In-depth journalism
Several of Max's stories have appeared on the front pages of The Columbus Dispatch and the Dayton Daily News. His investigations and enterprise stories have been featured in the Sunday edition of each newspaper.
Max previously worked for The Courier of Findlay, Ohio as a reporter covering state and local government. He has also worked as an intern staff reporter at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis and as an intern graphic designer and staff writer at the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago.
Ohio State Fair disaster still haunts survivor 7 years later
Keziah Lewis wanted a different answer.
But no matter how many times she asked, she didn't get one.
Lewis had no memory of how she got into the hospital bed that she woke up in seven years ago.
Dr. Roxy posted video of her ‘botched’ surgery online. Now she's speaking up
Sarah Duckett tried to keep herself calm as she held her right breast and walked through the doors of a Florida hospital and into the emergency department.
About six weeks had passed since the Army veteran, then 33, had flown from the Tampa area to Columbus for a breast augmentation and in that time, everything had come undone — literally.
Preying On Patients: Medical board failed to protect Ohioans from sexually abusive doctors
Dr. Richard Strauss wasn’t the only one.
Strauss was accused of sexually abusing at least 177 patients during his time at Ohio State University. But he was just one of hundreds of Ohio physicians who sexually abused or harassed patients over 42 years. Read the full story in The Columbus Dispatch.
Preying On Patients: Columbus man took his own life after accusing doctor of abuse
Lamont Turner claimed to have been abused by his family physician for years. The sexual abuse weighed on him so much that he was never able to move on. Read the full story in The Columbus Dispatch.
Ohio had more deaths than births in 2020, a first in history fueled by COVID
More Ohioans died than were born in 2020, a first in the state's recorded history that experts say was expedited by COVID-19. About 143,661 Ohioans died last year while 129,313 were born, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health. Read the full story in The Columbus Dispatch.
Overdose deaths surge among Black Ohioans
At 67, Randy Brown never thought he'd become a full-time dad again — but not just because of his age. Brown struggled for decades with addiction before getting clean in 2015. Read the full story in The Columbus Dispatch.
Life in a COVID ward: Frontline workers struggle to save lives
An alarm blares from a monitor behind a nurse's desk inside the COVID-19 wing at Mount Carmel Grove City hospital. Read the full story in The Columbus Dispatch.
Dr. Amy Acton calls COVID-19 a humanitarian crisis
To Dr. Amy Acton, the surging coronavirus pandemic is the public health equivalent of the Titanic, and not all Ohioans will be able to get on a lifeboat in the end. Read the full story in The Columbus Dispatch.
Deaths surge among Ohioans with Alzheimer's and dementia amid COVID pandemic
Cheryl Achterberg didn't see her husband for nearly four months to protect him from the coronavirus. When the couple was finally reunited in June, he didn't recognize her in her mask. Read the full story in The Columbus Dispatch.
History of medical mistrust, deceit leads some Black people to question COVID vaccine
For Dr. Rishan Desta, getting the COVID-19 vaccine was about more than just protecting herself as she battles the virus on the front lines of the pandemic. It's about setting an example for people who look like her. Read the full story in The Columbus Dispatch.
As Ohio health director, Dr. Amy Acton went from unknown to icon
In the 16 months that Dr. Amy Acton served as Ohio’s top health leader, she grew from relative obscurity into one of the state’s most recognized, applauded and criticized public figures. Read the full story in The Columbus Dispatch.
Black leaders: history provides ‘road map’ for today’s protesters to create change
When the Rev. Joel King first marched through the streets of Spartanburg, South Carolina, in 1968, he never thought he’d still be protesting for equality nearly 52 years later in central Ohio. Read the full story in The Columbus Dispatch.
Drones nearly hit planes 117 times in Ohio in 5 years
As a C-17 military plane flew above Wright-Patterson Air Force Base earlier this year, its pilot spotted something that wasn’t supposed to be so nearby in the sky — a drone. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Demand for burials puts strain on national cemeteries
The last of World War II’s Doolittle Raiders —Dayton native Lt. Col. Richard Cole — died April 9, but more than four months later he still hasn’t been laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Frustration builds at Wright State’s Lake Campus after dean forced out
A group of community leaders are trying to shield Wright State University’s sole branch campus from trouble facing the main campus. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Wright-Patt helped Armstrong, Apollo 11 crew reach the moon 50 years ago
Ohioan Neil Armstrong may not have become the first man to step foot on the moon 50 years ago this week if it were not for the work of scientists at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Once erased from the map, 150-year-old Dayton VA tunnel could be reopened
When Mark Kucharski disobeyed orders as an engineer for the local veterans hospital and cemetery, he expected to get chewed out by his bosses, but he didn’t know if the historic tunnel he put his job on the line for would ever be unearthed. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Gov. DeWine: ‘Changes certainly have to be made at Wright State’
Gov. Mike DeWine today made his first two appointments to the Wright State University board of trustees less than 24 hours after an investigation revealed the school violated state law through its nonprofit real estate corporation. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Local vet one of thousands pushed into debt by VA mistake
Veteran Rodger Zink felt betrayed by his own government when he found out in early 2017 that he owed the Department of Veterans Affairs around $15,000 even after he told the agency months earlier that he thought he was receiving benefits he shouldn’t be. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Air Force chief of staff praises response to tornado at Wright-Patt
As the Air Force chief of staff toured tornado damage in a housing neighborhood for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base personnel, he noticed one thing: an overwhelming sense of community. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Stories of Survival: Brookville couple feels ‘lucky’ after tornadoes
Mike and Loni Roberts feel like they’re two of Brookville’s luckiest residents after a tornado demolished a swath of the city Monday. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Wright-Patt active shooter scare remains unclear a month later
At least nine U.S. military installations have reported active shooter false alarms in the past three years, but none like the chaos that unfolded at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on Aug. 2. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Area college students remain mostly white, wealthy
Local college students remain mostly white and financially well-off despite a push by universities to attract a more diverse student body. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Ohio college took on #MeToo decades before a movement went mainstream
When Antioch College senior Michelle Fujii watched a 25-year-old Saturday Night Live clip of her school being mocked for trying to prevent sexual assault and harassment, she was bewildered but not surprised at the same time. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
WSU budgets portrayed finances as 'strong' while school lost millions
Wright State spent more money than it brought in for six years but few alarm bells went off. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
College certificates lack oversight and only some require outside approval
Professional certificates expedite job training and are a booming business for community colleges. But, the explosive growth of these short-term programs has led to concerns over a lack of oversight. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
WSU was warned a year ago that more cuts were needed
Wright State University’s interim president saw the school’s recently-announced $10-million problem coming last June. Last summer Curtis McCray, in the midst of serving a brief three-month stint as interim leader of the school, said that Wright State’s financial problems were “a little deeper.” Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
UD law school students pay top dollar but pass bar exam at lowest rate in Ohio
Fifty-eight percent of UD graduates who took the bar exam in July passed, according to the Ohio Supreme Court. Ohio State University had the highest rate at 87 percent passing. Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.
Consultant: 'Epic gross buffoonery' caused WSU to lose first 2016 presidential debate
A former Wright State University consultant claims in a $1 million lawsuit that the Commission on Presidential Debates pulled the first 2016 debate from the university because of the school’s “incompetence.” Read the full story in the Dayton Daily News.