Alec MacGillis
I have been reporting for ProPublica since 2015, most recently covering the post-pandemic schools crisis.
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What I Cover
In recent years, I have covered gun violence, economic inequality and the post-pandemic crisis in public education.
My Background
I worked for six newspapers, including The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post. In 2011, I switched to magazines, at The New Republic, before arriving at ProPublica in 2015. My work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine, among others. I won the 2016 Robin Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting, the 2017 Polk Award for National Reporting and the 2017 Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award. A resident of Baltimore, I am the author of “The Cynic: The Political Education of Mitch McConnell” and “Fulfillment: America in the Shadow of Amazon.”
The Reopening That Wasn’t: As Government Employees Work From Home, People Find Services Curtailed
Everything from pandemic policies to security concerns is causing agencies to reduce in-person services, including licenses and permits.
Settling With Kushner Companies Was Hard. Getting Money to Former Tenants May Be Harder.
Kushner-owned Westminster Management agreed to pay millions to settle allegations of maintenance horrors and excess fees in its Maryland rental apartments. Finding former tenants and paying them meaningful sums is the next challenge.
Can Community Programs Help Slow the Rise in Violence?
Amid a murder crisis in America, governments are investing millions in local, non-police programs. The violence intervention workers leading them are now under pressure to prove their worth.
What Fortune 500 Companies Said After Jan. 6 vs. What They Did
A new ProPublica app tracks corporate contributions to election deniers. From GE to Boeing, here are some of the behemoths that proclaimed that they were suspending donations — then resumed giving to the very politicians they had sworn off.
Tim Ryan: The Working-Class-Jobs Candidate in the Era of Resentment
Democrat Tim Ryan has long emphasized manufacturing jobs, a stance his party has lately begun to embrace. How he fares in his Senate race in Republican-dominated Ohio could reveal a lot about his party’s future prospects.
Kushner Company Agrees to Pay at Least $3.25 Million to Settle Claims
A Kushner subsidiary is settling a lawsuit that the state of Maryland filed after ProPublica reported widespread problems in thousands of the company’s Baltimore-area apartments.
At Liberty University, Veterans’ Complaints Keep Coming
The evangelical school earns substantial revenues from former members of the military whose tuition is supported by the GI Bill, but it continues to generate complaints from aggrieved vets.
Two Cities Took Different Approaches to Pandemic Court Closures. They Got Different Results.
Did closing courts contribute to the resurgence in violent crime that began in 2020? What happened in Albuquerque and Wichita may provide clues.
Trial Diary: A Journalist Sits on a Baltimore Jury
Could 12 strangers agree on justice in Baltimore, a city riddled with killings and distrust of the police, in a shooting case where the victim was an actor on the legendary drama “The Wire”?
How the Russian Invasion of Ukraine Upended Germany
In the few weeks since Putin’s forces moved on Ukraine, Germany has rethought its energy policy, overhauled its diplomatic stance toward Russia and reconsidered its military role in the world. Said one observer, “It’s staggering.”