A selection of fun, interesting and meaningful stories I’ve written.
For a more comprehensive list of clips, click here.
A Delmarva Lobster Tale
Oct. 26, 2014, The Daily Times (Delmarva Media Group)
Most people don’t associate the Delmarva Peninsula with lobsters. Naturally, people will associate the area with crabs or oysters, first. And when it comes to lobsters, people’s first instinct would likely be to associate them with Maine. But when I learned about a man who caught lobsters in the Atlantic Ocean 22 miles off the coast of Ocean City to serve at his food shack, I knew there was a story to tell.
To report this story, photographer Laura Emmons and I spent 12 hours on a 42-foot fiberglass lobster boat. Then photographer Joe Lamberti and I spent an afternoon at Fishkiller’s Lobster Shack, where we saw the final product made from some of the lobsterman’s haul.
This story was part of The Daily Times’ Tides section, a Sunday feature section highlighting the connection between the water and life on Delmarva.
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To the rescue
Foster families provide a bridge in pet adoptions
May 3, 2017, Catonsville Times
It’s kitten season in Baltimore County — the time of year when the majority of kittens are being born.
That means there’s scrambling going on in Baldwin, home of Baltimore County’s animal services department and shelter. Between four and 40 newborn kittens can arrive on a given day, in need of help and a home
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With only about 100 spots for cats at the shelter, there’s not enough room to house the animals at the rate they arrive. […] That’s where the foster parents come in.
This story took a look at animal adoptions in Baltimore County and the volunteers who help as foster parents for baby kittens who have yet to be adopted.
This story won first place in its division in the General News Story category for the 2017 MDDC Press Association contest.
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APG tests for mosquito resistance
Aug. 22, 2018, APG News
Working at Aberdeen Proving Ground, I’ve had the chance to tell many stories about what soldiers and civilians on the installation do to ensure Army readiness.
One significant threat for Soldiers both home and on deployment? Believe it or not, mosquitos. This story explores why and what’s being done to make sure Soldiers are ready for the fight ahead.
“They’re everywhere,” said Sgt. Stephanie Ragin, a member of the seven-person team tasked to develop a new program to monitor mosquito resistance to pesticides at Army installations. “There’s no getting away from [mosquitoes], so you have to prevent it because they’re not going anywhere.”
Read the story: [WEB]
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How Dogfish Head strives for quality through science
Meet the scientists and machines that ensure Dogfish Head puts out beer that’s just right
Feb. 20, 2015, Delmarva Media Group
A perk of covering the Delaware and Maryland beach communities while I was there was writing stories on the area’s emerging craft brewery scene. A claim to fame of Milton, Delaware, is that it’s the home of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, one of the industry’s pioneers and innovators. Dogfish’s success helped inspire the arrival of many smaller local breweries in the 2010s. Some have thrived and expanded, while others have closed down. But Dogfish is in a league of its own in size and scale.
One interesting story I wrote was on Dogfish’s quality control team, a group of scientists who make sure each beer produced in a batch is the same as the next, and that each batch is true to the beer’s recipe.
The story went into multiple products within Delmarva Media Group, including the cover story of an issue of Beachcomber and a “Home Cooking” story in The Daily Times.
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For a more comprehensive list of clips, click here.