Jenna Sneva, a competitive skier from Sisters, Oregon, estimated she had 11 concussions before being diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome. Her namesake law – Jenna’s Law – helps protect young athletes competing outside of public schools.
David Kracke is a personal injury lawyer at the Nichols Law Group in Portland and a co-author of Max’s Law, Oregon’s landmark legislation aimed at reducing the impact of brain injuries among Oregon student athletes. In mid-October, Lee van der Voo, managing director of InvestigateWest and John Schrag, executive editor of the Pamplin Media Group, talked to Kracke about the history of the law.
Earlier this year, Oregon lawmakers amended Max’s Law, expanding the definition of “health professionals,” who…
Ready. Set. Hike: Nearly two decades ago, during a high school football game, a 17-year-old quarterback named Max Conradt lined up under center and began a snap count. Now, a namesake law protects student athletes from the kind of tragedy that unfolded for the Waldport, Oregon player.
Over the past six months, reporters working on a series about high school sports concussions in Oregon have made 235 requests for records — or rather, the same request 235 times. Oregon has one state law to govern how local jurisdictions handle public records. But the responses to this same request are wide and varied across the state.
We sought concussion records from 235 public high schools participating in sports organized by the Oregon School Activities Association. Here’s how they responded.
The Oregon School Activities Association oversees everything from track meets to choir championships in Oregon. OSAA Executive Director Peter Weber and Assistant Director Brad Garrett sat with Lee van der Voo, of InvestigateWest, and John Schrag, of Pamplin Media Group, to talk about Rattled, the news groups’ collaborative investigation into Oregon high school concussions.
Sami Howard’s last concussion, captured by a student videographer, looks bad. But it’s the sound — something like a dropped bowling ball — that turned the crowd’s cheers into a low moan and then near-silence. A contested rebound. A fall to the ground, and Sami Howard’s life changed forever. The concussion was her fourth.
Since 2009, InvestigateWest’s journalism has directly led to a healthier, safer and more transparent Pacific Northwest, including two first-in-the-nation state laws to protect the environment and workers’ health.
What you’ll find below is a sampling of the ways that our journalism organization has made an impact.
Our investigation into toxic road pollution and its effects on children’s health at school found nearly 30 public schools and more than 120 day cares within 500 feet of major roads in Washington, where health researchers say traffic pollution can aggravate asthma, increase absenteeism, and harm developing immune systems. The series prompted Seattle Schools to begin notifying all principals of unhealthy air days and advise them to keep children indoors for recess. The district also announced new plans to upgrade a decades-old ventilation system at John Marshall Junior High to better protect student health. Using InvestigateWest’s reporting and methodology, newsrooms in San Diego and Ohio replicated our story, finding dozens of schools in the danger zone and equally lax oversight about where facilities get built.
© Copyright 2022, InvestigateWest.
