I've been searching for my biological father since I was a little kid. But it wasn't until my 40s that I realized I was on the wrong journey altogether. The true story is wrapped in confusion and secrecy, and in the end it upended the truth about who I am – raising questions about identity, fatherhood, medical ethics and what family really means.
Vogue Magazine named "Inconceivable Truth" one of the best podcasts of 2024. The show reached the Top 10 on the charts on Apple Podcasts, where it has more than 2,000 reviews and 4.8 stars.
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I'm an investigative reporter, journalist and podcast host who has worked in newspapers, magazines, TV and audio for more than two decades, reporting on everything from local school boards to presidential elections to natural disasters. I was an on-air reporter and host at WNYC and NPR for 11 years, covering politics, policing and incarceration. I won several awards for watchdog reporting, including a 2022 Sidney Award for publishing never-before-seen images of squalid conditions at jails on Rikers Island in New York.
For many years I covered former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, first for The Philadelphia Inquirer and then WNYC, winning a Peabody Award for a series of stories about the Bridgegate scandal that rocked Christie's political career. The judges cited “tenacious and thorough reporting that affected reform in New York and New Jersey and possibly changed the 2016 presidential campaign landscape.” My book, American Governor: Chris Christie's Bridge to Redemption, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2016.
Before covering politics, I spent time in Afghanistan, writing a series for The Philadelphia Inquirer on failed American reconstruction efforts that won the Livingston Award for International Reporting. I have also reported extensively on immigration, winning the David Carr Reporter of the Year award for uncovering abuse in ICE detention and traveling to Malawi and Japan to report on the global refugee crisis for The Atlantic, NPR, PBS and The New York Times. My journalism has also been featured in The Washington Post, Politico Magazine and The New Republic.
I am currently the executive producer of City Cast Philly, a daily news-and-culture podcast and newsletter about Philadelphia, where I live. I also work as an adjunct professor teaching journalism at the University of Pennsylvania.
Once upon a time, I wrote a nationally syndicated dating column.
I reported on criminal justice issues for WNYC, the largest NPR station in the country, with a focus on jails and incarceration. I produced long radio features, on-air interviews and short news spots that break news. I also wrote in-depth investigative stories for our news site, Gothamist, and filed national stories for NPR.
Through public documents and dozens of interviews, I documented New Jersey Democratic officials’ financial arrangement with ICE during the Trump Administration and uncovered physical and sexual abuse of immigrants in detention. My stories led to the passage of a law banning ICE detention centers in New Jersey.
I guest-hosted shows for NPR stations, including "The Brian Lehrer Show," "On The Media," "The Takeaway," and "All Of It," and I produced stories for public radio podcasts including "Trump, Inc." and "The World."
My biography on former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie -- "American Governor: Chris Christie's Bridge To Redemption" -- was published by Simon & Schuster in 2016. A culmination of years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, the book was praised by Kirkus Reviews for its “reportorial swagger” with “the pulse of a gripping political thriller.”
The New York Times called it “an excellent book about Christie and New Jersey politics.”
I fell in love with newspapers first, from my column ("The Katz Meow," get it?) at my high school paper to my first real job covering small New Jersey towns at the Daily Record. From there I went to the Courier-Post, where I covered the news while writing a nationally syndicated column about my dating experiences. For several years after that I reported on New Jersey politics, crime and corruption for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
I have since written and reported for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic and Politico Magazine.
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