Home Accountability Journalism Experience Growth and Service About Contact

Accountability Journalist

Covering government, public policy and institutions in the Pacific Northwest 

Reporting that has led to policy reforms, criminal convictions and greater public transparency

About Me

I am a seasoned accountability journalist in the Pacific Northwest with more than two decades of experience covering communities, government and public agencies.  I uncover watchdog stories that expose institutional failures and hold powerful organizations accountable. Over the years, my work has spurred health care policy changes in Oregon, criminal convictions in Nevada and transparency reforms at an Idaho community college.

    My public policy reporting experience spans the full spectrum of government — from small, rural communities to urban municipal agencies, statehouses and large state institutions. I cover public policy and state and regional government agencies as the senior correspondent at Lookout Eugene-Springfield. 

    I mesh the skills of a beat reporter with the mindset of an investigative journalist. I combine daily coverage, source development, public records and data to unearth hidden stories and hold institutions accountable. 

    Accountability journalism with impact

    Lookout Eugene-Springfield •

    ‘Fear, uncertainty and chaos’: A grand jury report on Oregon State Hospital finds staff concerns about retaliation 

    One week before Kenneth Hass died in Oregon State Hospital, a staffer filed a complaint with her bosses about the way the 25-year-old from Lane County was treated. 


    That same staffer was demoted from her leadership role about two months after Hass died in a feces-filled seclusion room at the state-run psychiatric hospital in Salem, according to her testimony to a grand jury convened by Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson. That account is among the examples of staffers sharing their...
    Lookout Eugene-Springfield •

    ‘Radio silence’: Oregon State Hospital’s deputy superintendent has been on paid leave for 3 years

    Derek Wehr has spent the last three years as a ghost in the administrative machinery of Oregon State Hospital. 


    On paper, he is deputy superintendent, a high-ranking official paid an annual salary of $209,576. In real life, he hasn’t set foot in the facility since August 2023 — he’s been relegated to paid administrative leave, existing in a gray area between punching a clock and unemployment.


    A review of Wehr’s salary and payroll records shows his pay and benefits exceed a half-million dol...
    Lookout Eugene-Springfield •

    Oregon lawmaker pushing for more oversight of Oregon State Hospital

    State Rep. Hai Pham wants more accountability and transparency at Oregon State Hospital — with the goal of keeping patients safe and receiving appropriate, quality care. 


    Pham, D-Hillsboro, is chair of the House Interim Committee on Behavioral Health, which puts him in a position to lead the Legislature’s efforts to keep Oregon State Hospital accountable. The psychiatric hospital cares for hundreds of patients at its main facility in Salem and at a satellite campus in Junction City.
    Lookout Eugene-Springfield •

    ‘It's broken.’ Safety concerns at Oregon State Hospital raised months prior to death of Lane County man

    Seven months before the March death of a Lane County resident at Oregon State Hospital, Oregon Health Authority Director Sejal Hathi huddled with nearly a dozen hospital staff, many of them managers, with a request: provide candid feedback. 


    By then, the authority’s psychiatric hospital already had faced violations connected to three patient deaths in less than a year. 


    In November 2023, a patient died in a seclusion room, where staff placed him after he complained of breathing difficultie...
    Oregon Capital Chronicle •

    Amid mounting scrutiny, Oregon Department of Corrections shakes up health care division   • Oregon Capital Chronicle

    UPDATED at 5:03 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 with information about the investigation.
    The Oregon Department of Corrections has fired two leading health care managers who oversaw a division responsible for the medical care of about 12,000 inmates in a dozen state prisons.
    The corrections agency on Monday said it had moved to “separate” with Health Services Assistant Director Joe Bugher and the agency’s medical chief, Dr. Warren Roberts, and conduct a comprehensive review of the agency’s health c...
    Oregon Capital Chronicle •

    Report: Medical visits backlogged at Oregon women’s prison as hundreds wait months for care • Oregon Capital Chronicle

    In February, Coffee Creek Correctional Facility reported a backlog of nearly 600 medical appointments. 
    The medical staff at Oregon’s only women’s prison either failed to complete or significantly delayed the routine care and annual wellness exams and preventative cancer screenings, public records from an inspection of the facility’s medical services shows. 
    The problems run throughout the prison: Women wait six months or longer for tests like scans or imaging to treat or diagnose medical proble...
    Lookout Eugene-Springfield •

    Months before a patient died alone at Oregon State Hospital, agency boss was warned about seclusion practices

    When Kenneth Hass was languishing in a seclusion room at Oregon State Hospital in October 2024, a social worker paid him a visit and wrote a report about what he saw. 


    Among the social worker’s observations: Hass habitually urinated and defecated in his bed. He had never been out of seclusion for more than 48 hours at a time due to his mental health and how it affected his interactions with others.


    Hospital staff speculated he may have had an unknown brain injury or other undiagnosed condi...