Alec Snyder
Congressional Reporter
he/him
WRITING
Writing samples from POLITICO Pro and CQ Roll Call are available upon request. Please contact Alec via email at asnyder@politico.com or his social media accounts.
CNN
CNN | Covid-19 pandemic magnifies workforce crisis in veterinary field - June 20, 2021
The Covid-19 pandemic sparked a dramatic increase in pet adoptions, as well as a rise in inquiries about pet care. Approximately half of all vet techs burn out of the profession within their first five years and 35 percent of them burn out altogether. While an increase in pet adoptions is generally a good thing, it also means that veterinarians and vet techs have to see more patients, field more calls from pet owners, which sometimes result in delayed visits and care.
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CNN | Suspect arrested in the death of a teenage girl who disappeared in 1976 - April 3, 2021
Evelyn Colon was one of five siblings in Jersey City, New Jersey, when she got pregnant in 1976 at age 15 by her 19-year-old boyfriend, Luis Sierra. The couple moved into an apartment together soon thereafter and Colon's mother would often stay in touch with the two to see how they were doing. One day, though, her mother went to the apartment to visit and nobody answered the door. The family never heard from Evelyn again.
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CNN | Kentucky legislature passes bipartisan election bill expanding early and absentee voting -
March 30, 2021
Kentucky's Republican-led General Assembly this week passed bipartisan voting reform legislation setting rules for absentee and early voting -- an exception to increasingly polarized partisan efforts in multiple states to remake election rules in the wake of the 2020 presidential race.
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CNN | NYPD investigating attacks on Asian Americans as potential hate or bias crimes - March 24, 2021
At least three incidents involving physical assaults against Asian Americans are being investigated as possible hate or bias crimes, NYPD spokesmen told CNN on March 24. They came on the heels of an alleged subway assault on March 21 in which an eyewitness said the Asian victim was struck simply for who he was.
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CNN | White woman calls the wife of Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor the n-word while grocery shopping - October 13, 2020
The wife of Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor alleged she was insulted with a racial slur while grocery shopping. In a two-second video posted on her Twitter account, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, who was born in Brazil and is married to Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, recorded a White woman seen lowering her mask and saying a racial epithet through Fetterman's open car window, then walking away.
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CNN | Former Philadelphia officer is indicted for murder in 2017 shooting of unarmed Black man - October 10, 2020
A former Philadelphia police officer was indicted on murder charges in the 2017 shooting death of an unarmed Black man, prosecutors say.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner announced that a grand jury indicted former officer Eric Ruch Jr. on first- and third-degree counts of murder, along with voluntary manslaughter and possession of an instrument of crime.
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CNN | Daily Caller reporters arrested and held overnight while covering Louisville protests - September 25, 2020
Two journalists for The Daily Caller were covering protests stemming from a grand jury's decision not to charge Louisville Metro Police Department officers with murder in the killing of Breonna Taylor when they found themselves arrested and held overnight. Even after their editor attempted to explain their role in covering the protests, the two reporters were still held overnight.
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CNN | Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signs sweeping police reform bill - July 31, 2020
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed H.B. 6004, a comprehensive police accountability measure, into law on July 31. The law institutes a new statewide watchdog for police misconduct, bans "chokeholds" in most instances and puts limits on the ability of police departments to withhold officers' disciplinary records. It also allows individual officers to be held financially liable in civil suits over their actions.
H.B. 6004 requires all departments statewide to equip officers with body-worn cameras and places limits on the military equipment Connecticut police departments can acquire or use.
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CNN | Philadelphia Inquirer journalists call out sick after paper publishes the headline: 'Buildings Matter, Too' - June 5, 2020
A large contingent of journalists at the Philadelphia Inquirer took a sick day Thursday to demand change at the newspaper, in the wake of the paper's decision to print an article headlined "Buildings Matter, Too." In explaining their decision to call out "sick and tired" Thursday, they said they've spent "months and years" working to gain the public's trust, only to see it "eroded in an instant by careless, unempathetic decisions."
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CNN | A library found it was missing $8 million of its rarest items. Nearly three years later, a man on the inside admitted to selling the items to a local bookstore -
January 14, 2020
Two men pleaded guilty to theft and receiving stolen property charges after an alleged $8 million worth of rare books, plates and maps were taken from a Pittsburgh library and sold to a rare book store owner, according to court documents, which called the theft among the world's largest losses to date.
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CNN | Detective involved in Barnard student Tessa Majors case faces allegations he falsified evidence in other cases -
December 23, 2019
A New York police detective who testified in a probable cause hearing in the case of slain Barnard College student Tessa Majors is facing lawsuits that allege he falsified evidence, made false accusations and forcibly searched residences without warrants, according to court documents. New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea said Detective Wilfredo Acevedo has never been found to have made a single false statement or falsely arrested anyone and touted his exemplary record of service.
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The Island Packet/
The Beaufort Gazette
The Island Packet | Hilton Head town officials, sheriff’s office not doing enough to prevent car crashes, audit says -
November 10, 2018
An investigation into an audit requested by the town of Hilton Head into its contracted police services with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office. The audit has several discrepancies, while the sheriff's office doesn't believe the auditing firm did enough to work with them and obtain the correct data for the report. The scope of the audit underlies a bigger point: can the sheriff's office and Hilton Head continue to work together?
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The Island Packet | He’s no longer Beaufort County’s top employee. So why did he just get paid $24K? - September 22, 2018
An investigation into a backdoor contract signed between a former Beaufort County interim administrator and his successor, just a day after the former interim administrator was not hired for the permanent role. The revelations and fallout from this story led the new interim administrator to resign from the job two days after this story ran.
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The Island Packet | In 24 hours, Beaufort County hires admin, takes it back, hires another, gets rejected - July 24, 2018
Beaufort County Council went through three denials of candidates for its long-vacant county administrator job before offering the position to Alan Ours. However, less than 24 hours later - and just under two hours after the county announced its offer to Ours - he rejected the job. This story broke the news that he turned down the job and includes raw reactions from several councilmembers, most of whom had not heard about his refusal beforehand.
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Academic/GWU
MediaFile | The White House Correspondents Dinner, Without the White House - May 1, 2017
I had the privilege to attend the 2017 White House Correspondents Association Dinner as a guest of Yahoo! News. I wrote an opinions piece about my experiences and what I thought were the highlights of the event, as well as recurring themes from the night.
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Academic Project | All-Natural Foods - December 17, 2015
Pitched and wrote a story investigating food labeling guidelines for "all-natural" and GMO designations. Interviewed 6-8 experts in various divisions of food safety, ranging from restauranteurs to farmers and non-profit organization heads to college professors.
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