for being first to report that Pennsylvania's governor had decided to leave vacant thousands of unfilled state jobs to help the state cope with a large budget shortfall. http://bit.ly/2hN7mb9
revealed that illegal marijuana growers are taking water in uncontrolled amounts, draining wells used by landowners and farmers â and that overstretched law enforcement can do little about it.Selsky, based in Salem, Oregon, has reported on the impact of drought in the West and for years has tracked the burgeoning market for legal pot. But when he checked with sources about water theft by illegal marijuana grows, he quickly found that the situation was dire. Hundreds of huge illegal grows have been erected, too many for law enforcement officials to raid.The problem is showing up in parts of Oregon and California. Selsky visited a neighborhood in central Oregon where a homeowner was having a new well drilled after his existing well ran dry just a block away from a recently busted illegal grow. And he tracked down a resident in southern Oregon who for decades has depended on a creek for growing food. That creek has gone completely dry since large illegal marijuana grows began popping up in the area last spring. The local sheriff described âcatastrophicâ consequences for natural water resources, citing âblatant theft.â https://aplink.news/v3c
When President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Barrett and her supporters clearly did not want to discuss the nomineeâs reported ties to a religious group called People of Praise.
Enter reporters Michelle Smith and Michael Biesecker. Using on-the-record interviews and an archive of deleted web pages, the pair documented Barrett's deep ties to the charismatic Christian group and painted a detailed picture of the organizationâs beliefs and practices from its early days to the present. And the reporters went on to reveal how the organization had systematically deleted all mentions of Barrett and her family from its website.
For deep, resourceful reporting that sheds new light on the current Supreme Court nominee on the cusp of her confirmation hearings, Smith and Biesecker share this weekâs Best of the States award.
for a story of national interest about President Donald Trumpâs administration, reported not from Washington but from the nationâs heartland. After the president released his latest budget proposal, Lieb revealed that Trump has failed to deliver on his promise of a $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan. He has so far been unable to persuade Congress to pass anything like that, even when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. https://bit.ly/2T38OrE
teamed up to provide the fastest, most complete coverage of the Trump administrationâs announcement that it would resettle no more than 15,000 refugees in 2021, another record low.Their work began days before the Sept. 30 deadline for a decision. Lee worked sources on his State Department beat, while Watson drew on her long experience covering refugees, speaking with advocates and with an Eritrean refugee in the U.S. whose dream of reuniting with his family became more remote as a result of Trumpâs decision. At 11:26 p.m. on the evening of the deadline, Lee received confirmation of the 15,000 cap from the State Department. Watson rushed it to wire, delivering a 700-word story by 12:04 a.m., including a quote of Trump vilifying refugees at a campaign rally that night in Minnesota. A major competitor moved its story at 2:37 a.m., and no one else had a story for hours. https://bit.ly/2Gr9NyA
for mining an exclusive data set to reveal â just as heavy rains and flooding in the Southeast put several dams on the brink of failure â that hundreds of dams in the region lack required emergency action plans to help authorities and downstream residents respond to the threat. https://bit.ly/2T1x3Gx
With weeks to prepare, the Louisville, Kentucky, news staff and all-formats reinforcements from other AP bureaus were well positioned for the closely watched grand jury decision in the Breonna Taylor case.
When the announcement finally came â no officers charged with Taylorâs death â the breaking news was expedited to the wire, cutting through confusion over the decision. Video and photo coverage excelled with fast edits and filing from the protests that followed, capturing the anguish and despair expressed by many in Louisville and keeping the AP well ahead of other agencies.
For their fast, in-depth work on a sensitive, highly competitive story, the team of Lovan, Schreiner, Blackburn, Galofaro, Minchillo, Cummings, Morrison and Householder wins this weekâs Best of the States award.
Reporter Regina Garcia Cano took what could have been a dense, pro forma story on complaints about Baltimoreâs âsqueegee kidsâ and turned it into a layered piece about inequality in post-Freddie Gray Baltimore. The timing was perfect, as a way for AP to mark the end of 2020âs Black History Month.
She reviewed figures related to reports on the practice and found one squeegee kid in particular who was willing to open up about the daily grind of dashing into intersections to wash windshields, and how it helped him support his family.
