Michael Squires Email & Phone Number

Greater Phoenix Area

I lead ProPublica's investigative unit covering Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

Phoenix, Arizona Area

I led a team of nine investigative reporters, including a four-person data reporting team.> Helped shape and edit a project that used groundbreaking data analysis to show more than 500 towns across the West have the same or greater vulnerability to wildfire than Paradise, California, site of the deadliest blaze in that state's history. Ahead of the Fire was recognized by the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT's Victor K. McElheny Award for science reporting, Editor & Publisher for "Best Innovation Project", and second place in IRE's Philip Meyer Journalism Awards. > I conceived of and ran a two-year investigation into copycat legislation that revealed for the first time the extent to which industry and other special interests have used fill-in-the-blank bills to spread their agenda. Our investigation found at least 10,000 bills copied from drafts written by special interests were proposed across the country, constituting the nation's largest unreported influence campaign. The project, a collaboration among The Arizona Republic, USA TODAY, and the Center for Public Integrity, won the 2020 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, Editor & Publisher award for "Best Collaborative Investigative/Enterprise Feature." > Edited a Polk-Award winning series on Arizona charter schools that revealed how lax regulation and cozy ties to state leadership had allowed self-dealing and profiteering to flourish squandering tax dollars that should have gone into classrooms. The investigation spurred legislation to more tightly regulate charter schools.> Helped launch azcentral.com's data site, AZ Data Central, which presents for the public restaurant inspection reports, public employee salaries and other useful information.

Phoenix, Arizona Area

Led the team covering federal and state government, including Congress, governor, Legislature, state agencies, political influence and elections. Also oversaw coverage of immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border.With my guidance the team produced significant investigative, watchdog and explanatory work, including digitally engaging content that in 2017 (a non-presidential election year) saw unique visitors rise by nearly a quarter and page views increase.> I helped conceive, structure and oversee key reporting for The Wall, the Arizona Republic/USA Today Network project that was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism. > I oversaw award-winning coverage of Arizona's controversial school-voucher-like Empowerment Scholarship Account program, uncovering how a right-wing think tank had reached into the state bureaucracy to further influence implementation of the program. Our investigation also revealed how poor record-keeping prevented the public from knowing who benefits from the tax-funded program. > I launched and hosted The Gaggle politics video round table and podcast. The weekly video was key to boosting politics video views by 40 percent in 2017. > Oversaw and edited a project looking at immigration as an issue in the 2016 presidential race, as seen in key early-nominating and swing states. > Edited a project, following the deaths of 19 wildland firefighters in Arizona, that revealed for the first time the extent of the state's building boom in fire-prone landscapes and the threat it continues to pose to residents and first responders. The project won a Best of the West award and was runner up for Gannett’s annual public service award for 2013.

Phoenix, Arizona Area

Oversaw development and selection of stories, headlines and overall presentation of the front page. Led team of editors that coordinated with designers and reporting teams across the newsroom on front-page stories and investigative projects. At times I led the morning news meeting, where the day's coverage was set. Ran the afternoon Page One meeting, where the front-page lineup was determined. Assisted line editors in conceiving stories and investigative projects. Worked under heavy deadline pressure, including revising the front page to accommodate late-breaking news.

Las Vegas, Nevada Area

Supervised coverage of city, county, state and federal government, including the Nevada Legislature, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada's early and influential presidential caucuses (see links below under "Projects"), campaigns, lobbying and influence and much, much more. During this time the Washington correspondent I supervised was recognized with the 2010 David Lynch Memorial Regional Reporting Award for outstanding coverage of Congress.Edited the Sun's award-winning investigative series "Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas" The five-part project analyzed records of every Nevada hospital inpatient visit going back a decade -- 2.9 million in all -- to provide a sweeping and alarming portrait of Las Vegas hospital care, including surgical errors and hospital-acquired infections. The state had collected the data for decades, but the public had not known what it showed until our report. The series was honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in local reporting and won Harvard's Goldsmith Prize, the Scripps Howard Foundation's investigative reporting award, and the National Headliner Awards' Best in Show for print journalism.Helped the news organizations transition to a digital-first newsroom. This included a deep-dive visit to the Christian Science Monitor, a news organization focused on enterprise journalism that had grown its audience exponentially. Launched and wrote the popular "Ask Mr. Sun" feature, which provided factual yet humorous answers to readers' questions about the baffling wonder that is Las Vegas, Nevada.

Las Vegas, Nevada Area

Hosted and produced a two-hour public affairs radio program that featured panel discussions with experts and newsmakers on important local and national news, as well as interviews with public figures from politics, entertainment and sports. Among them: John Edwards, David Haselhoff, Kenny Mayne, Alexander McCall Smith, Joan Collins and numerous local and state officials in Nevada. Jointly hosted the first ever statewide radio broadcast in Nevada. During this period "State of Nevada" was recognized with a prestigious ACE Award from the Public Radio Program Directors Association.

Las Vegas, Nevada Area

Supervised reporters covering local and state government, transportation and crime.

Las Vegas, Nevada Area

Covered Las Vegas City Hall and politics for Nevada's largest newspaper. Notable work included uncovering illegal payments by the city to a councilman who was also a member of the Nevada Legislature. The revelations led to his firing and eventually leaving elective office. I also documented ballooning overtime costs at the city and mismanagement by the public housing authority.

Las Vegas, Nevada Area

Wrote a traffic column that reader surveys showed was among the most popular features in the newspaper.

Greater New York City Area

Wrote and edited spot news about publicly traded companies and equities markets.

Ms, Journalism

Ba, English