At the Tribune, he was associate managing editor and news editor of the Trib’s Washington Bureau during the Reagan-Bush era. He also has been published widely on a national basis with freelance pieces ranging from a look back at both the 150th anniversary of the Civil War turning point of the Battle of Vicksburg and the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights movement’s heroic Freedom Riders, to an enlightening look at Georgia’s burgeoning wine industry, to an in-depth interview with Rolling Stones/Allman Brothers keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who discussed his new avocation as an environmentalist and sustaining tree farmer, while still rocking with Mick, Keith and Co.