For her keen eye, and a deft hand, on a complicated topic that would have most likely gone overlooked, Garcia Cano wins this weekâs Best of the States award.
delivered a comprehensive national look the chaotic rollout of drive-thru coronavirus testing centers. Her reporting revealed that despite promises of widespread tresting, the drive-thru sites that were popping up in state parks, parking lots and outside hospitals were often plagued with long lines, inconsistencies, delays and shortages. https://bit.ly/2QR9Fdv
used her deep expertise on voting procedures, along with strong source work, to report that poorly marked ovals or boxes on mail-in ballots could become this yearâs version of the hanging chads from the disputed 2000 presidential election.With tens of millions of Americans filling out their ballots at home and voting by mail for the first time this year, experts anticipate that many of those voters will make mistakes marking ballots, forcing election workers to try to discern their intent. As Cassidy noted, states with a long history of voting by mail have detailed guidelines for processing and interpreting such ballots. But states that ramped up their vote-by-mail efforts this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic do not have that experience, potentially leading to confusion and disputed vote counts. https://bit.ly/3jii45V
On Super Tuesday afternoon, APâs Stephen Ohlemacher and Emily Swanson were locked away in a conference room â isolated from their colleagues in the Washington bureau â reviewing incoming results from AP VoteCast. APâs survey â developed to be more accurate than traditional exit polling â was already revealing what was about to happen on the biggest night of the Democratic presidential primary campaign.
The VoteCast data revealed trends in absentee voting and shifting preferences as Democratic candidates dropped out of the race, giving AP the evidence it needed to call California for Bernie Sanders as the stateâs polls closed at 11:00 Eastern. News outlets relying on exit polls would not make that call for more than a week.
Meanwhile, Seth Borenstein was crunching the numbers on the all-important delegate count, a task that required days of painstaking analysis of incomplete data to reach this conclusion: Joe Biden won more delegates on Super Tuesday than did Sanders.
Like the Caliofornia race call, news of Bidenâs delegate victory rocketed around the world.
For completing in-depth, accurate analysis of election data on deadline, enabling AP to tell the complete story of Super Tuesday before all others, Swanson, Ohlemacher and Borenstein win APâs Best of the Week award.
When tornadoes tore through Middle Tennessee in the early-morning hours of Super Tuesday, APâs staff deftly pivoted from preparing for the stateâs primary to covering a natural disaster.
From first light on Tuesday and throughout the day, Nashville and Memphis staffers delivered compelling all-formats coverage of the devastation that left at least 24 dead statewide. The team also connected the disaster to the primary, monitoring the impact on voting.
Strong aftermath coverage followed, including a presidential visit on Friday and well-received pieces on recovery efforts and a worship service at a damaged church. With out-of-state staffers and the entire South Desk contributing to the coverage, the sustained effort showed the AP at its best.
For proving nimble, responsive and collaborative coverage on a major breaking news story under chaotic conditions, the multiformat Tennessee team of Travis Loller, Kristin Hall, Kimberlee Kruesi, Mark Humphrey, Jonathan Mattise, Adrian Sainz and Teresa Walker shares this weekâs Best of the States award.
delivered a fast, smart follow-up after U.K.-based Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals announced a U.S. settlement over its role in the opioid epidemic. The teamâs analysis revealed that Mallinckrodt and one other generic drug manufacturer were responsible for the vast majority of high-dosage prescription painkillers â billions of generic pills â distributed throughout the U.S. during the height of the opioid epidemic. https://bit.ly/2IoXuQG
went beyond just documenting the fires that swept across Brazilâs Pantanal wetlands, decimating wildlife, but also reported that the governmentâs meager response allowed the blazes to spiral out of control. Almost one-quarter of the Pantanal, the worldâs largest tropical wetlands, went up in flames â an area bigger than the state of Maryland, and double what California lost this year.
The Brazilian government said it mobilized hundreds of troops and agents. as well as aircraft dropping water, to douse the fires. The AP team used witness testimonials, local data and its journalistsâ own observations â they didnât find a single armed forces member during five days in the northern Pantanal, where the fires were centered. Sources yielded further evidence and a government source who was involved in the Pantanal fire response later confirmed the APâs findings, despite continued assertions by Brazilâs environment ministry that its response was stellar.
