Selected stories

NPR: A statewide survey of California's bumblebees hopes to help conserve them

This field story brought us to the coastal mountains of Malibu, California with bumblebee biologist Leif Richardson. He’s one of the leaders of the California Bumble Bee Atlas, a census of the state’s bumblebees. The aim is to document where rare and threatened bumblebees live, in order to protect them. And though our initial concern may have been being stung by the bees we caught, we soon found out bumblebee surveys hold other dangers, like poison oak, giant rattlesnakes, and a giant swarm of carpenter ants!

NPR: In a charred moonscape, a band of hopeful workers try to save the Joshua tree

After a devastating wildfire at Mojave National Preserve, scientists and volunteers began planting baby Joshua trees in an effort to restore the extensive forests there. But the project faces grim odds. So far, some 80 percent of the thousands of Joshua trees volunteers have replanted have died. The preserve’s deputy superintendent Debra Hughson told me it’s not easy to re-create a landscape like this. "We seem to be capable of destroying it,” she says, “but we can't create something that we don't really even understand."

NPR: Black Americans And The Racist Architecture Of Homeownership

Owning a home is an undeniable part of the American dream — and of American citizenship. It is also the key to building intergenerational wealth. But Black homeownership rates have dropped precipitously since the early 2000s - and they’re nearly back at the level they were in 1970, just after the Fair Housing Act passed. This four-part radio and web series examines some of the obstacles holding back Black homeowners in America - and in the fourth part, I took a deep dive into the wonky world of home loans, and how, after the global financial crisis, the mortgage giants got more aggressive with something called “risk-based pricing” — which disparately affects borrowers with less wealth and lower credit scores.