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.

Image from How Watergate and Citizens United Shaped Campaign Finance Law

How Watergate and Citizens United Shaped Campaign Finance Law

The Watergate campaign finance scandals led to a landmark law designed to limit the influence of money in politics. Decades later, some say the scandal isn’t what’s illegal, it’s what’s legal.

Image from Extremism in America: Out of the Shadows

Extremism in America: Out of the Shadows

According to experts who monitor the radical right, the white supremacist ideology that police say drove the Buffalo gunman has begun moving from the extremes into the mainstream. This is the fifth episode of a five-part series produced in collaboration with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative Exploring Hate.

Image from Extremism in America: A Surge in Violence

Extremism in America: A Surge in Violence

Violent attacks involving extremist ideology, like the Buffalo rampage, began to rise in the last decade, but officials were slow to recognize homegrown threats. This is the fourth episode of a five-part series produced in collaboration with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative Exploring Hate.

Image from Extremism in America: Missed Warnings

Extremism in America: Missed Warnings

In the years before Barack Obama was elected, many groups on the extreme right kept a relatively low profile. With the election of a Black president, that changed. This is the third episode of a five-part series produced in collaboration with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative Exploring Hate.

Image from Extremism in America: The Oklahoma City Bombing

Extremism in America: The Oklahoma City Bombing

Anti-government propaganda, military deployment and the F.B.I. raid in Waco, Texas, radicalized Timothy McVeigh and led to the Oklahoma City attack. This is the second episode of a five-part series produced in collaboration with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative Exploring Hate.

Image from Extremism in America: Emergence of The Order

Extremism in America: Emergence of The Order

The killing of radio host Alan Berg exposed a new kind of right-wing extremism. This is the first episode of a five-part series in collaboration with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative Exploring Hate.

Image from How Prop. 187 Transformed the Immigration Debate and California Politics

How Prop. 187 Transformed the Immigration Debate and California Politics

Today’s immigration policies echo an anti-immigration movement from the 1990s in California.

Image from 9/11 Heroes: Surviving the Biggest Attack on U.S. Soil

9/11 Heroes: Surviving the Biggest Attack on U.S. Soil

First responders who survived 9/11 don’t want the day to be forgotten.

For teachers: This video is part of a collection of resources including four short films, each accompanied by a lesson plan and student activity.

Image from How the Military Response to 9/11 Led to Two Decades of War in Afghanistan

How the Military Response to 9/11 Led to Two Decades of War in Afghanistan

Officials who drove the decades-long war in Afghanistan look back on the strategic mistakes and misjudgments that led to a 20-year quagmire.

For teachers: This video is part of a collection of resources including four short films, each accompanied by a lesson plan and student activity.

Image from We’re Catching More Diseases From Wild Animals, and It’s Our Fault.

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.

Image from Poll Watchers and the Long History of Voter Intimidation

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.

Image from Bush v. Gore: How a Recount Dispute Affects Voting Today

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.

Image from The Domestic Violence Case That Turned Outrage Into Action

The Domestic Violence Case That Turned Outrage Into Action

The ‘Burning Bed’ killing put domestic violence in the headlines.

Image from Racial Inequality Was Tearing the U.S. Apart, a 1968 Report Warned. It Was Ignored.

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.

Image from Combating the Myth of the Superpredator

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.”

Image from Trump’s Immigration Rhetoric Echoes a Bitter Fight from the 90s

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.

Image from A New Housing Program to Fight Poverty has an Unexpected History

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.

Image from How Segregation Influenced Evangelical Political Activism

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.

Image from The Roots of Evangelicals’ Political Fervor

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.

Image from Operation Ceasefire: Inside a Community's Radical Approach to Gang Violence

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.

Image from The Back Story on Bad Forensic Science

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.

Image from Sanctuary Cities: An Uproar That Began Long Ago

Sanctuary Cities: An Uproar That Began Long Ago

As deportations of unauthorized immigrants rose under President Donald Trump, some churches and cities declared themselves sanctuaries and shielded migrants from immigration enforcement.

Image from How Zero Tolerance Blurred the Lines Between Schools and Criminal Justice

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.

Image from What Is a Healthy Diet? The Answers Are Unsatisfying

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?

Image from Bliss Point: How Food Companies Make Us Crave Their Products

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.”

Image from Is the Key to Obesity All in Your Gut?

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.

Image from The Unexpected Science of Exercise

The Unexpected Science of Exercise

Does exercise really make you lose weight? One scientist went to Africa and found an unexpected answer.

Image from Why Waco is Still a Battleground in the 2nd Amendment Debate

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.

Image from E. Coli Outbreaks Changed Food Production, But How Safe Are We?

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?

Image from Flawed Evidence: The Limits of Science in the Crime Lab

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?

Image from The Lasting Impact of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Disaster

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.

Image from Crime and Punishment: Three Strikes and You’re Out

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.

Image from Toxic Waste in the Neighborhood: The Love Canal Disaster

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.”

Image from Richard Jewell: The Wrong Man

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.

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