The team produced multiple packages with especially strong video and photos. The work was the most used from Latin America by AP clients for all of September.https://bit.ly/33zTrMvhttps://bit.ly/36KwSad
used their deep knowledge of the Supreme Court beat â and rigorous preparation â to put AP out front with a series of exclusives following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Sherman and Gresko anticipated the inevitable after Ginsburg disclosed that she was being treated for another bout of cancer, and they were well positioned when the death was announced on Friday night. AP moved an alert within four minutes, with a story was out barely five minutes later, ahead of most other major outlets. Shermanâs elegant and deeply reported appreciation moved shortly after. He then set to work helping the White House and Congress teams with the very real question of what happens next.Gresko, meanwhile, teed off a series of exclusive pieces about Ginsburg â her final moments, the stories she told and how her style was something more than just a fashion statement. Sherman followed up with a look at whether eight justices would be enough should the 2020 election be contested. Play was stunning for their collective work â 5 million page views and 1,500 downloads.Sherman and Gresko understand not only the court and the complex legal filings, but also the justices themselves. And they value preparation as a precursor to speed. The pair works in tandem on different but equally interesting and important stories, and their collaboration kept the Washington bureau ahead of a momentous story in a year filled with momentous stories.https://bit.ly/3mQbKVChttps://bit.ly/2FXOqo7https://bit.ly/2FPTR8N
Through 78 days at Walt Disney World, basketball writer Tim Reynolds proved himself virtually unstoppable, turning out game stories on deadline while also spinning insightful pieces that examined the major topics of 2020, from coronavirus concerns to racial injustice issues and the presidential election â not to mention the leagueâs work stoppage. The so-called bubble may have confined him to an arena in central Florida, but Reynoldsâ relentless NBA coverage reminded readers that sports illuminate our lives in ways big and small.
In all, Reynolds wrote an eye-popping 200-plus stories, collecting exclusives along the way. He capped his efforts with his insightful analysis of LeBron Jamesâ legacy after James led the Lakers to their record-tying 17th NBA title.
For his exhaustive, and exhausting, work that went well beyond the games in the NBA bubble, Reynolds wins this weekâs Best of the States award.
reported a strong inequality-themed story on how government agencies were failing to publicize coronavirus health alerts in Spanish. The story focused on how Arizona, with 30% of its residents Hispanic, has no information on its state health webpage in Spanish and the health department was still translating coronavirus updates. https://bit.ly/2Jk6rv6
delivered an ambitious all-formats package led by a compelling character profile to unravel the mystery behind Indiaâs relatively low COVID-18 fatalities number, which experts say is an undercount. India has 5.4 million confirmed cases of coronavirus infection, but only 87,000 deaths. After numerous conversations with experts, health care officials and workers across the country, Ghosal and Saaliq offered a critical counternarrative, showing that India is not counting many deaths.
The story began with the personal narrative of Narayan Mitra, whose family said he wasnât counted as a coronavirus victim by doctors who said the virus was âincidentalâ since he had a pre-existing disease. The story also showed how Indian states were not complying with the Health Ministry guidelines to record all suspected virus deaths, including those who likely died of COVID-19 but werenât tested for it.https://bit.ly/2Ev4tZZ
The allegations were explosive: A nurse at an immigration detention facility in rural Georgia said a gynecologist she called âthe uterus collectorâ performed mass hysterectomies without detaineesâ consent.
Reaction was fast and furious, but the AP treated the unsubstantiated allegations cautiously. Immigration reporter Nomaan Merchant dug into the story amid intense competition, reaching out to sources, doctors and a detainee who had surgery performed without her consent.
While his review did not find evidence of mass hysterectomies, Merchant revealed a growing pattern of women not consenting to procedures that potentially jeopardized their ability to have children. Three days later, the AP was first to report that the doctor would no longer treat immigrant detainees.
For impressive work that broke new ground on a highly charged story, Merchant wins APâs Best of the Week award.
broke the news that the massive and renowned old-growth redwood trees at Big Basin Redwoods State Park had largely survived the regionâs devastating wildfires. After other media reported that the ancient trees were âdoomedâ and had been âwiped out,â Mendoza and Sanchez hiked several smoky miles over waist-high fallen trees to find that the old-growth trees in the park â including the iconic Father and Mother of the Forest â were most definitely standing and had not burned. Even the signs marking the trees were unscathed.The positive news resonated with readers as far away as Iran and India, generating heavy engagement. https://bit.ly/31RxYOh
