NEWS
Leominster Flash Flooding
September 11, 2023
After being pummeled by nearly 10 inches of rain, the city of Leominster suffered a severe flash flooding emergency, resulting in much of the city’s infrastructure collapsing. As the lead Assignment Editor that night, I used social media and police scanners to direct my crews to the locations with the worst reported damage. I coordinated crew coverage with the Executive Producers and our satellite department, ensuring a seamless and accurate broadcast. I also organized several phone interviews with Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella and emergency crews to ensure people in the city knew to stay off the roads. By the end of the night, we reported on main road closures, neighborhood evacuations, flood rescues, and even a sinkhole developing in front of a Cadillac dealership.
Plymouth Family Escapes From Gaza
November 13, 2023
Since the October 7th attack, a family of five from Plymouth, MA had been trapped in Gaza, surviving aerial strikes, food scarcity, and severe illnesses. During the nightly editorial meeting, I saw that one of the papers reported that the family had successfully crossed the border and was preparing to fly back to Massachusetts. Their piece was just an update to a larger story, but I knew we had to platform the family and allow them to speak about their harrowing experiences. I reached out to a relative, Hani Shafai, and interviewed him about what the family had lived through, as well as his own experiences crossing from Gaza to Egypt. He told me how challenging it was to cross the border, even during times of peace, and discussed his grief over losing a cousin to an airstrike a few days earlier. It was an incredibly powerful experience speaking with Hani and it is one of the stories I’m most proud of working on.