Dock Tragedy Strikes a Georgia Community Fighting to Protect Its Culture
The deaths of seven people on Sapelo Island have brought to the fore longstanding frustrations among its Gullah Geechee community.
By Emily Cochrane and Jacey Fortin
I cover a wide range of subjects including extreme weather, court cases and state politics all across the country. I often report on breaking news, with a goal of adding as much background and context as possible.
I joined The Times in 2017. Before that, I was a freelance reporter working in Ethiopia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of The Congo. A fellowship with the International Women’s Media Foundation brought me to New York, where I am now based. I have also lived in Massachusetts, Arizona and South Carolina.
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The deaths of seven people on Sapelo Island have brought to the fore longstanding frustrations among its Gullah Geechee community.
By Emily Cochrane and Jacey Fortin
Power outages, gas shortages and pockets of flooding were among the lingering issues. But Gov. Ron DeSantis said the damage could have been worse.
By Thomas Fuller, Patricia Mazzei, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Christopher Flavelle
Flooding, wind damage and power outages affected much of Florida. At least 14 deaths have been linked to the storm.
By Jacey Fortin and Orlando Mayorquín
This was featured in live coverage.
By Patricia Mazzei, Jenna Russell and Jacey Fortin
More than 5.5 million people were urged to leave Florida’s western coast, one of the largest evacuations in state history. Some who have stayed for previous storms decided to go this time.
By Patricia Mazzei and Isabelle Taft
This was featured in live coverage.
By Patricia Mazzei, Jacey Fortin and Judson Jones
Modern technology has been slow to return to mountain towns after Helene. Whiteboards and gatherings are helping residents find missing people and much-needed supplies.
By Jacey Fortin
Officials are still uncovering the extent of the devastation in western North Carolina, which President Biden took in from the air. The storm killed at least 183 people in six states.
By Zach Montague and Jacey Fortin
Blocked roads and bad cellphone service in remote mountain towns have made it hard to find people who are still unaccounted for after the storm.
By Jacey Fortin
President Biden said he would visit the devastated region on Wednesday. The death toll from the hurricane has risen to at least 121 people across six states.
By Mark Barrett and Jacey Fortin
Flooding inundated some neighborhoods in the state capital, and nearly a dozen people died in communities elsewhere in Georgia.
By Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
Officials in the Southeast said the toll was likely to rise.
By Jacey Fortin, Adeel Hassan and Isabelle Taft
The region has endured two other hurricanes recently, but many more people appeared to be evacuating this time, leaving their small coastal towns eerily empty.
By Patricia Mazzei, Emily Cochrane and Abigail Geiger
The surge could be 15 to 20 feet higher than normal tide levels, flooding dozens of communities along the Gulf Coast.
By Jacey Fortin
Many residents have evacuated Cedar Key, a community on a string of islands jutting into the Gulf of Mexico. But about 50 people have remained to risk Hurricane Helene.
By Abigail Geiger
Waters rose and then receded quickly in New Orleans and communities to its southwest, where Hurricane Francine made landfall.
By Jacey Fortin, Isabelle Taft and Eduardo Medina
This was featured in live coverage.
By Jacey Fortin, Isabelle Taft and Isabella Kwai
Plus, debunking claims about immigrants in Ohio.
By Tracy Mumford, Shane Goldmacher, Reid J. Epstein, Robert Jimison, Ian Stewart and Jessica Metzger
Tropical Storm Francine has battered homes and businesses in southern Louisiana with heavy rain. Even stilts six feet above the ground may not be enough to save one marina.
By Jacey Fortin
This was featured in live coverage.
By Jacey Fortin
This was featured in live coverage.
By Marie Elizabeth Oliver, Jacey Fortin and Natalie McLendon
This was featured in live coverage.
By Jacey Fortin
This was featured in live coverage.
By Isabelle Taft, Jacey Fortin and J. David Goodman
After four people were killed at Apalachee High School, prosecutors charged a student and his father, who officials say had given the boy the gun as a gift.
