Stories published in The Washington Post

Since June 2021, I have been an intern at The Post's General Assignment desk. From dwarf cows in Bangladesh to wildfires burning through California, I have covered a little bit of everything (a perfect way to feed my curiosity!)

Throughout these months, I have worked on breaking news, climate change, crime, coronavirus and the occasional dog rescue. As a general assignment reporter, I strive to learn as much as possible about subjects in a matter of hours while providing readers context through compelling narrative. Whether it is people hanging their hammocks from power line towers or Cuba's unprecedented protests, I aim to go the extra mile with a clear question in mind: What can I offer that will be different from any other outlet’s version?

In some cases it means communicating in different languages. In other cases, it means finding a fresh take to deliver the news. Yet, the thrill of the job is the short notice of the assignments, the opportunities to pitch stories and the possibilities of connecting readers with parts of the world they may not be accustomed to.

Washington Post •

L.A. DA requests resentencing for Menendez brothers, opening path to release

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday that it will request the resentencing of Erik and Lyle Menendez, a pair of brothers sentenced in 1996 to life in prison for killing their parents, heeding calls by their family to reconsider their case after new evidence emerged backing the brothers’ defense that they were physically and sexually abused by their father. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office announced on Thursday that it will request the resentencing of Erik a...
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Helicopter crashes into Houston radio tower, killing multiple people

A helicopter crashed into a radio tower in Houston on Sunday night, erupting into a fireball and crashing to the ground — leaving several people dead, including a child, according to authorities.The incident happened at 7:54 p.m. in Houston’s Greater East End, close enough to a fire station that firefighters there heard the crash, Houston Mayor John Whitmire (D) said late Sunday during a news conference. He said there were multiple fatalities. A helicopter crashed into a radio tower in Houston...
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Gallego demands apology from Lake after court unseals divorce records

The records were made public following a 10-month-long legal battle between the Gallegos and the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative publication that filed a lawsuit earlier this year to unseal them. The partially redacted documents show Gallego filed a petition to dissolve the marriage on Dec. 14, 2016 — shortly before the birth of their son — claiming that his marriage was “irretrievably broken.”Lake and Gallego are locked in a heated race to replace Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I) — and one that c...
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Menendez brothers’ relatives urge district attorney to release them

“If Lyle and Erik’s case were heard today, with the understanding we now have about abuse and [post-traumatic stress disorder], there is no doubt in my mind that their sentencing would have been very different,” said Anamaria Baralt, niece of José Menendez, the siblings’ father.The Menendez brothers have long insisted that years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse by their father fueled the violent outburst in 1989 that later captivated the nation. Yet crucial evidence of that abuse was barr...
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Liam Payne, former One Direction member, dies at 31 in Argentina

Liam Payne, a former member of the boy band One Direction, died after falling from the third floor of his room at the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires, according to the city’s emergency medical services director, Alberto Crescenti.Crescenti said the circumstances of the English-born singer’s fall are still unclear and under investigation.In a statement, Buenos Aires Police said personnel were dispatched to the hotel in the city’s Palermo district after receiving a 911 call about “an aggress...
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Michigan GOP candidate’s ad aimed at Black voters has wrong election date

Tom Barrett, a Republican vying for a Michigan congressional seat, is facing calls for an investigation after an ad from his campaign incorrectly listed Election Day as Nov. 6 in a Black-owned Michigan newspaper.In a complaint filed Sunday with the state attorney general, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus accused Barrett’s campaign of misleading Black voters to suppress turnout — something the group of Black state lawmakers said could violate a Michigan law that prohibits intentionally sprea...
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Harris, Trump converge on battleground state of Pennsylvania

Follow live updates on the 2024 election and Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump from our reporters on the campaign trail and in Washington.Policy positions: We’ve collected Harris’s and Trump’s stances on the most important issues — abortion, economic policy, immigration and more.Presidential polls: Check out how Harris and Trump stack up, according to The Washington Post’s presidential polling averages of seven battleground states. We’ve identified eight possible pat...
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Coast Guard rescues boat captain clinging to cooler after Hurricane Milton

A fishing boat captain headed into the water off the Gulf Coast to make repairs on his vessel hours before Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida.He ended up stranded in the storm, which made landfall on Wednesday night — battling waves up to 25 feet high and whipping winds of up to 90 mph.The U.S. Coast Guard spotted him — about 30 miles from shore off Longboat Key, Fla., clinging to a cooler in the water.“This man survived in a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced mariner,” Lt. Cmdr...
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Florida plans Hurricane Milton recovery; 2 million remain without power

