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Steve Garrison

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Charleston, Columbia
As seen in: Courthouse News Service, LinkedIn, USA Today, Wiley Online Library, U.S. News and World Report, AZCentral | The Arizona Republic, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, West Hartford News, Albuquerque Journal, Post and Courier, Richmond Times-Dispatch and
Covers:  Crime, courts, police, criminal justice, corruption, wrongdoing
South Carolina reporter for @CourthouseNews. Former editor @postandcourier. Chicagoland native and @mizzou grad.
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Living in a van: Nomads find adventure in 'workamping'

Living in a van: Nomads find adventure in 'workamping'

columbiamissourian.com — Ron Williams and his two dogs, Bella and Sadie, will soon hop into their camper and tear out of the Jefferson City campground they have called home for the past four months, joining a growing number of recreational vehicle dwellers seeking work on the open road.
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Flood control measures push endangered species to the brink

Flood control measures push endangered species to the brink

columbiamissourian.com — For decades, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has grappled with how to save the endangered pallid sturgeon, which has had its habitat destroyed by the dams, levees and dikes built in the 20th century. The situation has pitted sturgeon against settlers. On one hand, the fish need wild water to complete their life cycle. But persistent flooding has required human intervention to tame the river. Barriers were built to stop the floods — but they also stopped the fish.
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A battered levee system might not offer a long-term flood solution

A battered levee system might not offer a long-term flood solution

columbiamissourian.com — CHAMOIS - In early June, floodwaters from the Missouri River were lapping at the foundation of the Champion Apartments in Chamois, a small riverside town northeast of Jefferson City. A 14-year-old girl and her 2-year-old brother have been living alone in one of the apartments since November, when their mother was hospitalized with a brain tumor.
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Floodwaters claim north Jefferson City as tornado cleanup continues

Floodwaters claim north Jefferson City as tornado cleanup continues

columbiamissourian.com — JEFFERSON CITY - As crews worked Friday night to restore downed utility poles amidst the ruin caused by Wednesday's devastating tornado, the northern part of Jefferson City was disappearing under floodwaters. City officials met Friday afternoon to discuss tornado relief efforts while increased flooding from a breached levee claimed large swaths of land and threatened to swallow the municipal airport.
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Court records: Informant told Feds Gary drug leader got tips from Gary city councilwoman, her pol...

Court records: Informant told Feds Gary drug leader got tips from Gary city councilwoman, her pol...

The Times of Northwest Indiana — An informant sat down with federal investigators in September 2017 to help them untangle a drug trafficking enterprise allegedly operated by Teddia Caldwell, a 43-year-old Gary business owner and husband of Gary City Councilwoman Linda Barnes-Caldwell. During the interview, the informant dropped a bombshell: Caldwell sometimes received information about police investigations from Barnes-Caldwell and her son, Morris Smoot, a Cedar Lake patrolman, records state.
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'Evil, psychotic' serial killer Darren Vann sentenced to life without parole in murder of 7 women

'Evil, psychotic' serial killer Darren Vann sentenced to life without parole in murder of 7 women

The Times of Northwest Indiana — CROWN POINT - Darren D. Vann was sentenced Friday to life without parole for the murder of seven women, bringing to a close the four-year death penalty case against the Gary man, described by Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter as one of the most prolific serial killers in the state's history.
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East Chicago mail bombing target was 'continuously looking over his shoulder'

East Chicago mail bombing target was 'continuously looking over his shoulder'

The Times of Northwest Indiana — A federal magistrate judge on Tuesday ordered a 45-year-old Munster man to remain in jail on allegations he attempted to mail a pipe bomb to a Hammond attorney. After hearing arguments about bail from federal prosecutors and defense attorney Kevin Milner, U.S.
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Fraud allegations follow former Lowell insurance salesman

Fraud allegations follow former Lowell insurance salesman

The Times of Northwest Indiana — CROWN POINT - For 20 years accusations of financial impropriety have dogged Richard E. Gearhart, a 66-year-old Lowell man charged in federal court with fraud on allegations he and a co-defendant bilked more than 25 residents of at least $3.5 million through a crooked investment scheme.
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Speed demons: Fleeing police all too common in San Juan County

Speed demons: Fleeing police all too common in San Juan County

Farmington Daily Times — On June 9, 2015, the day after he was expected to testify against a man who shot him during a domestic dispute, Harrison had holed up in a house in the Wild Horse Valley subdivision. Members of a U.S. Marshals task force staked out the residence.
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Abducted girl's mother decries slow Amber Alert

Abducted girl's mother decries slow Amber Alert

USA Today — FARMINGTON, N.M. - The mother of an 11-year-old girl who was abducted and killed, urged Navajo lawmakers who attended her daughter's funeral to address delays in the Amber Alert notification system.
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Church leader says Navajo girl's alleged killer betrayed him

Church leader says Navajo girl's alleged killer betrayed him

USA Today — LOWER FRUITLAND, N.M. - A member of this small rural community and fellow church member of Tom Begaye Jr. said Thursday he was betrayed by the 27-year-old man who is accused of kidnapping and killing 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike.
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Police: Navajo girl bludgeoned, left to die