By Shaila Dewan and Jacey Fortin
Both are being prosecuted in the killings of two teachers and two students. New questions arose Friday about whether school officials were told about an investigation of the teenager last year.
By Rick Rojas and Jacey Fortin
A teenager is accused of killing two students and two teachers in the deadliest school shooting in Georgia’s history. His father was arrested, too.
By Jacey Fortin
He was also charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children, all “directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” an official said.
By Emily Cochrane and Jacey Fortin
This was featured in live coverage.
By Rick Rojas and Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
Sandra Birchmore was pregnant when she was found dead in Canton, Mass., in 2021, and she had told the officer that he was the father, federal prosecutors said.
By Jacey Fortin
With Vice President Kamala Harris locking up support, interviews with Democratic National Committee delegates indicated there was no consensus over whom she should pick as a running mate.
By Adam Nagourney, Charlie Smart and Christine Zhang
Michele Fiore, a colorful figure in the state’s politics, took donations intended for a slain officer’s statue and used them for personal expenses, prosecutors said.
By Jacey Fortin
This was featured in live coverage.
By Glenn Thrush, Peter Baker and Jacey Fortin
The Western United States has been sweltering for more than a week with little respite for those without air-conditioning. Cooling centers can help, but not everyone takes advantage of them.
By Jacey Fortin
The health care system in Houston, where more than a million customers lack power, was overwhelmed because some patients couldn’t be discharged amid a punishing heat wave.
By Isabelle Taft, Judson Jones and Alan Blinder
Temperature records have been shattered from California and Nevada to North Carolina in the last few days, and relief is still days away, forecasters say.
By Jacey Fortin and Jonathan Wolfe
This was featured in live coverage.
By The New York Times
The daughter of one Maryland couple was still searching for answers about her parents’ deaths. The State Department said it was possible that more deaths could be confirmed.
By Jacey Fortin and Kate Selig
The agency said it was offering up to $10,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those “responsible for starting the fires.”
By Alexandra E. Petri
The fires have scorched more than 23,000 acres, and heavy rains have made it harder for firefighters to battle the blazes.
By Reyes Mata III, Jacey Fortin, Yan Zhuang and Isabella Kwai
Much of the Northeast will swelter through the weekend from the same heat wave that has already baked the Midwest.
By Jacey Fortin and Christina Morales
Wednesday’s vote was not a ban on in vitro fertilization. But it suggested that ordinary evangelicals are increasingly open to seeing embryos as people.
By Jacey Fortin and Ruth Graham
The jury unanimously sided with the performer in a case against a blogger who made false claims that the artist had exposed himself to a crowd at a pride event in 2022.
By Jacey Fortin
The landmark settlement made many wonder what the reality — and impact — of revenue-sharing plans with college athletes would look like.
By David W. Chen, Jacey Fortin and Anna Betts
The leaders of Northwestern, Rutgers and the University of California, Los Angeles, appeared to have navigated their testimony before Congress without many significant missteps.
By Jacey Fortin
The union representing academic workers in the University of California system said other campuses might strike, too, if officials failed to address their complaints over the handling of pro-Palestinian protests.
By Jacey Fortin
This was featured in live coverage.
By Jacey Fortin, Heather Knight, Jonathan Wolfe and Anemona Hartocollis
The decision came after complaints were filed related to the actions of the chief in late April, when the campus police arrested dozens of people.
By Jacey Fortin
This was featured in live coverage.
By Matthew Eadie, Mattathias Schwartz, Anna Betts, Coral Murphy Marcos, Jacey Fortin and Jonathan Wolfe
Politicians said educators had not done enough. But the New York chancellor said members were trying to elicit “gotcha moments” rather than stop antisemitism.
By Dana Goldstein, Troy Closson and Michael Levenson
At a hearing in Congress, public school leaders from New York, California and Maryland forcefully buffed Republican attacks, drawing a contrast with university presidents.
By Jacey Fortin