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.”
Forced to Choose Between a Job — and a Community
As the largest employer in Adams County, Ohio, closes its coal-fired power plants there, politicians and companies have thrown up their hands. Families know that finding work means leaving the place they know.
Before the Blankenship-McConnell Feud, the Senator Aided the Mining Executive
Mitch McConnell helped Don Blankenship’s company avoid dire regulatory consequences for a disastrous spill in 2000.
Billion-Dollar Blessings
How Jerry Falwell Jr. transformed Liberty University, one of the religious right's most powerful institutions, into a wildly lucrative online empire.
Addiction Drug’s Side Effect: More Overdoses?
Researchers suggest people getting Vivitrol shots may be more susceptible to a fatal overdose if they halt the regimen early and resume using opiates.
How Political Pessimism Helps Doom Tougher Gun Laws
Saying ‘nothing will change’ has empowered the NRA and ignores its declining punch.
Kushner Companies Decides to Fight Tenants in State Court Rather Than Reveal Its Investors’ Identities
The move follows a federal judge’s ruling in favor of disclosure.
Judge: Kushner Company Must Reveal Identities of Real Estate Partners
The ruling comes in a class-action lawsuit filed by tenants of Kushner-managed apartment complexes in the Baltimore area.
Despite Trump Campaign Promise, Billionaires’ Tax Loophole Survives Again
The tax treatment of so-called carried interest wouldn’t change in the overhaul proposed by House Republicans, retaining a big benefit for private-equity and hedge-fund titans.
Book Review: The Ordeal of Appalachia
A new account challenges our notion of how the people of Appalachia “acquired civilization and then lost it.”
Maryland Investigating Kushner Real Estate Practices
The probe by the Maryland attorney general comes after reports by ProPublica, The New York Times and The Baltimore Sun about the firm’s aggressive treatment of tenants.