Fernando Alfonso III, Patch Staff

I’m a field editor for Patch and most recently, a reporter for the Houston Chronicle. Some notable stories for the newspaper involved digging into the contentious jail death of an opioid addict, a dog who roamed the streets following Hurricane Harvey with a bag of food in his mouth, and a controversial email a university baseball coach sent to a high school athlete (which got him fired less than a day after our story ran).

Before joining the Chronicle, I was a reporter for Lexington’s Herald-Leader. I also taught some journalism courses at the University of Kentucky.

I split my time at the Leader covering breaking news and combing the internet for Kentucky-specific content; such as the story on one of Eastern Kentucky’s most iconic images and how one heroin addict used social media and science to cope. I also produced an award-winning investigative series on a controversial family court judge.

I was the Daily Dot’s first art director and an early staff writer, having joined before the company launched in the fall of 2011. The Daily Dot sent me on a GIF-fueled road trip across the country and helped me manufacture my own Ecstasy-free tablets. I also published deep dives into 4chan and Tumblr’s history while hounding Reddit administrators to answer for a controversial forum.

I started my career as a crime and education reporter at The Post-Standard. An investigation and handful of late night stakeouts I did resulted in getting two public officials sacked. That work earned the newspaper some awards.