Professional Experience

2016 to present: Investigative reporter, WINK News. Previously worked as a producer at KPRC-TV in Houston, WKMG-TV in Orlando and WINK News.

Awards & Recognition

  • Florida Associated Press Finalist for Investigative Reporting, 2018
  • Suncoast Regional Emmy Nominee for Crime News, 2017
  • Lonestar Emmy Awards, winner for Best Investigative Story, nominee for Best Business/Consumer Story, 2016.
  • Houston Press Club, first place for TV Consumer News, 2016.
  • Texas Associated Press Broadcasters, second place for news series, 2016.
  • National Press Club Award, third place for investigative reporting, 2012.
  • IRE/NICAR, Holly Wisenhunt Stephen Fellowship recipient, 2011.
  • Suncoast Emmy Awards, winner for Crime Story, 2008. Five-time nominee, 2010 - 2014.
  • Edward R Murrow Awards, 2008 and 2009 regional winner for Investigative Reporting.

Hobbies, Interests & Community Service

Cooking, fitness, running, yoga, scrapbooking,  reading the New York Times' travel section, dreaming about places to travel and sometimes going there, watching my husband golf, taking the dog to the beach, rooting for the Steelers and Nittany Lions, and spoiling my nieces and little ‘sister’. I'm also a Big Brothers & Big Sister mentor, volunteer at PACE school for girls and WGCU's radio reading for blind and visually impaired.

Education

Penn State University

Likes best about Southwest Florida

"The people."

Birthplace

Western Pennsylvania.

Could paying cash save you money on medical care?

We shop online for everything from clothes to cars and can compare pricing before committing, so a Naples surgeon wants to make that same approach available to medical care. Dr. Michael Havig, an orthopedic surgeon at Naples Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, said he came up with the idea after hearing his staff turn away patients […]

How asking a question can turn into an unexpected doctor’s bill

Insurance companies cover preventative care as an incentive for you to stay on top of your health; however, there is fine print for these so-called free exams and procedures with health care providers. A viewer from Fort Myers contacted WINK News’ Cost of Care after getting an unexpected $240 bill at what was supposed to […]

9-year-old girl with autism put in police custody during behavioral episode

The family of a 9-year-old girl with autism is considering legal action against the City of North Port after a January incident where police grabbed the girl and put her into the back of a police car. The girl’s mother, McKenna Smith, called 911 after her daughter ran away, something she has done. When the […]

Sworn testimony: LCSO detective disagrees with prosecutors over ‘Stand Your Ground’ death

A Lee County sheriff’s detective is questioning a prosecutor’s decision not to charge James Taylor with the homicide of a man who drunkenly attempted to get into his home in 2016.  Ryan Modell, 32, was drunk and mistakenly tried to enter Taylor’s condominium at the Emerson Square development on Old Harmony Drive in south Fort Myers on March 20, 2016.  A year later, prosecutors with the […]

Medicare and patient overbilled for bone density shot

Karen Lawson was surprised when her doctor’s office told her she had a $500 charge for her bi-annual bone density shot. Lawson spent her life working in medical billing, so she considers herself pretty sharp when it comes to understanding her medical costs. “It was my understanding that Medicare was going to cover it and […]

How much would a medical emergency cost you?

Randy Henderson said he’ had never broken a bone or spent a night in the hospital before he crashed his bicycle into a bridge in December 2019. Henderson, the former mayor of Fort Myers, spent three nights in the hospital with a cracked rib and a collapsed lung. He agreed to let WINK News look […]

Ambulance. (Credit: WINK News)

Calling an ambulance could lead to a financial emergency

It was a route he’d taken thousands of times on his bicycle. The weather was clear and bright. Then the unexpected happened. Randy Henderson’s handlebars got caught on the side of a fence on a bridge along MacGregor Boulevard and down he went into the pavement. Henderson, who was Mayor of the city at the […]

Florida vaccine supply insufficient to support population

It will take another 15 weeks to get shots in the arms of the rest of Florida’s 65 and older population if supply does not increase, according to a Florida Gulf Coast University Mathematics Professor. Senthil Balaji Girimurugan, Ph.D., a statistical researcher and math professor, compared the state’s weekly allotment numbers against population data from […]

Billed for COVID-19 vaccine? Advocates say you should fight it

Susan Leslie was elated to get the COVID vaccine weeks before she expected. She got her first dose in mid-January through a major hospital system in Central Texas. But that excitement turned to disappointment when she was asked to pay a $51 charge for the shot administration. “I really got angry, and I think that’s […]