Luke Ranker

Journalist

Fort Worth, Texas

I have a passion for telling stories and drive to learn. Over nearly 10 years I've covered a lot of ground: broke news, delved into projects and worked the daily beat, all with an eye for watchdog and multimedia journalism. I value honesty, hard work, collaboration and creative thinking.

Luke Ranker

Journalist

Fort Worth, Texas

Mineral Wells hopes for transformation as historic Baker Hotel comes to life
The vision for Mineral Wells has as much to do with its past as it does with the hope for its future. Looming large over the former resort town —physically and metaphorically — is the Baker Hotel, the 14-story behemoth of 1920s architecture that for generations has sat crumbling at the corner of N.E.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
300 spots in Fort Worth are at risk of dangerous flooding. Most won’t be fixed.
To fix those high water zones, and all other flash flooding problems, Fort Worth would need to spend about $1 billion, according to city estimates. But so far the city plans to spend $70 million, split between those high water zones, new pipes and other needs. With that money, the city can address about 40 dangerous high water spots, or about 13% of the danger zones.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth Star Telegram
‘We’re going to drown’: Flash flooding displaces Fort Worth families, damages homes
Sara Lucio fought her way through charging, waist-high water Saturday, terrified she could die in the flash flood that engulfed her southeast Fort Worth home. The water started pooling in the front yard, and at first it looked innocent, Lucio said. But it rose rapidly past her porch to the front door, where it began pouring into the house. Within in a few minutes it was creeping past her ankles and, soon, it was at her waist. With the front door barred by towels, she and her daughter, Laura, were forced to go through the back door.
Fort Worth-Star Telegram
$1.2 billion and no end in sight: Why Panther Island is so costly and complicated
Read more about Fort Worth’s $1.16 billion flood control and economic development project that has stopped receiving federal funds. Panther Island has been pitched as a flood control project that would also bring Fort Worth a vibrant riverfront neighborhood — new commercial and residential space along the banks of the Trinity River along with a more than $3.7 billion boost the local economy.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth Star Telegram Government Watch
Will an urban village plan revitalize this historic black neighborhood in Fort Worth?
The street is alive with music. Swinging tunes from the latest jazz act or big band talent flow from the Zanzibar nightclub. Legendary blues guitarist T-Bone Walker picks at his guitar in a hotel. Diners chat at the Red and White Cafe. It’s Evans and Rosedale in the 1930s and ‘40s — Fort Worth’s entertainment capital. “Everything you could want was right here,” Sarah Walker said as she walked along the now quiet Evans Avenue on a recent morning. “This was the place to be.”
Fort Worth-Star Telegram
It’s a $1B project, but Panther Island’s head honcho has never had a written job review
Read more about Fort Worth’s $1.16 billion flood control and economic development project that has stopped receiving federal funds. Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect comments from U.S. Marc Veasey. The top manager overseeing the $1.16 billion Panther Island project has never received a written performance evaluation.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Government Watch Fort Worth Star Telegram
She needed $500 for food and now owes $1,700. Is it time to regulate payday loans?
Rebecca Anthony needed a little help putting food on the table. She’d already received assistance from a church and friends, but it wasn’t enough to put whole meals together for her mother, two daughters and boyfriend, she said. So last month she went to an ACE Cash Express, a payday loan store, for $490.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth Star Telegram Government Watch
What will it take to make the Fort Worth Cats a home run? Not baseball
Baseball won’t save the Fort Worth Cats or LaGrave Field. Experts in minor league sports branding say a team can stack the roster with former Major League Baseball names or young talent looking to make their mark with home runs, but that likely won’t sell tickets. Instead, a resurrected Cats team should focus on entertainment and definitely not be something they’re not: The Rangers.
Fort Worth-Star Telegram
Featured
Judge's rebuke of DCF adds to same-sex couples' claims of discrimination
A Johnson County District Court judge chastised the Kansas Department for Children and Families for discriminating against a lesbian couple who wanted to adopt, a court ruling shows, an official finding that echoes claims of unequal treatment from other couples. In a scathing 2013 decision, Judge Kathleen Sloan removed a then 2-year-old boy from state custody after finding DCF had gone to extraordinary measures to create a case against a lesbian woman who wanted to adopt the foster child she had cared for since birth.
Topeka Capital-Journal
The Topeka Capital Journal Government Watch Courts
Work of city manager draws residents' ire, praise
Riverside ATV Park is closed but all-terrian vehicles still race the streets. Neighbors wanted to the city to curb the racing, but no one sought their input. In the trees along the Kansas River in Oakland, where N.E. Chester ends, the Riverside ATV Park i
Topeka Capital-Journal
Government Watch The Topeka Capital Journal
Featured
Justice Mitchell’s mother wants justice, says Williams trial won’t accomplish that
Angela Lee, the mother of Justice Mitchell, who was fatally shot in 2017, wants closure, but she isn’t sure when she will find it. After Lamero E. Dunstan, who is charged with shooting Mitchell behind a fast food restaurant during a botched drug deal, goes before a Shawnee County jury in August, Lee may begin moving forward.
Topeka Capital-Journal
Courts The Topeka Capital Journal Crime and Breaking News
Featured
Topeka’s point-in-time homeless count vital for securing federal aid
Down a well-beaten path that cuts through the woods along the Shunganunga Creek, past a spray-painted log, empty beer cans and vodka bottles, the ashes of a fire sit cold. Here, where the only comforts are an old chair and couch cushion, Chris Lynch, homeless outreach director for the Salvation Army, often finds Bob Jones. “I’ve been around a while,” said Jones, a U.S. Army veteran who has been homeless off and on since about 1987. “They call me the King of the Shunga.”
The Topeka Capital-Journal
Featured
Hurricane Katrina 10 years later: New Orleans resident remembers fleeing to Topeka
The city smelled like death. Cars and trees lay on their sides. Buildings that hadn’t been boarded up were broken into. A city that once had more than 450,000 residents now lacked clean water and electricity in many places. And there was that odor, unmistakable and everywhere. “There were no birds, I remember that, and the smell was just awful,” Tammy Boudreaux said from her New Orleans home earlier this week as she thought back to the city in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina swamped the Gulf Coast. “It was almost like a third-world country.”
Topeka Capital-Journal
The Topeka Capital Journal
Featured
Vacant homes hinder neighborhood improvement
The Topeka Capital-Journal
Cellphones present growing problem in Topeka, area courtrooms
When a Shawnee County District Court judge rebuked people for using cellphones during a first-degree murder trial this past week, it was just the latest example of the growing distraction cellphones pose during court proceedings. The use of electronic devices such as cellphones is prohibited in courtrooms unless a judge gives special permission.
Topeka Capital-Journal
Crime and Breaking News The Topeka Capital Journal Courts
Advocates say Jackson County judge’s ‘Fifty Shades’ comment trivializes rape
A Jackson County judge’s comments likening testimony in an ongoing serial rape case to the novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” could have a chilling effect on sexual assault and rape victims’ willingness to report abuse in the future, advocates said. Meanwhile, a Washburn University School of Law professor specializing in ethics called the comment “innocuous” but questioned its appropriateness.
Topeka Capital-Journal
Courts The Topeka Capital Journal Crime and Breaking News

