Former Mayor Willie Brown speaks during the Hunters Point groundbreaking. On its website and in company brochures, the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Center refers to Brown as a “principal,” but he denies knowledge of the investment firm.Michael Short/For The Center for Investigative Reporting House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee […]
Matt Smith
Reporter
Matt Smith is a reporter for Reveal, covering religion. Smith's two-decade career in journalism began at The Sacramento Union in California. He went on to positions at newspapers in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Twin Falls, Idaho; Fairfield, California; and Newport News, Virginia. Between 1994 and 1997, Smith covered Latin America as a reporter in Dow Jones & Co.'s Mexico City bureau. For 14 years, he was a lead columnist at Village Voice Media in San Francisco. He came to Reveal from The Bay Citizen. Smith holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Before his career in journalism, Smith was a professional bicycle racer. He is based in Reveal's Emeryville, California, office.
Posted inEnvironment
How we searched for cesium contamination on Treasure Island
Last summer, the Center for Investigative Reporting began looking into reports of radioactive contamination at the former Treasure Island Naval Station. Along the way, a source told CIR that cesium-137 had been found at the site – yet that alleged finding from 2007 was not in official U.S. Navy cleanup reports reviewed by CIR. In […]
Posted inEnvironment
Nuclear byproduct levels on Treasure Island higher than Navy disclosed
Treasure Island is slated to become a mixed-use community for 20,000 residents, once the U.S. Navy can satisfy regulators that it has cleaned up the former base’s Cold War legacy of chemical and radioactive toxins.Anna Vignet/Center for Investigative Reporting Land slated for development on Treasure Island contains elevated concentrations of cesium-137, a byproduct of nuclear […]
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Posted inReligion
A Church Divided
Is the “practice of homosexuality” compatible with Christian teaching? That question is at the center of a debate between progressive and conservative members of the United Methodist Church, the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States. This debate is taking place as states and the U.S. Supreme Court are considering whether same-sex marriages are constitutional. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Sports
Glare of Lance Armstrong probe falls on SF financier
Lance Armstrong in 2011Brad Camembert/Shutterstock Lance Armstrong’s “no-holds-barred” interview with Oprah Winfrey on Thursday, when he’s expected to confess to the use of performance-enhancing drugs during his professional cycling career, comes as a federal probe into his finances has widened to focus on the man who bankrolled his champion teams: legendary San Francisco financier Thomas Weisel. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Sports
Armstrong aided by ‘professionalized’ doping program, agency says
Lance ArmstrongJoe McGowan/Flickr Cycling superstar Lance Armstrong earned his unprecedented seven victories in the Tour de France with the aid of a “sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program” on his racing team, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said today. Eleven former cyclists from the U.S. Postal Service team have told investigators that for years, Armstrong used […]
Posted inReligion
The Other Convention: A Church Votes on Gay Rights
Methodists are among the last mainline Protestant holdouts on the topic of homosexuality. Karen Oliveto, pastor of San Francisco’s Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, is bound and determined to change that at the 2012 General Conference in Tampa, Fla., just steps away from the site of the Republican National Convention. Similar to a political convention, […]
Posted inMoney and Politics
Firm’s mortgage bailout plan relies on municipal seizures
A foreclosed homeJeffery Turner/Flickr Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and a longtime business partner are among investors in a company drawing criticism for working with local government officials to take over and discount underwater mortgages. The plan gained impetus last month, when officials in San Bernardino County formed a joint powers authority to consider a […]