"Homeland Insecurity" - Texas Observer

"Want to run drugs, smuggle migrants and get away with it? Join America’s biggest law enforcement agency."

A yearlong investigation into anti-corruption failures at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, co-written with Melissa del Bosque.

Read the story here.

"King's Gambit" - Texas Observer

Feature for the Texas Observer's September 2015 issue on Daniel King, a school superintendent on a mission to transform public education in South Texas by rounding up dropouts and getting students into college early.

Read it here.

"Houston's Learning Curve" - Politico Magazine

Mark Peterson/Redux

Feature for Politico Magazine's "What Works" series, about how people working in Houston's public school system respond to the challenges of newcomer refugees and students from neighborhoods where poverty goes back generations.

Read the story here.

Strangest State - Texas Observer

My monthly feature in the Texas Observer highlights small-town oddities and other unlikely stories from across Texas.

Read it here.

"Childhood Lost" - Texas Observer

"Sarah Brian says her two children were stolen by her own parents—with help from the state of Texas."

A story of family courts and the cost of unchecked power in rural East Texas. Featured as one of Longreads' stories of the week in May 2014.

Read it here.

"Into the Pines" - Texas Observer

"No one guessed how far Jeffrey Holliman would go to leave his troubles behind."

A story of survival and theft in the East Texas wilderness. Featured as one of Longreads' stories of the week in February 2014.

Read it here.

"Kenny Chesney's Good-Time Cult of Authenticity" - Pacific Standard

I visit Cowboys Stadium, where the nation's top-selling touring act was busy promoting a new line of rum.

Read it here.