Patrick Terpstra

Patrick Terpstra

Patrick Terpstra

National Investigative Reporter

Patrick Terpstra is a national investigative reporter devoted to accuracy, clarity and fairness. His reporting relies on data, records and brave people willing to share their experiences. He aims to expose problems and difficulties with governments, corporations, and other mighty entities, while searching just as hard for solutions. His work at Scripps has exposed how a couple without medical experience led a massive troubled covid testing operation. He revealed how the state of Maryland secretly refused to implement key parts of a new online privacy law. He also uncovered how cellphone emergency alerts fail to warn people in the way of deadly wildfires.

Prior to joining Scripps, Patrick covered Washington for the Cox Media Group. His reporting on former Congressman Paul Broun’s office spending led to the indictment and federal conviction of his chief of staff. Patrick can be reached at patrick.terpstra@scripps.com.

Recent Work
A bridge constructed with uncoated weathering steel.

Bridge collapse renews concerns about unpainted steel

The struggle to locate migrant children missing from US homes

A plane approaching a runway.

Airport runway safety alerts often aren't in use in cockpit

Planes on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport in New York

A runway collision warning system for pilots stalled at the FAA

Gustavo Ramirez and the building he fell from.

More kids are getting hurt in American workplaces

The 155th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race.

A new push to protect racehorses is leaving behind young thoroughbreds

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Buttigieg defends effort to fix ailing bridges across the country

Flames burning inside a van

Maui fires are another disaster in which warning sirens stayed silent

Erosion damage on the bridge

Thousands of bridges left behind in race to rebuild infrastructure

blueberries

Children as young as 6 help harvest blueberries in America

Overturned mobile home hit by a tornado

Broken tornado sirens will be part of FEMA review in Congress

A tornado siren near a basketball court

When tornadoes strike, warning sirens often stay silent

Recent immigrants to the United States

After crossing border, migrants end up in blue states more than red

Packers Sanitation Services Inc., in Worthington

A failed attempt to stop child labor years before a raid

Child in PSSi facility

Scripps News Investigates: A city’s not-so-secret child labor problem

Architect of the Capitol denies wrongdoing before Congress

Architect of the Capitol denies wrongdoing before Congress

J. Brett Blanton, the Architect of the Capitol.

Architect of the Capitol, accused of misconduct, avoids accountability

Ticket company executives appear before Congress

Ticketmaster under fire on Capitol Hill for failing to stop bots

Ticket Bots

Few scalpers pay a price for using illegal ticket bots

Sam Bankman-Fried under arrest

SBF Donated To Lawmakers Working On Crypto Policies, Newsy Finds

Ballot box observers in Arizona.

Election Skeptics Fall Far Short Of Goal To Observe 'Every Ballot Box'

Voting in Delhi Township, Mich., during a primary election in August.

Why 2020 Election Skeptics Want To Be Poll Workers And Watchers

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Undocumented Immigration Isn't Just A Red State Problem

A person types on a keyboard.

Pioneering Privacy Law Runs Into More Trouble In Maryland

Hospital ERs Struggle To Treat Surge Of Mental Health Patients

An ancestry DNA website.

Maryland Quietly Shelves Parts Of Genealogy Privacy Law

A spam text message

Lots Of Spam Texts, Little Action To Stop Them

A medical setting

Newsy Investigates: Vague Health Exceptions In Abortion Bans

A man on a bicycle stops at a railroad crossing as a train passes.

Newsy Investigates: Increasing Incidents At Rail Crossings

bottles of abortion pills at a clinic

Newsy Investigates: Abortion Pill's Safety Record