EXCLUSIVE: Convicts profiting from pensions

Starting with a challenge by an editor to analyze more than one million lines of pension records, I learned SQL to join the pension database with a state conviction database and identify crooks collecting taxpayer funded retirement, including one behind bars, prompting the state to cut off his checks.

Residents resist tidal flooding, an increasing threat to the Jersey Shore

Pairing data analysis with personal narratives, this story depicts the human impact of climate change.

Mayor shares pain of son’s heroin death to spare others

An intimate profile portraying the reach of drug addiction to even prominent families on the Jersey Shore.

Authorities missed chances to arrest a life of crime

When police didn’t investigate a murder, thinking it was a natural death, a killer went free to strike again.

Courthouse gunman spoke of ‘judgement day’

A deeply troubled man fatally shot outside a courthouse had come into contact with many local authorities, including the reporters who wrote this story.

Boy’s rescue from alleged abuse almost came too late

Slipping through cracks in reporting requirements, a boy was abused, nearly starving to death.