ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

On most days, I am an enterprise reporter. I am an expert at being confused. Often starting from scratch, I approach stories with question marks. Then I try to answer them. This doesn’t always yield a story, but my goal when it does — for me, for you — is to find a pathway of understanding to complex topics or people off the beaten path.

As a news reporter for about 20 years, I’ve found that access is necessary for understanding. I am not the expert. Doors must open. Public records need to be available to study. People need to be willing to speak, share their knowledge and experiences. And I must handle the information with care.

Here’s a question that’s often in the back of my mind:  

If access helps us understand, then why aren’t some public institutions more transparent? Is there a valid legal reason? Is it just bad timing? Or something more?

Here are five questions I tried to answer in 2021:

• Why does Ms. Kim have superpowers?

• Why are more children in foster care in Missouri, and why won’t state officials talk about it?

• What’s up with the radioactive contamination along Coldwater Creek in residential North St. Louis County? Why hasn’t it been cleaned up?

• Why aren’t more people in rural Missouri getting vaccinated?

• Who in the world are George Washington and Dr. Silas Hamilton, and why is possibly the first integrated school in the country being forgotten?

If you have questions that need to be asked in 2022, or answers, send me a note to jbogan@post-dispatch.com or 901 North 10th Street, St. Louis, Mo. 63101. My phone number is 314-340-8255.