My top stories at the Boston Globe

I started at the Boston Globe, my childhood hometown paper, in December 2018. I was thrilled to return to the Boston area after 12 incredible years in the South to be able to see my parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, and grandmother more regularly. Since moving here, my life has continued to change in some exciting ways: I married my husband, Lison, in June 2021 and we had a baby, Simone, in April 2022.

At the Globe, I was first hired on the cannabis beat, covering the world of then-newly legalized marijuana. When COVID-19 struck, my editors moved me to cover the pandemic, checking in with epidemiologists regularly and writing about what they were learning. Since the summer of 2020, I’ve been on the Globe’s Great Divide team, an investigative reporting team covering schools and education with a focus on race, class, and inequities of opportunity in Boston Public Schools.

Here is a list of the stories I’m most proud of since starting at the Globe. You can see all my stories here.

Education:

Inside the unlicensed counseling that led Boston students to allege emotional abuse

Boston’s teacher diversity has barely budged in 10 years. District leaders hope the next decade will look different

After repeated racist incidents at Quincy High School, students and parents mobilize, raising hopes that change is possible

Families in Alabama have free, full-day prekindergarten while many Mass. families can only dream of it

Eight years after Mayor Walsh’s promises, Boston prekindergarten still not universal

Free meal or attend class? School schedules force some low-income families to choose

Independent study for 6-year-olds? Some Massachusetts districts are skirting instructional requirements for kids

Impact:

Following parents’ complaints of too much independent study, state mandates expanded instructional requirements

COVID:

Years of understaffing, mismanagement set deadly stage for coronavirus outbreak at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, employees say

When will the coronavirus pandemic end? What scientists can say about life returning to normal

Cannabis:

A law said pot taxes should help communities harmed by the war on drugs. That hasn’t happened

‘My life came crashing down overnight’: How one Boston-area woman nearly died from vaping

New approach to curbing marijuana use among teens: ‘just say no’ gives way to ‘just smoke less’

In legalizing marijuana, Canada did everything differently. Here’s what we can learn

Inside the Walmart of Weed: From rural Canada, Big Marijuana seeks to dominate global market