NPR Data Nerd Joins ProPublica To Expose Animal Kill Counts & Fire Sparks
Nick McMillan, NPR’s data whisperer who turned 7,000 dusty government work files into a wild animal hit list, just got recruited by ProPublica. This guy coded a custom OCR like a hacker in an indie thriller and used 2,000 hours of firefighter radio chatter to chronicle Southern California Edison’s epic power line fiasco that ignited fresh infernos while firefighters were busy fire-fighting. Before that, Nick even sniffed out white supremacists hiding in military shadows and helped spotlight Puerto Rico’s education meltdown post-Hurricane Maria. National Press and Edward R. Murrow Awards? Yeah, he’s got those. ProPublica’s lucky to have a dude who loves data as much as holding power accountable.
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Only Nick McMillan could turn 7,000 grim government files and 2,000 hours of rescue radios into a blockbuster exposé, then get hired to serve truth at ProPublica like a data-fueled vigilante with a love for wild animal murder mysteries and power line arson sagas.
Forget superheroes; McMillan’s superpower is defeating boring government data with laser precision, revealing how USDA programs massacre wildlife with less accountability than your average college roommate.
Nick McMillan: the human OCR machine who reads 7,000 government files for breakfast, transcribes firefighting radio chatter by lunch, and still finds time to expose White supremacists and hurricane school disasters—talk about data multitasking.
Source: Propublica | Published: 9/24/2025 | Author: by ProPublica
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