EDITORIAL STAFF
Scott Michels
Scott Michels is a producer at Retro Report. He previously covered national legal news for ABC News. His work has also appeared in U.S.News & World Report, The New York Daily News and other publications. He is a graduate of New York University School of Law and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, where he has also been an adjunct assistant professor.

Video
We’re Catching More Diseases From Wild Animals, and It’s Our Fault.
Scientists who venture into rainforests and bat caves explain how viruses, like Covid-19, spill over from animals to people, and what we must do to stop the next pandemic.
covid-19environment
Brian Kamerzel
Scott Michels
Charu Raman
Video
Poll Watchers and the Long History of Voter Intimidation
President Trump has called on supporters, including law enforcement officers, to monitor election sites. Voter intimidation tactics have a long history.
politics
Heru Muharrar
Scott Michels
Video
Bush v. Gore: How a Recount Dispute Affects Voting Today
The dramatic controversy surrounding the 2000 presidential election led to sweeping voting reforms, but opened the door to a new set of problems that continue to affect elections today.
politics
Anne Alvergue
Stephen Ives
Amanda Pollak
Scott Michels
Video
The Domestic Violence Case That Turned Outrage Into Action
The ‘Burning Bed’ killing put domestic violence in the headlines.
criminal-justicelaw-policy
Charu Raman
Anne Checler
Scott Michels
Sandra McDaniel
Video
Racial Inequality Was Tearing the U.S. Apart, a 1968 Report Warned. It Was Ignored.
Anger over policing and inequality boiled over in 1967 in protests and violence across the United States. A landmark report warned that without major changes, it would happen again.
law-policycivil-rights
Heru Muharrar
Scott Michels
Video
Combating the Myth of the Superpredator
In the 1990s, a handful of researchers inspired panic with a dire but flawed prediction: the imminent arrival of a new breed of “superpredators.”
civil-rightscriminal-justice
David Feinberg
Bonnie Bertram
Scott Michels
Video
Trump’s Immigration Rhetoric Echoes a Bitter Fight from the 90s
Today's immigration policies echo an anti-immigration movement 25 years ago in California.
law-policyimmigration
Anne Checler
Scott Michels
Victor Couto
Video
A New Housing Program to Fight Poverty has an Unexpected History
Some cities are trying to help poor children succeed by having their families move to middle-income, so-called "opportunity areas" -- an idea that was once politically impossible.
housing
Anne Alvergue
Anne Checler
Scott Michels
Meral Agish
Mini-doc
How Segregation Influenced Evangelical Political Activism
While abortion is often cited as the motivation behind evangelical Christians becoming politically active in the 1970s, there's another little-known reason that involves the IRS and segregated schools.
educationpolitics
Shawn Hamilton
Sandra McDaniel
Scott Michels
Video
The Roots of Evangelicals’ Political Fervor
White evangelical Christians are among President Trump’s most important supporters. But more than 40 years ago, they were on the margins of American politics.
politicslaw-policy
Anne Checler
Shawn Hamilton
Sandra McDaniel
Scott Michels
Video
Operation Ceasefire: Inside a Community's Radical Approach to Gang Violence
This is the story of cops, African-American pastors, gang members, and academics coming together to create positive change for Boston, while upending notions of traditional policing in a way that is especially pertinent today.
criminal-justicecivil-rights
Scott Michels
Sandrine Isambert
Meral Agish
Mini-doc
The Back Story on Bad Forensic Science
With the Trump administration’s move to end a commission investigating flaws in forensic science, Retro Report looks at the history of one now-challenged method: hair analysis.
criminal-justice
Scott Michels
Video
Sanctuary Cities: Trump Renews an Uproar That Began Long Ago
As deportations rise under President Trump, churches and cities are declaring themselves sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants. It’s the latest chapter of a movement with a long history.
immigration
Anne Checler
Scott Michels
Meral Agish
Sarah Weiser
Video
How Zero Tolerance Blurred the Lines Between Schools and Criminal Justice
Over the last 30 years, schools across the country have enacted tough new discipline policies. Some of those schools say they went too far.
civil-rightseducation
Anne Checler
Scott Michels
Meral Agish
Susan Ferriss
Video
What Is a Healthy Diet? The Answers Are Unsatisfying
Thirty-five years after the first dietary guidelines, how much do we really know about the science behind a healthy diet?
science-technology
Jeff Bernier
Sandrine Isambert
Scott Michels
Drew Magratten
Mini-doc
Bliss Point: How Food Companies Make Us Crave Their Products
How did food companies get us to crave their products? They discovered the "bliss point."
popular-culture
Scott Michels
Mini-doc
Is the Key to Obesity All in Your Gut?
Is there a hidden cause of obesity? A professor at Stanford thinks the answer might lie with the 100 trillion microbes living in our bodies.
science-technology
Scott Michels
Mini-doc
The Unexpected Science of Exercise
Does exercise really make you lose weight? One scientist went to Africa and found an unexpected answer.
science-technology
Scott Michels
Video
Why Waco is Still a Battleground in the 2nd Amendment Debate
Twenty-six years ago, federal agents raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and generated a legacy that continues to shape antigovernment groups today.
law-policy
Bret Sigler
Jeff Bernier
Liam Dalzell
Scott Michels
Olivia Katrandjian
Video
E. Coli Outbreaks Changed Food Production, But How Safe Are We?
A 1993 E. coli outbreak linked Jack in the Box hamburgers sickened 700 people and acted as a wake up call about the dangers of food-borne illness. Decades later, how far have we really come in terms of food safety?
law-policy
Sandrine Isambert
Scott Michels
Drew Magratten
Video
Campaign Finance from Watergate, to Soft Money and Citizens United
The Watergate campaign finance scandals led to a landmark law designed to limit the influence of money in politics. Forty years later, some say the scandal isn’t what’s illegal, it’s what’s legal.
Politics
Anne Checler
Scott Michels
Drew Magratten
Video
Flawed Evidence: The Limits of Science in the Crime Lab
Before DNA testing, prosecutors relied on less sophisticated forensic techniques, including microscopic hair analysis, to put criminals behind bars. But how reliable was hair analysis?
criminal-justicescience-technology
Hope Litoff
Anne Alvergue
Scott Michels
Kit R. Roane
Video
The Lasting Impact of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Disaster
On a cold March night in 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground off the coast of Southern Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into the waters of Prince William Sound and creating one of the worst oil spills in American history.
environment
Seth Bomse
Scott Michels
Aaron Ernst
Video
Crime and Punishment: Three Strikes and You’re Out
After the 1993 murder of a California child, many states passed laws to lock up repeat offenders for life, but today those laws are raising new questions about how crime is handled in America.
criminal-justice
Anne Alvergue
Karen M. Sughrue
Scott Michels
Video
Toxic Waste in the Neighborhood: The Love Canal Disaster
In 1978, toxic chemicals leaking from an old landfill thrust an upstate New York community called “Love Canal” into the national headlines, and made it synonymous with “environmental disaster.”
environment
Kristen Nutile
JP Olsen
Scott Michels
Video
Richard Jewell: The Wrong Man
The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta were rocked by a bomb that killed one and injured more than 100. In the rush to find the perpetrator, one man became a target. There was only one problem. He was innocent.
media-criticism
Kristen Nutile
Scott Michels
JP Olsen