Police: Navajo girl bludgeoned, left to die

USA Today — LOWER FRUITLAND, N.M. — Residents of this small rural community on Wednesday tried to come to grips with the brutal murder of an 11-year-old Navajo girl after her body was discovered near the Shiprock pinnacle the day before.
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FBI: Suspect in custody in murder of Navajo girl in New Mexico

FBI: Suspect in custody in murder of Navajo girl in New Mexico

USA Today — SHIPROCK, N.M. — Authorities arrested a New Mexico man Tuesday in the abduction and slaying of an 11-year-old Navajo girl.
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Busted: 911 outperforms state's DWI hot line

Busted: 911 outperforms state's DWI hot line

Farmington Daily Times — FARMINGTON - Data obtained by The Daily Times suggests the state's Drunk Busters hot line, which costs taxpayers $195,000 annually, is less effective at combating drunken driving in San Juan County than simply urging residents to call 911.
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Farmington man faces attempted murder charge

Farmington man faces attempted murder charge

Farmington Daily Times — Norma Jean Phillips answered the door at that address on Monday afternoon. She said the alleged victim in the shooting was her boyfriend, Shah Malik, with whom she rented the house. She said they had been together for 10 years.
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Veterans organization suspends local chapter over stolen valor allegations

Veterans organization suspends local chapter over stolen valor allegations

Farmington Daily Times — FARMINGTON - The New Mexico Military Order of the Purple Heart suspended its Farmington chapter in the spring after allegations surfaced that chapter officer David Shrum misappropriated funds and made false claims about his military record. Steve Rose, a former state commander of the order, told The Daily Times he confronted Shrum in March over "outlandish" claims of valor made by the 68-year-old Blanco man. Rose said Shrum, himself a former commander of the New Mexico order, provided him a "DD Form 214," or military discharge form, listing more than a dozen medals Shrum claimed to have been awarded while serving in the U.S.
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Gold King Mine spill a disaster waiting to happen

Gold King Mine spill a disaster waiting to happen

Albuquerque Journal — The breach on Aug. 5 affected far more than the upper Animas area, of course – three million gallons of contaminated water poured through the creek and into the Animas River, which feeds into the San Juan through New Mexcio and Utah. It then joins the Colorado River just above Lake Powell. Colorado, New Mexico and the Navajo Nation have declared states of emergency for the affected aeas. But in the Silverton area, beyond the immediate damage, it may be difficult to separate the deluge from the drip.
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EPA chief: 'We will be fully accountable' for toxic spill

EPA chief: 'We will be fully accountable' for toxic spill

USA Today — DURANGO, Colo. — Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy said Wednesday the agency takes "full responsibility" for the release of millions of gallons of toxic mine waste last week at a Colorado mine.
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EPA: We misjudged pressure in gold mine before spill

EPA: We misjudged pressure in gold mine before spill

USA Today — GOLD KING MINE, COLO. - As 3 million gallons of heavy-metal laden water made its way into Utah and headed west to Lake Powell, Environmental Protection Agency officials met at the mouth of the Gold King Mine Monday afternoon to discuss last week's breach into a tributary of the Animas River. EPA on-scene coordinator Hayes Griswold explained to San Juan County, Colo., officials that an EPA team working at the mine on Wednesday underestimated how much pressure was hidden behind the debris that plugged the mine's entrance. He said the team was not attempting to dislodge the plug, but was instead attempting to stick a pipe into the top of the mine.
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EPA: Pollution from mine spill much worse than feared

EPA: Pollution from mine spill much worse than feared

USA Today — Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency said Sunday that the Gold King Mine discharged an estimated 3 million gallons of contaminated water, three times the amount previously believed. The mine continues to discharge 500 gallons per minute, EPA Region 8 administrator Shaun McGrath said in a teleconference call Sunday afternoon, but the polluted water is being contained and treated in two ponds by the site of the spill near Silverton, Colo.
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Health care behind bars: San Juan County sees sharp rise in contracted health care costs at jail

Health care behind bars: San Juan County sees sharp rise in contracted health care costs at jail

Farmington Daily Times — San Juan County will pay almost twice as much to contractors providing medical and mental health services at the San Juan County Adult Detention Center in the next fiscal year as it did in fiscal year 2014.
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Health care behind bars: Two San Juan County Adult Detention Center inmates complained of medical...

Health care behind bars: Two San Juan County Adult Detention Center inmates complained of medical...

Farmington Daily Times — Two of the three inmates who have died this year at the San Juan County Adult Detention Center filed formal grievances with the jail in the months before their deaths complaining about being charged for medical services, a controversial practice that a national correctional health care organization has disavowed.
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Health care behind bars: Inmate says pleas for help preceded woman's death at San Juan County Adu...

Health care behind bars: Inmate says pleas for help preceded woman's death at San Juan County Adu...

Farmington Daily Times — The death of Sharon Rice Jones at the San Juan County Adult Detention Center is described briefly in an autopsy report produced April 6 by the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator.
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Road maintenance crews removed safety features before quadruple-fatal crash

Road maintenance crews removed safety features before quadruple-fatal crash

Farmington Daily Times — FARMINGTON - Highway maintenance workers hired to resurface a 120-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 550 in July removed a key safety measure less than a month before a Texas family of four was killed in a head-on collision.
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