Our Work

Paul Tullis on water, quakes and California's levees

Our Paul Tullis has a deeply reported piece in the recent Miller-McCune magazine about a subject near anddear to all Californians: Water. From his article:

[S]tate Sen. Joe Simitian, the Palo Alto Democrat who pushed through the state Legislature a historic package of bills that will determine a host of water issues in California over the next generation, including what to do with the Delta, told me the Delta is “California’s Katrina waiting to happen.” If, in a flood or an earthquake, a large number of levees fail at once — and there are 1,300 miles of them, a stretch longer than California’s Pacific coastline — up to 515,000 residents and 520,000 acres of farmland will be at immediate risk. Millions more acres and large urban areas will lose access to a major source of their water for months, or even years, as saltwater from the adjacent San Francisco Bay flows in.

[Civil engineer Gilbert) Cosio believes this is largely hype. He’s been working on these levees his entire 26-year career. Visual inspection, physical monitoring, magnetic anomaly studies, ground-penetrating radar and geomorphic studies are a few of the tools he and his colleagues at MBK Engineers use to assess levee condition. He wants to impress upon me the idea that these levees are, in fact, relatively safe.

“In our mind, the glass is half full,” he says with a chuckle, compared to “25 to 30 years ago, when the glass was totally empty. We think there’s room for improvement, but they’re a lot better than they used to be.”

Nona Yates: Deep research makes for more complete journalism

Our Nona Yates has long done the kind of work that helps good journalism soar, but that most people rarely know about. She's an ace researcher (she spent a lot of time digging out archived arcane details for national staff writers at the Los Angeles Times). So we're happy to spotlight a piece in which she is uncredited, but played a crucial role as researcher. It's a look by Entrepreneur.com at the innovations behind three up-and-coming companies.

It doesn't make much sense to quote the story here, which is our usual format, since when research is done well, and the writer uses it properly, you can't tell what the researcher dug up and what the reporter found on his or her own.

But such research is an integral part of the reporting process -- whether it be for journalism, annual reports or internal investigations. Knowing where to find the information is the first step, and Nona has been plumbing the depths of archives and databaes -- well, we won't get into years here.

But keep Nona in mind when you need a pro to figure out what's going on behind a current set of events.

Chris Kraul on oil, Colombia and rising stocks in (relative) peacetime

Chris Kraul, based in Bogota, Colombia, had this interesting piece in the most recent Barron's about part of the financial impact of the waning state of war in Colombia. From his story:

"Increasingly, Colombian-focused oil companies like state-controlled Ecopetrol (EC) and upstart Canadian outfit Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE.Canada), deserve to be part of the discussion. The shares of Ecopetrol have risen about 64% in the past year and Pacific Rubiales' have doubled, though an analyst says there's roughly 20% upside still left.

Both companies have made dramatic production gains, enjoy good prospects for continued growth in reserves, and have thrived under the improved security climate in Colombia. Backed by billions in U.S. military aid, the country's military has gained the upper hand against leftist guerrillas who a few years ago were lording it over the same eastern provinces where wildcatters now are drilling for crude.

 

Scott Martelle on monster waves, and the people who pursue them

Member (and author) Scott Martelle has this review in today's Los Angeles Times of Susan Casey's new book, "The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean," about two small circles of people -- those who study monster waves at sea, and those who try to surf them. From his piece:

Susan Casey's new book on waves and the people who love them begins in January 2000 with scientists aboard the 295-foot British research ship Discovery trying to collect data from the North Atlantic.

But the ocean threw a fit, heaving itself into massive waves far exceeding predictive models and threatening to destroy the Discovery.After a week of bouncing around like an egg poaching in boiling water, the ship's captain finally was able to hide behind the Hebrides Islands from waves that topped 100 feet — one of the first scientific confirmations that monster waves do exist, even though computer modeling programs say they can't....

Framed in two tracks, the book dives deeply into the world of top-level surfers who chase massive breaks around the globe and less deeply into the realm of scientists seeking to understand one of the biggest mysteries of the natural world: How do waves work? And given their history of destruction, what the does the future hold for millions of people living dangerously close to sea level?

Our Jim Gerstenzang on energy policy, Detroit and 60 miles per gallon

Jim Gerstenzang is back with another co-authored op-ed piece on energy policy, this one looking at the White House's moment of opportunity in nudging Detroit toward not only new car designs, but a new industrial model. From the piece in the Miami Herald:

This month, with traditional fanfare, Detroit is launching the new model year. More quietly, the Obama administration is preparing to help shape the cars that we will be driving six years from now. In coming weeks, it will unveil the first draft of standards for fuel efficiency and emissions beginning with the 2017 model year.

