Wolf's historic veto record looms over final year

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January 20, 2022 | spotlightpa.org

"They're using the constitutional amendment to pass legislation they can't pass through the traditional and appropriate way."

—Khalif Ali, of the nonpartisan good-government organization Common Cause PA, on the GOP using constitutional amendments to avoid Wolf's veto pen

Meet Gary Harki, Spotlight PA's new criminal justice reporter

I'm Gary Harki, Spotlight PA's criminal justice reporter. I search for stories that examine inequality and injustice within the criminal justice system.

I grew up outside of Morgantown, West Virginia, and studied journalism at West Virginia University. One of my first jobs was reporting for The Charleston Gazette, the state’s largest newspaper. I spent three years writing about rogue police, dangerous juvenile detention centers, and deadly coal mine disasters. 

After that, I then spent a year covering the nuclear industry for a trade publication in Washington, D.C. I wrote about the safety of nuclear reactors and the uranium markets, trying to answer questions like, “Is this reactor safe enough to keep running?”

Prior to joining Spotlight PA, I spent nine years as a reporter for The Virginian-Pilot, a newspaper that covers cities including Virginia Beach and Norfolk. In 2017, I was named the Virginia Press Association’s Journalist of the Year for my stories covering jail deaths in the state. Another project — a podcast called The Shot —  unraveled the unsolved murder of a well-known police officer in Virginia Beach.

While at the Pilot, I spent a year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, through the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University. The program allowed me to examine the intersection of mental health care and jails, reporting that was later recognized as some of the best criminal justice journalism in the country. 

One of my final stories in Virginia uncovered allegations that noted biographer Blake Bailey sexually assaulted and abused women while a professor at Old Dominion University.

I moved to Philadelphia last fall and have spent much of this second pandemic winter in my apartment with a feisty gray cat, Thelonious.

I love being a journalist for many reasons, but perhaps the most important one is that I can expose injustice while helping people. It’s a privilege to do this kind of work.

I’m committed to finding stories that will have a positive impact on the people of Pennsylvania. If you think there’s something I should write about, please contact me at gharki@spotlightpa.org.

—Gary Harki, Spotlight PA

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