"Hostage to the Heat"

Austin American-Statesman
4/29/2020

Summer heat is a fact of life in Texas. For too many of the most vulnerable Texans, it is proving deadly. In “Hostage to Heat,” the Austin American-Statesman found that state negligence and policies contributed to the heat-related deaths of scores of residents and workers over the past decade.

The six-month investigation was built on the reporting of Jeremy Schwartz and Andrea Ball, longtime American-Statesman investigative reporters and members of a regional investigative team serving GateHouse Media’s Texas markets. Dan Keemahill provided data analysis, and photographers Jay Janner and Nick Wagner brought the investigation to life with their visual reporting.

The investigation ran in full in the American-Statesman print edition and in abbreviated form in other GateHouse Texas markets. An immersive digital presentation designed by Mara Corbett was published on GateHouse websites throughout Texas and elsewhere.

This was a decidedly difficult investigation, requiring vast amounts of first-of-its-kind data requests, an understanding of the intricacies of state utility policy and on-the-ground reporting to find residents and workers suffering due to state policy and inaction.

The team filed dozens of requests at the city, county, state and federal levels. They requested death records from all Texas medical examiners, EMS records from major metros and disconnection-related data, complaints and emails from state regulators, obtaining and analyzing 320 death reports dating to 2008.
 
Following publication, two state senators called for hearings on the state’s electricity disconnection policies and a U.S. congresswoman from Dallas said she planned to hold a congressional hearing on the issues raised by the investigation, including the effectiveness of federal programs to help the poor pay their bills. National consumer advocacy groups called the investigation's findings a "call for action" to tackle rules that allow such frequent power shutoffs.

This is the kind of ambitious reporting that makes a difference. It might just save lives.

LINK to content online
LINK 2 to editorial online
LINK 3 to call for legislative action

Submitted by John Bridges.