Outdoors journalism

Robin Williams' suicide hits home on Nevada's 'loneliest road'
This feature on a tragic topic wasn't planned in advance. I had known there was a young man traveling across the country to raise suicide awareness but hadn't yet reached out to contact him for a story. When the suicide of actor Robin Williams it prompted me to contact the young man, who happened to be in Nevada when the story broke. I was able to drive to Carson City on a Friday evening for an interview and photos and post the story a few hours later. Judging by the online response the issue touched a lot of readers.

Photo by Benjamin Spillman

Tech billionaire's Tahoe plans rile lakeside neighbors
One fun part about this story of a tech company billionaire looking to lock up a tiny slice of lakefront property was the opportunity to flex some of my government reporting skills. The story came out of the Washoe County Commission which meant it required some public records questions and viewing a meeting. Once I established the facts I was able to bring the story to life by taking a field trip to the property in question with some sources. I think the combined Tahoe and tech angles helped this piece generate lots of page views.

Photo by Benjamin Spillman

'Liberating' class takes Nevada hunters beyond the kill
Andrea Hutchinson might be one of the more accomplished female hunters in Nevada, despite being relatively new to the sport. I came across Hutchinson when reporting on a class about cleaning and preserving game carcasses in the field. I made the choice to highlight her because I wanted to broaden interest in the story beyond the traditional hunting crowd.

Photo contributed by A. Hutchinson

Fly anglers hope fresh tour format reels big audience
People, especially non-anglers, don't often associate fishing with excitement. That's why I chose to write about fly fishing by featuring a newly formed professional fishing tour. The tour format is designed to be television friendly by pitting anglers against each other on the same river. It's also open to men and women to compete together. Those factors plus a young angler from Reno being selected to participate made it an opportunity to attract diverse readers to an outdoors topic they might otherwise overlook. The story was also an opportunity to produce a video shot on location at the Truckee River in downtown Reno.

Photo by Andy Barron of RGJ

Tissues? Tent? Toss 'em: Ultralight hikers strip down
This is one of the most fun and productive stories I've done as an outdoors writer. It not only introduced readers to a sport that's growing in popularity. It gave me a chance to try ultralight backpacking in the field and increase my own expertise on the outdoors beat. Producing the story and photos included an overnight hike and climbs up three peaks. The result included a feature on the sport and one of it's founding fathers and an Explore series story on the route we took. The story also introduced readers to two young people who are among the most accomplished hikers in the world.

Photo by Benjamin Spillman

Multimedia

"Hey Nevada, explore the newly built Clear Creek trail"
This was another challenging video that I produced on my own while taking stills, conducting interviews for a written story and riding a 10-mile mountain biking trail. 

Video produced by Benjamin Spillman

"Pro fly fishing tour hits Reno"
This video was a fun challenge to make because I had to shoot it with an iPhone from a rocky river bank. With no zoom and a subject who was moving around in the water I had to keep up to make sure I could get some good shots, including two moments when the subject got a fish on the line.

Video produced by Benjamin Spillman

"Delivering a new downtown"
This 30-minute documentary accompanying a print piece and picked up by the local PBS station was among the most educational experiences of my career. It was a chance to conduct interviews for video and work closely with talented videographers to observe shooting and editing techniques.

"Downtown drinking"
For this video about efforts to cope with public drunkenness, underage drinking and other problems in downtown Las Vegas I did some of the shooting, most of the editing and all of the writing and voiceover.

Breaking news

“I’ve had a month of hell” 

When an armed and unstable Nevada lawmaker went on the lam following threats to a legislative leader it was instantly the biggest story in the state. In the days that followed I was the first reporter to track the troubled lawmaker to an apartment on the outskirts of town and secure an in-person interview. It took hours of texting back-and-forth to secure an interview and photo that captivated readers from the time it ran until his expulsion from the legislature weeks later.

“Assault victim lobbies for campus gun measure” 

During the 2011 legislative session I was the first to interview a woman who had been assaulted by a man who went on to capture and kill another woman. It was the first time the subject publicly revealed her identity as a sexual assault victim. The result was a story that humanized a debate over a campus security bill that was otherwise dominated by talking points for and against gun control.

“Downtown curfew proposal draws criticism” 
At first glance a proposed juvenile curfew by the mayor of Las Vegas appeared to have broad support from downtown area constituents. But a closer reading of the legislation showed the proposal was so broad it encompassed residential neighborhoods in addition to the bar district. As a result of reaching out to sources who aren’t part of the local power structure mine was the only story about the issue that highlighted civil liberty problems, prompting backers to promise to pare back the idea.

Enterprise reporting

“Mortgage relief plan ignites morality debate” 

When the city of North Las Vegas was considering a controversial plan to use eminent domain to seize bad mortgages to keep residents in their home banks mobilized a major outcry and citizens jammed public meetings. My story on the subject was an attempt to cut through the rhetoric and show how enacting the proposal might affect typical homeowners and the community at large.

“Delivering a new downtown” 
This project was among the most ambitious I’ve attempted. It was a 10-chapter piece that sought to humanize and put into historical context the remarkable transformation going on in downtown Las Vegas. In addition to a comprehensive print piece, we created videos and a unique online presentation that blended the media elements into one presentation.

Investigative journalism

“Nightclub project bogs down” 

While covering Las Vegas city hall I responded to a tipster who said paychecks bounced for employees at Krave Massive, a highly anticipated downtown nightclub. After taking a closer look I uncovered that not only was the club owner mishandling finances, missing payroll and floating checks; he also used a direct pipeline to the mayor to get a $50,000 grant from the city despite warnings from city staff about problems with the project.

“Stadium promoter has legal, financial problems” 

This story looked into the history of a developer who had sought state and local government support for a stadium project.It turned up a long running court case between the stadium promoter and a celebrity hotelier, among other court documents. The online court system showed only an imposingly long list of docket entries. By looking beyond the first layer of documents, however, I found deposition transcripts and exhibits that showed the promoter was a double dealer who lied about having money to invest in the project.

“Taxpayers give money, tourism chief gets award”  

After a watchdog group that had been feuding with the Las Vegas tourism authority turned up an expense report showing a $25,000 donation to a group that honored the authority’s executive director. Given the hostility between the two sides, I decided to take a closer look and examine the issue myself. Receipts, email and other documents acquired through a public records request showed the director spent thousands of dollars wining and dining charity officials in an effort to plan a banquet honoring himself, all funded with public money.