Holding power
accountable
since 2010.

As an editor at Floodlight, NY Focus, NY Cannabis Insider and inewsource, Brad has overseen investigations that drove resignations, changed policies and laws and improved quality of life for the afflicted.

Floodlight Apr 2026

Judges Overseeing Louisiana's Landmark Oil Cases Have Financial Stakes in Defendants

An investigation found that a dozen federal judges presiding over Louisiana's major environmental lawsuits against oil and gas companies held stocks, bonds, mineral rights or other financial ties to the defendants.

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My role

Co-editor alongside an editor from Type Investigations. Oversaw reporter Garrett Hazelwood and orchestrated photo and video production with publication partner Verite News. Designed all illustrations used throughout the story.

Impact

Four-newsroom partnership. Floodlight, Type Investigations, Verite News and WWNO/WRKF co-published the first comprehensive accounting of financial conflicts among federal judges overseeing Louisiana's landmark climate and environmental litigation.

Floodlight Feb 2026

Thermal Drone Footage Shows Musk's AI Plant Flouting Clean Air Rules

First-of-its-kind drone imagery confirmed xAI was operating 15+ unpermitted gas turbines in Southaven, Miss. Ran on The Guardian's homepage. Millions of views.

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My role

Editor-in-Chief. Oversaw reporter Evan Simon on Floodlight's most successful story. Managed partnership and legal review with The Guardian.

Impact

Went viral. A1 treatment on The Guardian homepage. Millions of Instagram views. Spawned 12-minute YouTube documentary. Photos to hang in a Paris art museum in 2027.

NY Focus Jan 2026

FBI Wiretaps, Illegal Drugs and Dead Horses

State regulators sat on FBI evidence of a massive horse doping ring for years. We got the wiretaps.

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My role

Series editor. Daily editing and rewriting with reporter Sam Mellins. Managed full fact-check cycle, legal review, photo direction.

Impact

Gaming Commission investigator resigned. Governor Hochul demanded accountability. State opened new investigation.

NY Focus Jun 2025

The Insurance Scheme That Could Leave New Yorkers With Mountains of Debt

An investigation into Leading Edge Administrators, which became the health insurer for hundreds of thousands of home health aides through New York's CDPAP Medicaid program — leaving low-wage workers facing massive medical debt.

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My role

Editor. Oversaw reporter Sam Mellins on the investigative series into Leading Edge Insurance and its impact on home health care workers.

Impact

Insurer replaced. Following the investigation, the state moved to replace Leading Edge Administrators with a new insurance manager for the state's home care workers.

NY Focus Dec 2024

How Low Pay and Long Hours at the Assembly Hurt New York

An investigation into the New York State Assembly's declining staff budget, poverty-level wages and grueling conditions that fueled a brain drain of experienced policy staff to the better-paying Senate.

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My role

Editor. Oversaw reporter Sam Mellins on the investigation into Assembly working conditions and staff pay.

Impact

Staff received raises. Assembly salaries increased by an average of over 10 percent following the investigation — the largest raises of any major Assembly office.

NY Focus Nov 2024

Investigating the Bronx Political Machine

A multi-part investigation revealing more than $400,000 in vanished campaign funds, pay-to-play schemes in judicial races and a political consultancy tied to the county party chair.

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My role

Editor. Oversaw reporters Sam Mellins and Chris Bragg on the investigative series into the Bronx Democratic Party.

Impact

Forced new disclosures. After publication, the Bronx Democrats filed over a dozen new or amended campaign finance disclosures with the state Board of Elections.

NY Cannabis Insider / Syracuse.com Mar 2024

‘Terrified to Criticize’: Accusations of Hostility and Retaliation Surface Against NYS Office of Cannabis Management

Leaked audio and interviews revealed a pattern of alleged selective enforcement and retaliation by the state’s cannabis regulator, prompting the governor to order a sweeping review.

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My role

Editor. Oversaw reporter Wes Parnell on the investigation into the Office of Cannabis Management’s leadership and enforcement practices.

Impact

Chief Equity Officer resigned. Governor Hochul ordered sweeping review of the state cannabis program.

From 2012 to 2024, Brad was a reporter, photographer and videographer at inewsource, NY Cannabis Insider and Syracuse.com — specializing in public records, data, visual storytelling and government accountability.

NY Cannabis Insider / Syracuse.com Sep 2023

NY's Testing Failures Expose Legal Weed Consumers to Unsafe Cannabis

A months-long investigation found top-selling weed strains sold at licensed New York dispensaries contained microbial contamination at 10–250 times the state's medical cannabis limits, exposing systemic failures from farmers to labs to state regulators.

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My role

Lead reporter. Independent lab testing, records analysis and source development across New York's newly legal adult-use cannabis supply chain.

Impact

Went viral across the national cannabis industry. Won 1st Place for Distinguished State Government Coverage from the New York News Publishers Association for exposing "the state's shoddy testing that allowed contaminated marijuana to reach recreational consumers."

NY Cannabis Insider / Syracuse.com Dec 2022

Smoke and Mirrors: Inside the Murky $200M Effort to Kickstart NY's Marijuana Industry

How New York's dormitory authority became entangled in the state's cannabis licensing fund — and what happened to the money.

