First, some good news! The Treasure Island Special Report that ran in the SF Public Press this summer was selected for a SPJ NorCal 2010 Excellence in Journalism Award in the Explanatory Journalism category! Go team!

And after more than six months of word wrangling, a piece by Peter Byrne about the problematic investments by the University of California Regents, which I helped edit and coordinate — and which I did a little reporting for — was published on Spot.Us in August. The Sacramento News & Review ran this version of it, and California Watch gave it a nod here. There’s also talk of it being published in a couple other venues.

HYPHEN MAGAZINE

Tons of action on this front:

• In August, we were invited to serve as a mentor for NewU, a Unity and Ford Foundation initiative to support minority media entrepreneurs. Congrats to AAJA’s Toan Lam of Go, Inspire, Go! for winning the $5,000 seed money for producing some seriously inspiring stories!

• Mr. Hyphen, our signature fundraiser/philanthropy event that celebrates Asian American male community leaders, takes place on Nov. 6. You’ll be dazzled by the quality of the contestants, who are representing organizations such as the Center for Asian American Media, United Playaz and the Mabuhay Health Center.

• I’ll be in Los Angeles this week for the Kaiser National Diversity Conference, where I’ll be speaking on a panel about ethnic media.

• Issue 22 drops in December, and it’s never too late to support us with your tax-deductible donation!

NEW-ISH STORIES

Yahoo! News

Bay Area writers on Litquake, making history and the diversity of South Asian-American poetry

California Lawyer

Lawyers Meditate to Elevate Skills

East Bay Express

Retail Climate Delays Jack London Market

Passion Is Not Enough to Sustain a Business

Feeding the Demand for Mid-century Modern

The Crime Report

One Vision One Life

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Through two mayors, connected island developers cultivated profitable deal

This ran as part of an 8-page section on the redevelopment of Treasure Island in the inaugural issue of the SF Public Press. Featuring stories by Jeremy Adam Smith, Christopher Cook, Victoria A. Schlesinger, Alison Hawkes and yours truly. If you like what you read, you can go to Spot.Us and support the project by donating directly or filling out a brief survey that will send a $7 credit our way. Support independent journalism, people!

Also:
Retail Stars and Rental Prospects
Bayfair Center devises a clever program to assist entrepreneurs and
recruit tenants. Plus, specialty groceries.

The Sustainable Economies Law Center Wants to Help You Share
Janelle Orsi’s Sustainable Economies Law Center seeks to promote a
more humane economy.

Profits with a Purpose
Oakland’s Sustainable Economies Law Center helps social entrepreneurs
find creative legal fixes.

Can Health Care Treat Crime?
A growing national movement seeks to connect ex-offenders with health care services. Many people say it makes financial sense. Some say it can possibly reduce crime.

And while we’re on the innovations tip, Hacks/Hackers is putting together a “storytelling/hacking” event called Hacks/Hackers Unite from May 21-23 at KQED in San Francisco. The idea behind the project is to build the killer storytelling app for the iPad and other tablet devices. The best efforts will be featured on KQED’s web site.

And finally, some recently published stories:

Retail Is Detail Says Noah Alper
Serial entrepreneur and Noah’s Bagels founder believes even the most miniscule things are incredibly important.
East Bay Express | April 28, 2010

Oakland Rezoning Could Make Things Easier for Business
Small groceries won’t be treated like large supermarkets, and yoga studios and stadiums won’t be lumped together.
East Bay Express | April 28, 2010

Some Lawyers Want to Keep Debt Collection Out of the Courts
The New York Times | April 23, 2010

New Conditions of Probation
In Texas, one county’s experiment in evidence-based probation reform has cut recidivism and revocations, saved money and served as a model for other jurisdictions.
Miller-McCune | May/June 2010

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As of January, I’m contributing to the Small Business Monthly of the East Bay Express. Some recent stories:
Joel Makower Q&A: Use Your Checkbook and Your Trash Can

Arizmendi Q&A: Running a Business With 26 CEOs

Neighborhood Revitalization Through Retail

Shoplifting? Or Organized Retail Crime?

I’m also doing a little writing for Shareable.net, and my first piece for the site is about the quiet revival of Throwing Muses via community-supported music.

In late January, I went to NYC as a Guggenheim Symposium Fellow via the John Jay College Center on Media, Crime and Justice, where I met a slew of amazing journalists and fascinating practitioners. As part of this fellowship, I’m putting a story together about probation for Miller-McCune magazine that’s slated to run in the May/June issue. John Jay also runs The Crime Report, and I have a story on the site this month.

And while we’re on the topic of what lies ahead, at a time where California public university tuition is reaching new highs, I’m working with investigative reporter Peter Byrne and Sacramento News & Review’s R.V. Scheide to look at where the University of California has chosen to make its financial investments. We’re funding this project via Spot.Us.

Later this month, I’ll be participating in a multimedia storytelling seminar via the Knight Digital Media Center for independent journalists—audio slideshows and digital mapping, here I come… And next week, I’m heading back to Los Angeles for Session 2 of the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

For the California Endowment fellowship, I have a story in the works that looks at the intersection between parolee health, public health and public safety (yes, a topic I’ve been chipping away at for a while now), and I spent the day with a chronically ill parolee who was released from San Quentin at 7am last Monday. I’ll post a link to the story here, so y’all come back again soon, y’hear?

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EAST BAY EXPRESS
Credit Card Issuers Say ‘I’ll See You In Court’

NEWSDESK
AIDS Cases Surge in California Prisons
(I wrote this story while participating in The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.)

I’ve also been working as a fill-in producer for KQED Public Radio’s Forum with Michael Krasny and recently worked on these programs:

KQED PUBLIC RADIO: Forum with Michael Krasny

Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009
Sanctions on Iran

Monday, Dec 14, 2009
Alameda Schools’ Controversial Anti-Bullying Plan

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Debate about whether the governor’s plan is tough or even smart on crime will continue, but it also doesn’t take a mathematician to see that for all of its potential strengths and weaknesses, the plan doesn’t meet the court mandate 40,000 fewer prisoners by 2011.

via newsdesk.org: Is Schwarzenegger’s Prison Plan Good Enough?.

Math test scores soar if students are given the chance to struggle.

by Bernice Yeung

While working with minority and low-income students at low-performing schools in Newark for the past seven years, researchers at Rutgers University have found that allowing students to struggle with challenging math problems can lead to dramatically improved achievement and test scores.

via Struggling Helps Students Master Math | Edutopia.