Hi there! I’m Dani Kass, one of the new interns at SPLC. I just graduated from the University of Missouri – Columbia in May with degrees in journalism and Russian. I’m passionate about transparency and accountability, and I get way too excited to dig through public records and mine data. I can’t wait to bring that passion to covering student press rights.
Most recently I worked at The Columbia Missourian, where I covered the wrongful conviction case of Ryan Ferguson, who was released from prison nearly a decade after being convicted of murder, and a homicide at a Veterans Hospital that ended in an insanity plea. I also used data to debunk theories about rising crime.
Between reporting shifts, I worked in the resource room at Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc., uploading contest entries, helping fill requests from reporters and finding stories for the Extra Extra blog. I’ll also be working at their conference in June. Come say hi if you’ll be there!
Earlier, I interned with Newsday’s web team, where I managed the website, pulled content from wires, created photo galleries, photographed events and pulled together data to create a graphic that still attaches to most crime stories on the website. Before all that, I covered a little bit of everything at the student newspaper, The Maneater.
When not reporting, you can find me hopping on a plane to explore the world (or at least wishing I could afford to), stuck in a book or obsessing over my dog. Feel free to contact me by email, on Twitter, or at (703) 807-1904 ext 126.