The challenge facing the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation is to set standards tough enough to revitalize the industry. They will bring savings at the pump, reduce global warming pollution and cut our oil addiction and the risks that go with it. They will transform the car industry by transforming the car.

This is a unique opportunity. As auto makers emerge from bankruptcy, strong emissions and fuel-mileage standards can ignite American know-how -- the country's greatest resource. With the best American technology, by 2025 Detroit can build safe, clean, 21st-century cars that average at least 60 miles per gallon -- and deliver 21st-century jobs.

Nancy Wride went to the beach and found some fish

Our Nancy Wride has this nice travel story for the Dallas Morning News on the annual grunion run in Southern California. From her story:

CABRILLO BEACH, Calif. – Lit by the moon, our camp chairs planted in the darkened waves, we wait for the best late-night show on the Southern California coast: the mating of the grunion.

Nowhere else on earth do fish ride the high tide to spawn out of water, and watching the animal kingdom procreate in a silvery wet spectacle is a wondrous sight. For travelers, as for Californians, the annual grunion runs are a free and novel adventure.

[...]

Peak spawning is late March to early June, but thousands of grunion flop ashore through summer's end. They arrive only about eight nights each month: four consecutive nights with the new moon, and another four with the first full moon. On those nights, the grunion ride ashore on the highest tides.

Our Jim Gerstenzang on oil spills and public policy

Jim Gerstenzang, writing with Dan Becker, has this op-ed piece in the Detroit Free Press looking at the Gulf Oil spill within the context of America's energy policy and gas mileage.  From the article:

The lesson of the BP disaster is that we must now substantially toughen those standards. They need to be strong enough that auto companies will produce cars that begin to break our reliance on the internal combustion engine. To do that, the Obama administration will have to weaken the grip of big oil and the auto industry.

The new mileage standard represents a 4% annual increase in fuel economy. If it is next increased to 5.5%, from 2017 to 2025, we could ultimately save an additional 3.5 million barrels of oil a day.

Accomplishing this is not rocket science. It's auto mechanics. Better engines, improved transmissions and aerodynamic, hybrid and new electric vehicle technology are all awaiting installation by Detroit.

Given their track record, the car companies will only use them if we adopt tough standards. We own GM and Chrysler. Let's tell them and the other automakers: It's time to help, not hinder. Use your engineers, not your lobbyists.

James Gerstenzang on BP, automakers and U.S. dependence on oil

The BP Oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the bailout of American automakers makes now the perfect time to end our dependence on petroleum, writes The Journalism Shop’s James Gerstenzang in a Bloomberg opinion piece. To get there, the United States should permanently ban oil production in the Gulf and force auto makers to make vehicles increasingly energy efficient.

Gerstenzang, with co-author Safe Climate Campaign director Dan Becker, explain:

Now that we, the American taxpayers, own most of General Motors Co. and a chunk of Chrysler Group LLC, they should help, not hinder, this effort. So should the chastened Toyota Motor Corp. They and other manufacturers should assign their best engineers instead of their top lobbyists.

To achieve a more stringent standard, no new laws are necessary. Congress and the Supreme Court have already given the president the tools he needs, including the Clean Air Act. He used them a year ago and has said he is willing to use them again.

Rosemary McClure on a room with an amazing view

Our Rosemary McClure gets the best gigs. She reports here for the Los Angeles Times on a hotel in Tanzania   with a rare view -- the wildlife of the Serengeti in Tanzania. From her story:

As I left my hotel room, I spotted first one, then three, then more than a dozen elephants milling around. They had come for a drink and a mud bath in a watering hole just beyond the lodge's swimming pool.

Who needs a game drive when the game comes to you?

Bilila Lodge Kempinski, where I stayed, qualifies. Not only did I see 28 elephants taking baths while I took a swim, but I also ran into two zebras when I left the hotel spa. "Here for a massage?" I asked as the pair galloped away.

Scott Martelle on a showdown in San Diego County

Our Scott Martelle, who write regularly for AOL News, has this piece on a showdown in San Diego County between tax officials and a veteran living off the land who refuses to pay a lien filed after a private contractor for the local fire district cleared brush from his land without permission. From the story:

 Supporters are painting Diliberti's troubles as a principled stand over individual rights against a local government that overstepped its bounds, and centering on a back-to-nature enthusiast overcome by exurban sprawl. 

Local officials say Diliberti's overgrown property posed a communal risk in a place acutely sensitive to the power of wildfires. They also say that his failure to reimburse the county for the expense of clearing his land passes an unfair burden along to fellow taxpayers.