Sean McMinn
Sean McMinn is a data editor on NPR's Investigations team.
Based in Washington, D.C., McMinn reports stories in collaboration with journalists across NPR's network of member stations. He previously worked in the newsroom's News Apps/Visuals team.
McMinn came to NPR from CQ Roll Call, where he covered Congress and politics for three years as a data reporter. While there, he built interactives to help Americans better understand their government, and his reporting on flaws in FEMA's recovery programs led to the agency making changes to better serve communities struck by disaster. He also took part in an exchange with young professionals in North Africa and has spent time in Egypt and Tunisia teaching data visualization and storytelling.
Before that, McMinn taught multimedia journalism to interns through a fellowship with the Scripps Howard Foundation.
He is also an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and at American University.
McMinn is an alumnus of the National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Fellowship and has served as vice-chair at the National Press Club's Young Members Committee. He has also directed the Press Club's Press Vs. Politicians Spelling Bee fundraiser, which pits members of Congress against journalists to raise funds for the club's non-profit journalism institute.
McMinn is from Thousand Oaks, Calif. He holds a journalism degree with a statistics minor from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, where he was a reporter and editor on the student newspaper, Mustang News.
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California's 2020 wildfires set a record: the most acres burned in a year. But another record was set: The second half of the wildfire season had the lowest FEMA wildfire-aid approval rate. -
An investigation into FEMA claims after 2020's historic wildfires in Oregon and California reveals wide fluctuations in approval rates and denials of people who met aid criteria. -
An NPR analysis of COVID-19 vaccination sites in major cities across the Southern U.S. reveals a racial disparity, with most sites located in whiter neighborhoods. -
COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to strain U.S. hospitals in certain places, while the burden is easing up in other areas. Look up your local hospital to see how it's faring.
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The federal government has released detailed local data on where hospitals are starting to fill up with patients. Researchers and health leaders say this was urgently needed. -
As COVID-19 hospitalizations surge, new data released by the federal government show how many hospitals are struggling with staffing. -
An NPR analysis shows that the majority of counties with the highest COVID-19 death rates showed stronger support for Trump in 2020 than they did four years ago. -
Data from more than 1,400 colleges, obtained by NPR, show that most colleges with in-person classes have no clear testing plan or are testing only students who believe they have the coronavirus.
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Early in the pandemic, most deaths occurred in large cities. But now, as COVID-19 spreads across the U.S., smaller communities are suffering many losses as well. -
An NPR investigation shows that black and Latino neighborhoods in four large Texas cities have fewer coronavirus testing sites, leaving communities blind to potential COVID-19 outbreaks.
