When an initial deal to avert a shutdown – providing $100 billion in disaster aid – was scuttled, managers in Washington and U.S. News stood up a team tasked with a reporting challenge: find examples of real people affected by the disaster relief stalemate and get it out quickly.
Reporter Travis Loller reached an affected farmer in Georgia and a business owner in North Carolina, while Leah Willingham interviewed a homeowner who’d been told the day before that his disaster relief loan was on hold because the deal had been scuttled. Willingham and Loller used their experience reporting in the storm zone to quickly gather pertinent examples. Meanwhile several reporters with Helene coverage experience, including more than one who were on vacation, supplied contacts to help move the coverage forward.
Videojournalist Brittany Peterson offered a key homeowner whose example illustrated the plight of regular people far from Washington. Meanwhile, in Honolulu, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher used her deep knowledge of the Maui wildfires and source building to line up an interview that would produce compelling lead quotes, with Maui’s mayor. Further key coverage was provided by reporters Rebecca Santana, Gary Robertson and Ben Finley.
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