About

Luke Ranker

writing

photography

videography

news writing

feature writing

copy editing

video editing

interviewing

AP Style

breaking news

Social Media

Twitter

Data Journalism

crime reporting

government reporting

Enterprise reporting

I wanted a job building Lego sets, but apparently that's not a "real career goal." So I decided to be a journalist. Now I'm switching careers altogether to pursue a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan.

For the last three years in Fort Worth I worked with a team of reporters at the Star-Telegram striving for accountability in the nation's 13th largest city. It's a town grappling with a booming economy and small town mindset. As the City Hall reporter I looked for watchdog stories that impact the more than 920,000 who live there.

Previously I worked at the Topeka Capital-Journal where I held a number of positions from city hall and court reporter to night editor and social media manager.

When I transitioned to The Topeka Capital-Journal's court reporter I worked to expand our coverage beyond homicides to civil matters and deeper looks at the criminal justice system.

Through my work in Texas, Kansas and Pennsylvania, I have have gained more than eight years of experience as a multimedia journalist.

Specialties and Skills:
Feature and hard news writing, multimedia reporting and editing.
Proficient use of: Final Cut Pro, iMovie, iPhoto, Tout video platform, as well as Nikon and Cannon digital cameras and multiple CMS.
Experience with Adobe Creative Suite programs such as InDesign, Photoshop and Premiere.
Basic knowledge of HTML.
Limited knowledge of Spanish and French.

I'd rather be outside. Or eating tacos and drinking craft beer. Hey, why not all three?