The work

Marissa Lang has for more than a decade produced countless stories addressing issues of social and criminal justice, the rapid evolution of technology and its impact on the world in which we live, tales of interesting people, history-making events and more. She has been invited into the homes of millionaires and murderers. She still believes journalism can change the world. This is some of her selected work:

One year after George Floyd’s death sparked a movement, many protesters lives are forever changed

The national outpouring of anger and grief that erupted after George Floyd’s killing on May 25 last year drew countless people to protest for the first time. In the nation’s capital, hundreds filled the streets. Though little has changed on a macro level over the past year, zoom in on the people at the center of the movement and their lives have been forever changed. Shy kids grew into leaders. Disillusioned college students dropped out. Hardcore protesters stopped marching because of traumatic stress and physical injuries. Countless others were arrested for the first time. Some took new names that better reflect their radicalized ideology. Some fell in love. READ MORE

Dozens of People on FBI terrorist watchlist came to D.C. on the day of the Capitol riot

Dozens of people on a terrorist watch list were in Washington for pro-Trump events Jan. 6, a day that ended in a chaotic crime rampage when a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, according to people familiar with evidence gathered in the FBI’s investigation. The majority of the watch-listed individuals in Washington that day are suspected white supremacists whose past conduct so alarmed investigators that their names had been previously entered into the national Terrorist Screening Database, or TSDB, a massive set of names flagged as potential security risks, these people said. READ MORE

D.C. is becoming a protest battleground. In a polarized nation, experts say it may only get worse.

The nation’s capital — with its strict gun laws and history of orderly, peaceful protest — has largely avoided these violent conflicts. Until now. Extremism experts who study the far-right warn that D.C. is on a path to become the next battleground in increasingly violent confrontations with left-leaning counterdemonstrators.

This story, which ran on the front-page of The Washington Post explained the violent rhetoric and threats surrounding planned events on Jan. 6, 2021, and warned that as options for overturning the 2020 presidential election dimmed, experts expected far-right extremists to become more violent, and more dangerous. READ MORE

Trump sent federal agents to quell unrest. But protest is what Portland does best.

In this waterfront city, protests are as natural as the salmon swimming in the Willamette River. The unrelenting demonstrations have yielded real results: City officials have agreed to slash the police budget. An initiative to create an oversight board to review police use of force will be put on the ballot this year. And more than 100 federal agents sent by President Trump to fortify the federal courthouse have retreated, turning over the task to state police. Still, the protests continue. Demonstrators say they’re not finished. Getting the feds out was just one item on a lengthy to-do list. This is what Portland does. READ MORE.

As unrest grows, officials try to separate protesters from vandals. It’s not that simple.

In trying to pin down the source of chaos amid nightly protests during the summer of 2020, public officials blamed agitators who came from outside the city. Others, such as D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), said a small “organized group” had come into the District bent on destruction. But several demonstrators and experts who study protest movements said the truth is more complicated. While a small group of people had come with baseball bats and fireworks, lighter fluid and hammers, dozens more who participated in the destruction that littered the city with broken glass and defaced storefronts joined in only after hours of confrontation, as their outrage and scorn rose from a simmer to a rolling boil. READ MORE

The Government Might ask activists to repay the cost of securing protests. Experts say it could price them out.

As increasingly large and frequent protests have flooded the nation’s capital, federal officials have searched for ways to offset the cost of supporting such demonstrations. The National Park Service floated a proposal that would require organizers to repay the federal government for the cost of policing. That could mean invoices in the tens of thousands of dollars, according to U.S. Park Police budgets obtained by The Washington Post through the Freedom of Information Act — enough to price most activists out of protesting altogether. This is the story that scuttled that proposal. READ MORE

Rwanda is pushing gender diversity in tech. Should Silicon Valley take notes?

Unlike at firms in the U.S. and other developed nations, being inclusive of women is more than a goal at Rwandan companies — it is a requirement. For years, the country has used quotas, mentorship programs, internships and national campaigns as part of the singular mission of getting more women into the tech industry. And it's working. READ MORE

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Ransomware attack puts KQED in low-tech mode

KQED’s experience offers a glimpse into the lasting impact of a ransomware attack, the devastating online assaults that have become more frequent, destructive and wide-reaching in recent months. It also underscores an uncomfortable truth: If KQED, an organization that had up-to-date security systems and an awareness cultivated by routinely producing news stories about cyberattacks, can fall victim to such an attack, most other companies can, too. READ MORE

In Calistoga, firefighters on front line snuff the spread of flame

A small army of firefighters and police was all that stood between the fire’s uncertain path and the storied town of Calistoga. They would hold the line. They would defend the city and those that lay to its south: St. Helena, Oakville, Yountville and, eventually, Napa. READ MORE

Without water, work or homes: Farm laborers displaced by drought

This is a story about what water gives and takes away — how California’s farmworkers are an ecological crisis away from losing their jobs and their homes, with no safety net. READ MORE

Auburn couple pick up the pieces after their home was damaged in accused cop killer's capture 

In the dramatic climax to one of the biggest manhunts in Sacramento history, the yellow house at the end of this quiet dead-end street was bombed, shot up and invaded as police closed in on Luis Enrique Monroy-Bracamontes, the man accused of shooting four people and killing two law-enforcement officers in a crime spree that lasted six hours and spanned almost 30 miles. READ MORE

Lights, camera, police action

In the seconds it took two Sacramento Regional Transit officers to pin two teenagers to the ground, spectators gathered. A local activist pulled out his phone and took pictures. Local activists have called it brutality. Police say the images lack context, and nothing in them appears amiss. What both sides can agree on: These images are the product of a community, and a nation, on high alert. READ MORE

The little gay-marriage case in Utah that roared and made history

Long before strangers began stopping him on the street, open armed and grateful, before he became the face of a history-making movement, Derek Kitchen was being chased down his high school hallway by a mob of students hurling crumpled-up newspapers at his head. READ MORE

Autistic Utah girl devastated by loss of pet chicken, Flutter

She didn't come out when she was called, like she usually did. She wasn't hiding in the bushes or hiding under the seat of the little girl's toy car, where Emma usually found her. Now there are days Emma makes it all the way outside to play before she remembers. READ MORE

20 Years Later, Hurricane Hunters still carry memories of Andrew

Hurricane Andrew was about to hit Homestead, full force. The crew's minds flooded. Images of homes, families, friends, neighbors. Any chance we get a break on this storm? team forecaster Jack Parrish asked a crewmate. "Nope," came the response. READ MORE