Email: paige.austin@patch.com
Phone: 714-721-1222
Hometown: Garden Grove
Birthday: Gemini
I learned how to be a reporter at the Orange County Register, where I covered, of all things, Los Alamitos and Seal Beach. After a couple years, however, I broke through the Orange County barrier, landing one county away at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside. I covered everything from cities, to the national forest, to courts and prisons. I do have some pretty colorful war stories from those beats. So if you see me around town, you tell me your stories, and I'll tell you about the time I met Gov. Schwarzenegger…in prison…while wearing a stab-proof vest. Or I can tell you about the time I watched a Manson girl give a talk on anger management.
I joke around. A lot. However, journalism might be the only thing I take seriously. It's a very humbling job. Everyday, people trust you with their voice on topics that matter to them, and you have to try to live up to the responsibility. If I ever fail, I need you to tell me about it, so that I can get it right. It's important.
I am insecure enough to tell you about some of the journalism awards I have won – the Associated Press Award for investigative reporting, California Newspapers Publishers Association awards for investigative reporting and best special section, the Price Child Health and Welfare Journalism award from the Children's Advocacy Institute as well as Society of Professional Journalists awards for best enterprise stories, beat reporting, feature writing, and best environmental story. I think I tried to collect awards in an effort to intimidate editors into letting me chase the kinds of stories I want to do. It doesn't really work.
Working for Patch.com, my office consists of the cities I cover, Starbucks, and my house where my co-workers include a lovely gent named D'Wayne and two pugs – Monkey and Maggie. If we ever talk on the phone, it's Maggie you might hear faintly snoring in the background. Sorry, she just can't help it.
Your Beliefs
At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.
Politics: pro-environment and equality for all
Religion: The unholy trinity of Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut and John Steinbeck
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is asking Larkspur-Corte Madera residents not to use wood-burning stoves to protect air quality
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is asking San Rafael residents not to use their wood-burning fireplaces to protect air quality.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is asking San Anselmo-Fairfax residents not to use wood-burning stoves to protect air quality.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is asking Novato residents not to use their wood-burning fireplaces to protect air quality.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is asking Mill Valley residents not to use wood-burning fireplaces to protect air quality.
Oceanside police are searching for a man who repeatedly stabbed another man in the back outside a market in Oceanside Tuesday.
A 20-year-old driver struck the young skateboarder with his truck in the San Diego Country Estates neighborhood Tuesday.
A woman was ejected from her car when she crashed into a freeway zipper machine early Wednesday morning.
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Disneyland Resort Cancels Grad Nite 2021 | Ken Jennings To Be First `Jeopardy!' Interim Guest Host | Outdoor Dining Ban | Patch PM
An effort to stop the ban on in-person restaurant dining failed as coronavirus hospitalizations threaten to exceed local capacity.
The California Restaurant Association asked the courts to block the looming shutdown of in-person restaurant dining across Los Angeles.
An overturned big rig spilled milk across the freeway, shutting down all southbound lanes on the Golden State (5) Freeway Tuesday.
LA County Faces Stay-Home Orders | Holiday Shipping Deadlines Are Approaching | Randy's Donuts Opening New Locations | Patch PM
The port and its police department joined CMA CGM Group, a shipping company, to donate thousands of turkeys and meals for the homeless.
Los Angeles shattered its record for daily new COVID-19 cases Monday, prompting the county health department to mull new stay-home orders.
There have been 300 homicides in Los Angeles this year, and LAPD Chief Michel Moore is asking people to care about the epidemic of violence.
The teen driver drifted into the attenuator barrels amid dense fog shortly after midnight. Three of the teens were not wearing seatbelts.
Hollywood Man Accused of Crashing Drone Into LAPD Chopper | What To Expect At Disney California Adventure's Reopening 2020 | Patch PM
An overturned big rig damaged 60 feet of a guard rail on the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway and Pomona (60) Freeway connector in Whittier.
