Free Willy

"On December 24, 2009, a 6,600-pound orca killed trainer Alexis Martinez at a marine park in the Canary Islands. Two months later, trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by an orca at SeaWorld Orlando. Should Martinez's death have served as a warning about the lethal potential of killer whales being trained for our entertainment? Tim Zimmermann investigates." -I received the first draft of this story on April 8. More than three months later, here's the final version.

Wow, that was a lot of fact checking (and lawyer meetings and e-mails and phone calls and sleepless nights thinking about orcas)!