The Texas Tribune
I interned at The Texas Tribune - a digital-only, non-profit, non-partisan media outlet that focuses on state politics and public policy - for 10 weeks during the summer of 2016. While I wrote about a variety of topics, I particularly focused on women's health. I helped cover the Supreme Court's ruling in the landmark abortion case Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt. I also pitched stories related to mental health that gained a lot of attention on social media. I regularly requested data from state agencies and worked with the data visualization team to create visual elements for my stories.
Here's Why Texas Students Wait Weeks for Basic Mental Health Services
I pitched this story at the beginning of my internship as a look at why students often have to wait weeks to get a counseling appointment on college campuses. Over the next 10 weeks, I saw this story to completion by requesting records from various universities, interviewing more than a dozen experts and finding students who would be willing to share their struggles with mental health.
This story was picked up by Houston Public Radio, and I was invited to speak on a segment of Houston Matters (listen here).
Texas Agrees to Weaken Voter ID Law for November Election
Texas struck a deal Wednesday that will soften its voter ID law for the November general election — a development that lawyers suing the state say will make it easier for minorities to cast their ballots.
When this news broke, the beat reporter was out, so my editor asked me to jump on the story. I tweeted out the news, read the terms of the agreement and posted this story within 30 minutes. It was picked up by The Washington Post.
Toxic Landfill Plan Near Colonia Raises Racism Charges
Since Alejandro Obregón moved to a colonia along the Texas-Mexico border 20 years ago, he has fought for basic necessities like clean water and paved roads. Now a private developer wants to build a landfill just a few miles from his backyard, and Obregón is fighting again for the interests of his family and hundreds of colonia residents.
Abortion Booklet Revisions Called Even More Inaccurate
Death and infertility were just two of the risks a doctor described to Kryston Skinner when she chose to have an abortion last year. But some of the information she was given was misleading or medically wrong, contained in a long, controversial booklet that state lawmakers require doctors to give women at least 24 hours before an abortion procedure.
Now, the Department of State Health Services is planning an update of the booklet that doubles down on information highly contested by medical experts and the pro-abortion rights community, stoking the flames of a debate going back more than a decade.