I’m an award-winning journalist who blends sensitive reporting with tenacious investigative work to produce groundbreaking stories on the challenges facing America.
My career has taken me from labor strikes in the West Virginia coalfields to an explosive Caribbean murder trial to the sexual assault trials of Catholic priests and actor Bill Cosby. And I was a 2018 Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard.
In my two decades at The Associated Press, I focused on legal issues while also covering breaking news across the country. I’ve explored some of the most contentious issues we face in 21st century America: policing and gun violence, politics and elections, reproductive rights and #MeToo, and new battles emerging in the worlds of sports and technology.
I enjoy sharing my work in other forums, and have appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show, PBS Newshour, NPR, the BBC, national podcasts (including WNYC’s The Takeaway) and in AP videos.
Linked below are a few of the most consequential stories I’ve done, and a little background on how my reporting evolved. I have covered two of them – Cosby and the NFL concussion case – for more than a decade. I hope they spark your interest too.
Feel free to drop me a line at maryclairedale1@gmail.com. I am based in the Philadelphia area, but frequently find myself on the West Coast, by the Chesapeake Bay and anywhere I might find a good story.
Bill Cosby
My work uncovering Cosby’s sealed testimony in a decade-old sexual abuse lawsuit led to his 2015 arrest and two criminal trials. I pursued the documents in late 2014 as more accusers came forward and I recalled that Cosby, for all his public denials, had only given sworn deposition testimony on the issue once — in a 2005 civil case in Philadelphia.
After a six-month court fight, a federal judge sided with the AP, concluding the testimony was in the public interest and revealed “perhaps criminal” behavior.
The resulting story ran on 2,000 news sites and led prosecutors to reopen the case. They arrested Cosby by year’s end - just days before the 12-year statute expired. After the first jury deadlocked, he was retried and convicted of felony sex assault. He spent three years in prison before the conviction was overturned.
Stories:
“Cosby admits he got drugs to give women for sex” (July 6, 2015)
“Bill Cosby charged with 2004 drugging, sex assault of woman” (Dec. 30, 2015)
“Excerpts from Bill Cosby’s explosive deposition” (June 4, 2017)
“Cosby in cuffs: TV star gets 3 to 10 years for sex assault” (Sept. 25, 2018)
“Bill Cosby freed from prison, his conviction overturned” (June 30, 2021)
NFL CONCUSSIONS
After years following the $1B settlement of NFL concussion claims, I co-authored an investigation of race bias in the program’s dementia testing in 2021 that led to reforms of the U.S. court settlement and more than $100M in new awards and benefits for Black players.
The testing used a hidden scoring algorithm that assumed Black men start with lower cognitive skills. The practice, called “race-norming,” had been used in medicine as a rough proxy for socioeconomic factors that can affect someone’s health.
But neurology experts told the AP its use here was too simplistic – and made it much harder for Black men to win awards. The majority of the league’s 20,000 retirees are Black.
Stories:
“NFL agrees to pay $765M to settle concussion suits” (Aug. 29, 2013)
“Retired Black players say NFL brain-injury payouts show bias” (May 14, 2021)
“NFL, players agree to end race-norming in $1B settlement” (Oct. 21, 2021)
COLLEGE SEX ASSAULTS
I’ve also spent time researching campus rape cases to learn why local prosecutors so often hesitate to pursue criminal charges — even when the evidence appears strong.
The resulting 2021 piece, “So I Raped You,” (taken from a Facebook message) became the top-read story on The Associated Press website for days, while the 6-minute video story aired on TV networks around the world, from Seoul to Tehran, and streamed on social media.
Prosecutors in Pennsylvania — after nearly eight years — soon filed charges, and the Facebook suspect was eventually found in France, extradited and convicted in 2025.
Stories:
“‘So I Raped You’: Facebook message renews fight for justice” (May 17, 2021)
AP Video: “Two women, one night and a long fight for justice” (May 17, 2021)
“Facebook message leads to warrant in years-old rape claim” (June 29, 2021)
“American sought after ‘So I Raped You’ Facebook message detained in France” (May 14, 2024)
“Man who sent Facebook message about committing a 2013 campus sexual assault pleads guilty” (July 17, 2025)
OTHER WORK:
Enterprise: Tech & Reproductive Rights
“With Roe in doubt, some fear tech surveillance of pregnancy” (May 18, 2022)
Enterprise: Wrongful Convictions
“A man who spent 43 years in prison before his conviction was overturned now faces deportation” (Oct. 29, 2025)
Breaking News: Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting
“‘I’m Barely Breathing’: Synagogue survivor recounts terror” (Oct. 29, 2018)
Spot News: Boy in the Box
“Philly’s newly ID’d ‘Boy in the Box’ gets grave marker at 70” (Jan. 13, 2023)
Postscript: Church Abuse
“20-year church abuse probe ends with monsignor’s quiet plea” (Dec. 21, 2022)
MORE of my work for the AP can be found here.
Photo Credits: Matt Rourke