CNS | Philip Merrill College of Journalism

CNS Record 2003

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Sarah Schaffer won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for college reporting in 2003 for her four-part series, "Outside the Fence." Schaffer followed a group of inmates at the Metropolitan Transitional Center in Baltimore for three months of 2003 as they prepared for release, telling the story of their fears and hopes. The RFK journalism award, known among the press as the "poor people's Pulitzers," honors outstanding reporting on problems of the disadvantaged. The series also won first place for daily newspaper feature writing from the Society of Professional Journalists/D.C. professional chapter's 2004 Washington Dateline award for Excellence in Local Journalism.

Dan Wilcock's dogged reporting of a little-used state database of sewage overflows not only showed that raw sewage spills grew by almost 1,250 percent in 2003, it also uncovered errors in the data collection that the state was forced to fix. Wilcock also pinpointed severe problems in Baltimore City and Prince George's County. His package of stories, "Effluent Escalation," was a finalist in the student category of the national Investigative Reporters and Editors competition for 2003. It finished second for daily newspaper investigative reporting in the 2004 Washington Dateline Awards from D.C. professional chapter of SPJ.

Dan Genz dogged every detail of the debate on bringing slot machine gambling to shore up Maryland's cloudy revenue picture, debunked the myth of the value that the horse racing industry has to the state and then painted a picture of the stark decline of the storied Pimlico track, where War Admiral and Seabiscuit once raced.

Meghan Mullan analyzed school demographic data to show that public elementary schools were becoming more racially isolated over the past decade, even as the school population was becoming more diverse. It earned an honorable mention for general news reporting in a daily newspaper, in the 2004 Washington Dateline Awards given by the D.C. pro chapter of SPJ.

Gabriel Baird used database reporting and old-fashioned shoe leather to look at Maryland's air pollution problems from several angles in his four-part series, "Choke Points." Baird visited the Ohio town that is home to one of the worst-polluting plants in the nation and flew with the researchers who take pollution samples over Maryland. He also crunched vehicle emissions inspection data to find the worst-polluting cars in Maryland and show that sport-utility vehicles are the biggest polluters.

Christine Hines determined that thousands of Maryland charities fail to properly report fund-raising expenses each year.

Students from the Annapolis and Washington bureaus collaborated on a five-part series, "Aberdeen Goes to War," which looked at life in the Harford County town in the shadow of Aberdeen Proving Ground. The stories looked at how churches, schools, businesses and others in the community were coping.

Luciana Lopez's reporting on Baltimore's DNA lab showed that the high-tech crime-fighting tool is staggering under a huge backlog of cases and a lack of resources for the painstaking work.

Kristin Sette's analysis of school suspension records showed that a remarkable 1,627 of the youngest students -- those in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade -- were suspended in the 2001-2002 school year, up from 1,345 the year before. The infractions ranged from classroom disruptions to weapons, drug and sexual activity.

William Wan got national play with his story on immigrant workers here who send money overseas, a practice that is now one of the two most important sources of income for developing countries, according to the World Bank.

Sarah Schaffer also wrote about the continuing problems of finding permanent homes for teen foster kids.

Sarah Hoye analyzed the flaws in Ford's Police Interceptor Crown Victorias and revealed Maryland law enforcement agencies on a slow pace for repairing the problem-plagued vehicles.

Tom LoBianco Uncovered flagrant omissions from lobbyist disclosure laws.

Kelli Esters pointed out that, unlike many private companies, the federal government does not make up the difference between the civilian salaries and the military pay of reservists and National Guardsmen who are called up to active duty.

Eric J.S. Townsend tracked the increasing outflow of Dorchester County workers to jobs in other counties and states.

Allen Powell II took the first-ever look at the state's elevator inspection database and found that nearly a quarter of the elevators in Maryland are chronically under-inspected, and that number is as high as 50 percent in some counties.

Justin Palk tested the metal of Maryland's bridges and found them, mostly, sound.

Elizabeth Shack compared income statistics and liquor licenses to show that Maryland's poorest ZIP code has nine times as many liquor stores per resident as the state's richest ZIP code.

Maria Tsigas examined enrollment at Maryland's nursing schools to cement the inevitability of an extended nursing shortage in the state.