Florida endured a second day of recovery and rescue operations after Hurricane Milton swept through the state late Wednesday, unleashing wind, rain and tornadoes, and pummeling communities still cleaning up after Hurricane Helene struck two weeks ago. At least 17 people were killed by Milton and its aftermath. During a briefing Friday, President Joe Biden said the damage from Milton alone is expected to cost nearly $50 billion — but vowed to storm victims that his administration would do “everyt...
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Milton shocked Florida with deadly tornadoes well ahead of landfall

The tornadoes added a sense of chaos and danger to the final hours of storm preparation, including along parts of Florida’s Atlantic coast far from expected landfall, where residents were not expecting to see storm impacts until late Wednesday or early Thursday — if at all.In what may prove to be some of the first fatalities from Milton, five people died when two tornadoes touched down Wednesday afternoon in St. Lucie County on Florida’s central Atlantic coast, St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pea...
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Nevada Republican convicted of taking money meant for officer memorial

A Nevada politician was found guilty of taking money meant for a memorial honoring a police officer killed in the line of duty and spending it on plastic surgery, rent and her daughter’s wedding.A federal jury on Thursday convicted Michele Fiore, a Republican justice of the peace and former Las Vegas City Council member, of six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Fiore, 54, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6 and faces up to 140 years in prison — 20 for each...
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Two Argentina towns face a torrent of harassment. The culprit: Parrots.

Each day as the sun begins to set over Pedro Luro and Hilario Ascasubi, thousands of the vibrant green-, yellow- and red-feathered parrots swoop into town. Their screeching echoes long into the night, while their droppings blanket streets and parks. But the real disaster, according to TAXI FM Director Ramón Álvarez, is where these birds choose to roost: on the towns’ power lines.“It’s thousands and thousands of birds, and they’re not only biting through the cables, but their massive weight is al...
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No hazardous chlorine levels found in Atlanta after fire at nearby plant, authorities say

“Our teams are working around-the-clock to respond to the ongoing situation at our facility in Conyers, Georgia,” the statement on the BioLab website said. “We continue to work collaboratively with first responders and local authorities and have deployed specialized teams from out of state to the site to bolster and support their efforts. We are all focused on remediating the situation as rapidly as possible.”Videos shared online show greenish-orange plumes of gas billowing out of the Conyers fa...
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Bad Bunny launches billboard campaign against Puerto Rico’s ruling party

The unsigned ads spotted hanging over some of Puerto Rico’s most-transited routes soon fueled a frenzy of headlines and gossip — which only crescendoed after Bad Bunny, one of the biggest superstars in the world, announced he had bought them to show his love for his homeland. His ads — some of which said that voting for PNP was voting for corruption — were the latest twist in a long-brewing spat that has once again placed the musician front and center of the island’s politics.“We’re so used to s...
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OceanGate’s Titan prototype was ‘amateurish,’ expert says at hearing

The CEO of a submersible manufacturing company testified Friday that he checked out a prototype of OceanGate’s Titan submersible four years before the vessel imploded near the Titanic shipwreck — killing all five people aboard — and found it “amateurish.”Patrick Lahey, co-founder of Triton Submarines, told U.S. Coast Guard officials that he took a tour of the prototype in March 2019 at the invitation of OceanGate crew members. Although they were well-intentioned, he said, their “contraption” was...
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Kentucky governor bans conversion therapy, setting up legal battle

“Kentucky cannot possibly reach its full potential unless it is free from discrimination by or against any citizen — unless all our people feel welcome in our spaces, free from unjust barriers and supported to be themselves,” said Beshear, the only Democratic governor of a Southern state.Previous attempts to ban conversion therapy in Kentucky have stalled or failed in the state legislature. Opponents have argued that prohibiting the practice tramples parental rights and infringes on freedom of s...
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Why does the internet love baby hippo Moo Deng? There’s a science to it.

Her skin is always moist and her cheeks pink and peachy. She’s usually seen nibbling at her caretakers’ knees, running around her pen — belly rolls jiggling — or opening her mouth in an apparent scream.It’s Moo Deng, the baby pygmy hippo that has become the internet’s latest obsession.Since she was born in July in Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Moo Deng — whose name roughly translates to “bouncing pig” or “pork patty” — has reached viral stardom. So far, she’s been meme-ified by the Utah Jazz N...
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What to know about the possible assassination attempt at Trump’s golf course

A man was charged Monday with two gun-related crimes after he allegedly pointed a rifle toward a golf course where Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was playing in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sunday. The incident is being investigated by the FBI as another potential assassination attempt against the former president. Trump was not harmed. Trump and President Joe Biden spoke by phone Monday afternoon, according to two people familiar with the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity...
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