News and Features
I've worked as a reporter and editor at a number of San Francisco Bay Area newspapers since the mid-1990s, covering breaking news, civil and criminal courts, crime, politics, city hall, development, business, transportation, education, youth issues, music, food and the arts. I've also contributed work to several national and international publications. Here are some of my favorite pieces.
350+ dead go unclaimed in SF each year. Here’s what happens to them.
Houston said he’s relieved any time someone like Smith winds up with family or friends rather than being scattered from his boat. But he’s also grateful to do the work he does, and to speak up for those who have died without family to claim them. “It’s important that their story is told — what happens to those who passed on unclaimed,” he said.
‘The Battery’s Dead’: Burnout Looks Different in Autistic Adults
Autism is still largely considered a childhood condition, as though those children don’t grow up and continue to be autistic. As more and more people are diagnosed, “there are going to be more autistic people graduating college and in the work force,” Mr. Garcia said. Because autistic people have such differing needs, “it may be impossible to determine a uniform policy,” he said. “But it does need to be addressed.”
Buried Histories
San Francisco’s Legion of Honor museum and Lincoln Park Golf Course sit atop the grave sites of thousands of immigrants and indigent people. Their stories—and some of their remains—are coming to the surface.
Historical Clothing’s Comeback
A collection of sewing enthusiasts, dedicated to the anachronistic art of making old-fashioned clothes, stumbles onto a path that revives quality, comfort, ecological consciousness—and respect for the female form in all its varieties.
Rape Survivors' Waiting Game
If you were going to design a sexual assault reporting process to discourage survivors from seeking justice, it would resemble the one we have.
Silicon Valley’s Toxic Past Haunts Sunnyvale Neighborhood
Sunnyvale’s San Miguel neighborhood, with its leafy trees and modest houses, is home to hundreds of families and four schools for young children. Underneath these quiet streets lies a shadow of Silicon Valley’s past.
UCSF scientists peer more deeply into sensory processing disorder
UCSF is also exploring the genetics behind sensory processing disorder to see whether children with the condition have any differences in their DNA — and whether those differences are the same ones they’ve seen in kids with autism.