s desperate attempt to bring the 16-year-old home after her mother was hit by a car and in critical condition in the hospital.
This could be the last time, they said, that Brittany would be able to see her mother.
Today, I received this email:
Dear Patrick,
I am writing...
