Lucy Morgan, Florida journalist. She wasn’t someone I had heard of before, but the obit (which I encourage you to read) makes her sound fascinating.
She specialized in uncovering political corruption. In 1973, she went to jail because she refused to reveal her source for grand jury proceedings.
In 1976, the Florida Supreme Court overturned previous rulings against Ms. Morgan and expanded press privileges in Florida, setting a precedent that local reporters still cite.
She shared a Pulitzer (with Jack Reed) for exposing the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
Ms. Morgan’s reporting showed, among other things, that one in eight officers in Pasco County had criminal arrest records, and that more than half had lied about their pasts to get certified. One officer had an outstanding grand theft arrest warrant for stealing a police dog in another Florida county. Another had been the wheel man in several armed robberies.
She also exposed the sheriff of Gulf County, who got sent to prison for extorting oral sex from female inmates.
After the sheriff was found guilty of seven counts of violating the civil rights of female prisoners, Ms. Morgan returned to her office and found a dozen roses with a note: “From the women you believed.”
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When she was about 60, she shattered her right ankle in the Florida House press gallery. But she continued limping around the Capitol building, bringing a fog of Trésor Eau de Parfum with her wherever she went. She greeted the legislators, lobbyists and maintenance people she knew not by asking, “How are you?” but instead calling out, “You doin’ somethin’ bad?”
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Her investigations exposed widespread misreporting of gifts to state politicians, indicating that many of them should be charged with criminal misdemeanors. They also exposed what Ms. Morgan herself nicknamed the “Taj Mahal” scandal, which involved slipping an appropriation of more than $30 million for a luxurious courthouse into unrelated transportation legislation at the last minute.
Russ Francis, former tight end for the Patriots and 49ers, was killed in a plane crash on Sunday. Also killed was Richard McSpadden, a vice-president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).
It appears they were taking off from Lake Placid Airport and there was some sort of problem. Reports say they tried to make it back to the airport but couldn’t.
Mr. Francis, in additional to a successful NFL career (first round NFL draft pick, three time Pro Bowl player) was also an avid pilot. He’d recently bought an interest in Lake Placid Airways, a local charter and scenic flight service.
Mr. McSpadden, in addition to being an AOPA VP, was a former commander and flight leader for the Thunderbirds.
Tim Wakefield, former Boston Red Sox pitcher (and a past winner of the Roberto Clemente Award). Cancer got him at 57.
Chris Snow, of the Calgary Flames. He was diagnosed with ALS in 2019, and passed away after a “catastrophic brain injury”.
This entry was posted on Monday, October 2nd, 2023 at 3:07 pm and is filed under Media, NFL, Obits, Planes, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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I grew up in a small town and my oldest brother graduated with a man who went to college to become a journalist. A close family friend, he started out as a disc jockey, moved into television doing field reporting, then was an anchor, these both at the Grand Rapids television station, our major network back then.
He did very well and eventually became the station manager. Back then the station did a lot of investigative journalism, really good stuff, not just the fluff type of things that you see often today.
My friend moved on when the upper management started to push him to go with stories that had not been fact checked, and some of the things that they put on air resulted in legal action. My friend moved to PBS for a time, and then to a smaller television station up north a ways. He has now retired.
I just wanted to describe how things have changed here in our small corner of the world, as far as investigative journalism goes. I almost forgot, my parents had 5 kids, with me and a twin brother being the youngest. We were at this friends house for an early Christmas party, and my parents gathered everyone up and went home. That is, they thought they gathered everyone up. Until they got home and could not find me. They had left me there and went home!
Our town is only about 1 square mile, so it is not like they had to drive for hours to get me, but nobody let them live that down for a very long time.
As for Tim Wakefield, I read about him, and it sounds like the world is a bit of less for having lost him. Plus his wife also is suffering from cancer, which the family didn’t want to go public with, but I believe that Curt Shilling told the public that both Tim and his wife Stacy were fighting cancer on his podcast without permission, a classless move. No doubt there are many people praying for both Stacy and her two children.