Megan Wordell: Digital Portfolio

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Hi there! I'm Megan Wordell: a Brooklyn-based producer at ABC News, digital journalist, amateur baker, coffee lover, & total cat person. I learned how to code this website during my masters studies at Columbia University and now use it to display my journalism projects and clips. I'm so glad you're here!

Louisiana inmate escapes custody after pepper spraying deputy, stealing officer's car, sheriff says

A convicted felon who had been in custody on a second-degree murder charge escaped on Sunday after pepper spraying his transporting deputy and stealing her car, authorities said. The inmate, Leon Ruffin, should be considered "armed and dangerous," Sheriff Joseph Lopinto of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana, told the media Sunday night at a press briefing.

At least 17 killed, 62 injured in mass shootings across the US over weekend

Three people were killed and at least 11 others were injured when "several active shooters" opened fire at a crowded intersection in Philadelphia's South Street entertainment district late Saturday night -- one of a string of mass shootings that erupted across the country over the weekend, officials said.

Watchdog group files FEC complaint against Rep. Santos (R-NY)

23 cannolis: that’s what New York Congressman George Santos would have had to purchase from an Italian restaurant in Little Neck, NY, to reach his reported campaign spending total of $199.99 in an evening.

Nail technicians push for more workplace safety measures after ventilation regulations implemented

At a small salon off Jamaica Avenue in Queens, Maria Victoriano is both a nail technician and accidental chemist. While painting nails and assembling acrylic sets for 10 hours a day for the last 16 years, she interacts with hazardous chemicals the nail industry calls the “toxic trio:” toluene, formaldehyde, and dibutyl phthalate. Numerous studies have linked these chemicals to asthma, allergies, and pregnancy loss — all of which Victoriano says she has experienced.

Through court fees and fines, Black and Latinx New Yorkers disproportionately fund the criminal justice system

Traffic was moving slowly the day Tivia Leith picked up her son from school in December 2021. When she was pulled over by the Nassau County Police, she was confused; their seatbelts were on and she couldn’t have been speeding.

White House signs new bipartisan bill to combat PPP loan fraud

According to President Biden, American tax dollars were being misused during the Trump administration as PPP loans were placed into the wrong hands — those not of small business owners, but fraudulent actors. “I made it clear,” he said, “The watchdogs are back.”

Gainesville Protesters Peacefully March Against Police Use Of Force On Day Of National Violence

More than 1,000 Gainesville community members gathered in Depot Park on Saturday and lifted up posters plastered with the phrase “I can’t breathe.” The show of support was part of a nationwide protest effort that turned violent in places across America in the following hours, but not in Gainesville...One in every 1,000 black men can expect to be killed by police, according to a study from the National Academy of Sciences. Additionally, USA Today pinned police brutality as a leading cause of death for black men ages 25-29, placing it just after cancer, heart disease and homicide.

Pre-existing Health Disparities Could Affect COVID-19's Impact In Rural Communities

If it weren’t for the “hospital heroes” signs strewn on the side of State Road 100, you might not even notice the global pandemic. Social distancing isn’t anything new in Union County. With churches appearing to outnumber houses in certain areas, maintaining a 6-foot distance from your neighbors is just part of another day that ends in “y.” But while the layout and lifestyle of rural north central Florida may seem to quell the spread of COVID-19 at first glance, underlying pre-existing health disparities have caused researchers to question the pandemic’s true impacts on rural communities.

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