The Calverts                                                                                                                                                     2008

The gripping and mysterious story of John and Elizabeth Calvert's disappearance quickly shifted us from a daily newspaper to a 24 hour news operation, posting updates online whenever new information became available.

We went beyond just print story telling to include videos of press conferences and searches, photo galleries and audio interviews. Plus, we posted key documents related to the case online so readers could see all the information we had on the high-profile case. All of the information was corralled in a special section on the Web site.

Rock Lobsters                                                                                                                                         5/23/2008

With a slightly tongue-in-cheek attitude, reporter Daniel Brownstein and I taped this video to go with a story I wrote about the increasing popularity of live lobster crane game machines. Web editor Michael Edenfield helped edit it and turn it into a goofy, but still informative, video for our site.

Read the story here:

The Face of Hilton Head's Homeless                                              12/30/2007

After the months of reporting and research that went into this story about the island's hidden homeless population, we created a whole web page specifically devoted to the topic. It included a documentary video we made showing some of the homeless areas, a photo gallery, an ongoing blog discussion and links to follow up stories. The story — and it's multimedia elements — won much praise from the readers, many who said they never would have known such a side of Hilton Head existed, and an award from the SC Press Association.

See the whole section here.

Runwaygate: Live blogging!                                                              12/4/07

If you can find me an issue that draws more passion on Hilton Head right now than the airport, I'll eat my copy of the Land Management Ordinance. Go ahead and try -- it's OK, I'm hungry and this binder looks delicious.

You can't because the airport was the issue at the time of this meeting. The town council decided in 2007 it had enough with the debate and wanted to pass an ordinance that would block any runway expansion without their approval. The issue drew the biggest crowd to a council meeting in at least a decade, and included hours of public comment, which I knew would be interesting but wouldn't fit in the paper. That's where the blog comes in, for  a blow-by-blow of Hilton Head's equivalent of the Warren Commission.

Excerpts (the whole blog has since been taken down):

3:30 p.m.: It’s like the parking lot of a Hannah Montana concert here at Town Hall. Staff is out in force directing people where to park, where to walk. I think I saw someone selling T-shirts out of the back of a truck near the Wexford circle.
Inside council chambers is already packed. I’m guessing its the Arbor Day proclamation that’s pulling the crowd.

3:40 p.m.: Council members and the mayor overhead in the hallways talking about how this might be the biggest meeting ever. The chambers are standing-room-only and the hallway is full of overflow crowd.

4:03 p.m.: Judge Sol Blatt Jr. (he of Cross Island Parkway fame) is swearing in the reelected council members. Wait, what election?
“I’m not here with you any more but my heart’s here, always will be.” He’s the first to mention the packed room.
“I couldn’t understand. I’ve never seen this crowd before,” he said. Must be lots of family members of council members in the room.
“I’m gonna swear these council members, then I’m headed waaay out,” he said.

4:37 p.m.: Peeples voice is cracking as he talks about why they’re doing this measure. Holy jeez, I think he's crying a little. This meeting is full of firsts.

4:40 p.m.: OH SNAP! John Curry throws his support behind the ordinance! Curry has been involved in the airport since almost the beginning and initially opposed it. But now he wants to quiet all the noise — for and against the airport — and just look towards the future. This is kind of like Colin Powell speaking out against the Iraq war.