Grading the Gulf of Mexico after the spill

After the BP oil spill, oceanographers familiar with the Gulf of Mexico were asked to give their assessment of the water quality and grade various categories. Surprisingly, the overall view for the viability of the Gulf was good.

See the interactive here:

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/gulf_grades/

Toxic water in schools

I worked on this investigative piece with an environmental reporter who was able to get 10 years of water surveys from the Environmental Protection Agency. In her series of reports, she verified that toxins were being leaked into schools' water supply - mostly in rural areas and off city water systems and relied on wells.

A majority of the pollutants came from chemicals found in agricultural fertilizers. Check out the link to see the interactive. This was a collaberative effort with me working with a Flash programmer:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33018955/ns/health-kids_and_parenting#.TknIxM1p2kI

Taking a break to draw

This illustration was done for a feature story about protecting your fall and spring bulbs from varmints. As much as I love spot news at work, it is great to vary the pace some and slow down and draw something. The font was converted to paths and manipulated slightly for a custom look.

Every year I try to supplement the collection of bulbs in my yard. So far, I can say that I don't believe I have ever had a problem with them being unearthed and used as nourishment.