Santa Fe Reporter honored for using public data to list the wealthy

Corey Pein of the Santa Fe Reporter set out to find the wealthiest among Santa Fe residents… His story won first place in the AltWeekly Awards for Innovation/Format Buster.

Rosland Gammon for businessjournalism.org, July 21, 2010

SF Reporter: Tea and Private Security

Imagine a complex lawsuit. It involves the intersection of religion, business and private security, which could be hard to wrap your head around.

But, Corey Pein did just that. His cover story in this week’s Santa Fe Reporter looks at the evolution of the Sikh dharma sect in New Mexico. Pein joined us from our Santa Fe newsroom to talk about how the death of the groups leader several years ago led to a split among followers today.

KUNM News, July 8, 2010

KHALSA vs. KHALSA

A Simmering Lawsuit Could Decide The Fate Of A $1 Billion Sikh Empire

The siege on the second floor was the most dramatic moment of a coup, years in the making, that went down seven months ago in dusty Española.

The modesty of the setting belies the stakes: control of a large private army that has won more than $3.5 billion in government contracts, ownership of a trans-Atlantic natural foods empire and, not least, the fate of an influential decades-old religious sect called Sikh Dharma.

Santa Fe Reporter, July 7, 2010

Taking Dictation

Local pols cheer dead communist ruler

Picture Mr. Rogers stumbling into a James Bond flick. That basically captures the situation of Santa Fe’s affable mayor, David Coss, who just found himself at the center of an international affair involving a corrupt majority-Muslim state, its American Jewish lobbyist, a dead KGB general, Arianna Huffington and British Petroleum.

The saga came to a head shortly after May 10, which Coss had declared “Heydar Aliyev Day” in Santa Fe.

Santa Fe Reporter, June 23, 2010

SFReporter.com follow-up, July 24, 2010

Unclaimed Veterans Buried

Vets’ remains were sitting in boxes, unclaimed by family

Some may have been homeless at the time of their death, according to John Garcia, New Mexico’s Veteran Services Secretary.

Watch a video of the ceremony…

SFReporter.com, June 3, 2010

Las Cruces man claims unfair debt collections forced him to move

“In particular, [Verizon's] representative stated that she knew where [Burrows] resided and said ‘I am gonna blow your mother fucking house up.’”

SFReporter.com, May 25, 2009

Follow-ups by Consumerist, ABC News, Huffington Post

“I wanted to go back and see if they were OK. But the police…sometimes they don’t know the situation. I was afraid.” … For background on the case, read this SFR cover story, and this follow-up.

SFReporter.com, April 26, 2010

SFR was on the scene for the Tea Party tax protest yesterday. Most noteworthy was the soundtrack: Incredibly earnest patriotic songs—including a John Philip Sousa march or two—played far too loud over the Plaza.

Muckrakersguide.com, April 16, 2010

The Anti-Wireless Witch Hunt

Many “electrosensitive” individuals have multiple psychiatric disorders, [Denver psychologist Herman] Staudenmayer says. “They have a disorder of belief which, when extreme, is a delusion,” he says. “They’re very vocal. They’re very advocate-oriented. There’s a hotbed [of them] in Santa Fe.”

Santa Fe Reporter, 2009-2010

Indian Diplomat Says No Concrete Deal Made In Uranium Talks With Richardson

Last week, SFR reported that Gov. Bill Richardson discussed possible uranium exports to India, a growing nuclear power and US ally, in a meeting with Susmita G. Thomas, India’s Consul General in San Francisco.

Through a spokesperson, Richardson said he “didn’t recall” that aspect of the meeting. But in an email today to SFR, Consul General Thomas adds another confirmation to the nature of the discussions.

SFReeper.com, April 6, 2010