My best work

This suite of stories came as data centers, at least the hyperscale ones we see nowadays, were really entering the public’s zeitgeist. They were controversial, they were mostly unwanted, and they had a lot of question marks. I followed this story closely, providing critical community reporting for Hall County all the way to the developer’s withdrawal of the application. – William Daughtry

This suite of coverage showcased my ability to take a potentially confusing local election (a concurrent open special election and Democratic Primary taking place) and broke it down in video (shot and edited by me) and article form. I then followed the candidates closely, culminating in election night coverage where I called both Ruwa Romman and Rahul Garabadu on election night, then Romman and Adrienne White after the runoff. This came as I attended two Derek Dooley for U.S. Senate events, one each for Burt Jones and Rick Jackson for Governor race, a Geoff Duncan for Governor race, a GOP 9th District U.S. Senate and U.S. House debate, and numerous Nick Alex for Georgia’s 9th Congressional District Democratic nominee events. I was able to balance high-profile races (those can be viewed below) with real local coverage of a local race. I felt the people of the Duluth area in Gwinnett County were maybe too far off for true Atlanta media coverage (the Atlanta Journal-Constitution did not provide a preview until much closer to the race) but still needed some broadcasting footprint to breathe life into the race and get eyeballs on it. – William Daughtry

In line with Project Turbo, citizens of Maysville – a small town of under 3,000 in Jackson and Banks Counties – were dealing with a hyperscale data center of their own. Whether it was booking it to drive the 40 minutes from Gainesville right after fill-in hosting for the “Drive at 5” or staying for an hour after long, heated meetings to see how residents felt, I made sure their voices were heard. I made four reels/videos (all shot and edited by me) and wrote six stories in a three-month span. Similar to the Vulcan quarry reporting, I stayed up into the wee hours of the night to make sure the reporting was done with care and was done right. – William Daughtry

This reporting came in the form of a tip. After being one of the first reporters to hold Derek Dooley’s feet to the fire after Democrat state lawmakers called for an investigation into him and Governor Brian Kemp, two former CENTEGIX employees took notice. It took countless phone calls and meetings, as well as a good reporting acumen, to sift through the truths and the potential over exaggerations. In the end, it culminated in a well-rounded, facts-based approach with open records requests to various surrounding school systems to add a local layer to a story that tried to shed light on a potential issue. It was one of my first true “whistleblower” stories. – William Daughtry

I was very proud of how this story turned out. During busy weeks in the newsroom in Gainesville, Georgia I got word of this by SCSEP Hall County Director Christine Osasu. Instead of taking note, scheduling a phone interview, writing an article and calling it a day; I took it upon myself to speak to someone the program had helped. I spoke with Eloise Jackson all the way in Cartersville and shouldered the roughly-two-hour-long drive myself. I shot and edited everything myself to breathe life into the story by going the extra mile, showing the real pain behind haphazard cuts. We were one of the first news outlets that I could tell to report on the SCSEP aspect of the funding cuts. Then, I did not just discard the story. I kept in contact with Osasu, seeing when and how the funding may come back culminating in her speaking before the Senate Special Committee on Aging. – William Daughtry

This reporting was some of the most impactful I have ever done. It involved getting on a ferry, and talking to multiple people who were up against their own local government to fight for their rights to services. Many of the people I spoke with had little in common with me other than the fact we all lived in McIntosh County at some point in our lives. A settlement was reached during my reporting process, a perceived win for the residents at that time. – William Daughtry

There are nine stories listed here and while that may seem like a lot, the residents in rural east Jackson County were going through a lot as well. That’s what helped me power through hours and hours of video editing, research, and writing to speak to the issue at hand: a rock quarry was trying to come into a rural area with horse farms, wells, and quiet, and these residents were not having it. I distinctly remember having a long weekend to go back home for my brother’s wedding and painstakingly getting the story done into the wee hours of the morning at 3 a.m. finishing my video edits (all shot and edited by me) after a planning commission meeting that did not get done until after midnight. Then, as with the SCSEP reporting, I did not let it go by the wayside. I stayed on top of the Jackson County Court Docket to follow the zoning decision as it went through the court system. – William Daughtry

This reporting also came in the form of a tip, Britlyn Caruso’s mom. This was a feel-good story by every mark and showed the community I am invested in telling their stories. As with most of the stories in this section, an accompanying video is included all shot and edited by me. – William Daughtry

This story took some time since it was more of a feature, soft-news story. With the growth in Jackson County (back-to-back years being the fourth fastest growing county by percentage in the country), we felt it was necessary to give an explainer to people who just moved in as to why Jackson County has 11 independent fire departments, all with different taxing districts. I spoke to fire chiefs in the faster growing western part of the county, the county seat of Jefferson in the middle of the county, and a chief in the slower growing eastern part of the county. As with most of the stories in this section, an accompanying video is included in the link all shot and edited by me. – William Daughtry

These stories are to show my newspaper and sports reporting acumen. I got to do a feature of freshman phenom Ethan Quinn before he turned pro, now boasting a career-high ranking of 45 for men’s singles at just 22 years of age (as of Sept. 1, 2026). The article also dropped before Quinn won the NCAA men’s singles title. Additionally, I got to feature Head Coach Manuel Diaz a year before he retired. He had won four team NCAA championships