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My role

Lead reporter. Public records investigation, financial document analysis and accountability reporting on a new and opaque state regulatory system.

Impact

CEO resigned shortly after publication. Reporting exposed financial mismanagement in New York's cannabis licensing apparatus.

inewsource 2020

Rewired: An Experimental Brain Treatment Blows Up Two Lives

A Navy SEAL's psychotic break. A $10 million donation squandered. A year-long investigation into unproven electromagnetic therapy at UC San Diego.

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My role

Wrote the main two-part investigation with Jill Castellano. Managed videographer Zoë Meyers on the documentary film. Designed the project website.

Impact

Two lawsuits filed. Internal UC San Diego investigation launched. Doctor found to have violated university policies. $10M gift mismanagement made public for the first time.

inewsource Jun 2020

San Diego VA Moves Suicidal Veterans Off 'Life-Saving Treatment,' Against Doctor's Pleas

First in a long-running series on the San Diego VA and veteran suicides. The VA abruptly pulled suicidal veterans off ketamine treatments their doctors called life-saving — with fatal consequences.

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My role

Lead reporter. Developed sources, obtained medical records and documented the VA's shifting public explanations across the multi-part series.

Impact

Federal investigation opened. The series prompted Rep. Scott Peters' office to demand answers; the VA's Office of the Inspector General launched a formal investigation shortly after. Reporting also documented the San Diego VA repeatedly contradicting itself about why veterans were taken off ketamine — discrepancies the agency refused to reconcile or explain.

inewsource Jul 2019

UCSD Doctor Resigns Amid Questions About China's Thousand Talents Program

A renowned eye doctor under FBI scrutiny for undisclosed ties to Chinese government recruitment efforts resigned after inewsource's reporting.

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My role

Co-reported with Jill Castellano. Federal records analysis, source development and investigative writing on national security and academic research compliance.

Impact

Subject resigned and left the country. Investigation prompted renewed federal scrutiny of the Thousand Talents Program at UC San Diego.

inewsource 2018–2019

Dangerous Human Research Alleged at San Diego VA

Two whistleblowers say dangerous liver research was performed on veterans suffering from alcoholism. A congressman called for a hearing.

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My role

Lead reporter on the investigation. Developed whistleblower sources, analyzed research protocols and followed up with stories for the next year.

Impact

Congressional hearing called. VA leaders questioned about "egregious" human research practices. Main subject resigned from VA and UCSD — and moved to Dubai.

inewsource Dec 2018

Security Gaps at San Diego Shipyards Put Billion-Dollar Navy Warships at Risk

Private shipyards responsible for protecting Navy warships were not following security protocols meant to safeguard billion-dollar military assets.

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My role

Sole reporter. Records requests, source development and investigative reporting on national defense security failures.

Impact

Congressman called for hearing on shipyard security protocols. National security implications raised publicly for the first time.

inewsource Multimedia project

An Impossible Choice

A rare look inside a subacute care unit in Coronado, Calif. — one of hundreds statewide housing more than 4,000 life-support patients.

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My role

Co-reported with Joanne Faryon. Also served as videographer, editor and web designer on the multimedia project.

Format

Documentary + multimedia project. Visual investigation into end-of-life care, combining photography, video and long-form reporting. Winner: IRE Medal, Meyer "Mike" Berger Award, National Edward R. Murrow Award (Audio & Video categories), National Emmy Award nomination.

Award-winning editor and investigative journalist with 15+ years of experience. Two IRE Medals, two Murrow Awards, a national Emmy nomination and 100+ career awards. Work has driven resignations, congressional hearings and federal investigations.

100+ career awards, including:

• IRE Medal (x2) — Investigative Reporters & Editors (2013, 2014); Finalist (2012)
• National Edward R. Murrow Award (x2) — Audio News Series and Video Hard News, RTDNA (2015)
• Regional Edward R. Murrow Award (x2) — Audio and Video, RTDNA (2015)
• National Emmy Award, Nomination — Outstanding Hard News, NATAS (2015)
• Meyer "Mike" Berger Award — Columbia Journalism School (2015)
• AHCJ Award, 1st Place — Consumer/Feature, Association of Health Care Journalists (2015)
• Golden Mike Award — Medical & Science Reporting, RTNA of Southern California (2021)
• Sol Price Award for Responsible Journalism — Society of Professional Journalists (2014)
• SPJ First Amendment Award — Society of Professional Journalists (2018)
• Excellence in Journalism Award — San Diego Society of Professional Journalists (2020)
• Body of Work Award — San Diego Press Club (2019)
• Best in Show (x4) — San Diego Press Club (2014, 2015 x2, 2017)
• 1st Place, Distinguished State Government Coverage — New York News Publishers Association (2024)
• 60+ additional 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards from SPJ, San Diego Press Club, Best of the West and Missouri Press Foundation (2011–2020)

Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) · Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) · ACES: The Society for Editing · Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) · NY Coalition on Open Government (Board Member)

Work has appeared in or been cited by PBS NewsHour, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, NBC News, MSNBC, Buzzfeed, Columbia Journalism Review, Center for Public Integrity, Marketplace, KQED, KPBS, CBS8, Law360, San Diego Union-Tribune, and 20+ more outlets.