Carolyn Adolph is Economy Reporter for KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, covering a region thick with planes, ships, tech and mega-projects. This follows careers at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Montreal Gazette and the Toronto Star. She is a graduate of Carleton University in Ottawa. She immigrated to the United States in 2005. Carolyn studied Economics at the University of California, Davis, and the Cultural Impact of Technological Change at the University of Washington.
Rachel Cohen
Rachel Cohen is a journalist at The American Prospect, with a focus on social policy, housing and labor. Rachel’s work has appeared in outlets such as The Washington Monthly, Dissent, Next City, Baltimore City Paper, and Solitary Watch.
Sharon Coolidge
Sharon Coolidge has covered government and the courts in several roles for The Cincinnati Enquirer since 2002. A native of Youngstown, Ohio, she has been a reporter since 1995 after graduating with a degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. At her first job in Lorain, Ohio, she spearheaded a seven-day series about gun violence that spawned a gun buyback program that took more than 1,000 guns off the street and helped change Ohio’s gun laws. After a short stint at her hometown newspaper, The Youngstown Vindicator, she moved to Fort Myers, Florida, where she worked at The News-Press as a police reporter. At the Enquirer, the Associated Press Society of Ohio named Sherry best news writer in 2006 and Sherry was a finalist for the 2007 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists. Her 2007 story, Lead’s Dangerous Legacy, was an IRE FOI Award finalist, won Gannett’s Freedom of Information Award and was honored with the Anna Quindlen Award for Excellence. In May she took over the city hall beat where she covers Ohio’s third largest city, one that struggles with its pension system, has seen budget deficits as much as $54 million in recent years and has a new administration.
Jessica Gould
Jessica Gould covers politics and public finance for WNYC. Jessica joined WNYC during election season 2013, pitching in with coverage of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s re-election, Cory Booker’s U.S. Senate race, and the New York City mayor’s race. Prior to WNYC, Jessica was a reporter for WAMU 88.5 in Washington, D.C., where she covered local news and produced features for the station and its weekly news magazine Metro Connection. Jessica is a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Jake Griffin
Jake Griffin is the Assistant Managing Editor for Watchdog Reporting at the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago. He writes a weekly, award-winning column on tax spending and government accountability. He has been with the Daily Herald since 2000 starting as a city government reporter. Before
Chad Halcom
Chad Halcom covers litigation, defense contracting and city of Detroit municipal bankruptcy issues at Crain’s Detroit Business. He is also a special assignment reporter for data-driven projects and enterprise stories at the business publication. During his tenure he has won six awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and both a Silver and Gold Award from the Alliance of Area Business Publications, for general news and enterprise stories. He is a big believer in using data tables and statistical analysis for insight into complex human behavior, in everything from sales and market share reports to surveys, government records and corporate financial statements. He was previously a crime and courts reporter for The Macomb Daily in Mt. Clemens, Mich., where his coverage led to several appearances on national television, and an intern at the Associated Press in Detroit. @ChadHalcom
Josh Jarman
Josh Jarman is a local government reporter for Ohio’s The Columbus Dispatch, and he lives and breathes budgets. He routinely covers government spending, construction costs, bond sales and union contracts in a community of 1.3 million people. He believes it is his job to translate these sometimes dense subjects into stories that will engage readers who rely on the newspaper to explain how their tax dollars are spent. He has previously worked in Jackson, Michigan and his hometown of Petoskey. @josh_jarman
Fred Knapp
Fred Knapp is a reporter/producer for NET News (Nebraska Public Radio and Television) covering state government, politics, and news in general. He is a native of New Jersey (Exit 143A), a graduate of Yale and Columbia Journalism, and someone with lots to be humble about.
Chad Livengood
Chad Livengood is a Capitol Reporter at The Detroit News. He covers state government, politics and the Detroit bankruptcy. He was previously a political reporter at the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal and Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader. @ChadLivengood
Ryan Loyd
Ryan Loyd is the City Hall reporter at Texas Public Radio, where he covers all facets of city government from budgets to policies and how they impact people’s lives. Ryan spent nine and a half years in television news across Texas and Missouri. In late 2011, after covering the Texas legislature, he made the switch to public radio. Since the he has been a regular contributor to NPR newscasts and news magazines. He has received the Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award and other awards, including Green News and Reporting on Open Government from the Society of Professional Journalists-Ft. Worth Chapter. He was also a Houston Press Club Reporter of the Year finalist. @ryanloyd
Timothy W. Martin
Timothy W. Martin is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal’s Money & Investing section in New York, where he handles coverage of U.S. pension funds and the credit-rating industry. Previously, he had covered U.S. health care in the Journal’s Atlanta bureau and food retail from the Journal’s Chicago bureau. Mr. Martin spent two years teaching English at a private school in the now-infamous Gangnam neighborhood of Seoul. Email Timothy at timothy.martin@wsj.com and follow him on Twitter: @timothywmartin
Susan McCord
Susan McCord is a beat reporter covering local government for the Augusta Chronicle in her hometown of Augusta, Ga., after nearly a decade of writing and editing across the wilds of rural southwest Georgia. She has worked as a writer, editor and photographer for several newspapers. @reportr1
Robert McClendon
Robert McClendon is a reporter at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune covering local government. After majoring in French and living abroad, he decided he needed more career stability so went into journalism. A Newhouse Minority Fellow in 2005, McClendon worked part time at The Post-Standard in Syracuse while completing his master’s degree. From there, he accepted a job at the Mobile Press-Register, where he started on the regional desk before working his way up to covering Mobile City Hall. McClendon has been with The Times-Picayune since January. His proudest achievements include solving a cold-case homicide and profiling a collector of fossilized dinosaur excrement. @RobertMcClendon
Tracey McManus
Tracey McManus is the enterprise reporter at The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, covering everything animal welfare to school reform. She worked the education beat for three years, reporting extensively on turnaround efforts, the impact of federal grants on the Richmond County School System and the financial mismanagement at a local, private college. Her investigation into administrators’ misuse of federal student financial aid prompted the college’s accrediting body to investigate and place the school on several sanctions. Her education reporting has earned various awards from the Georgia Press Association and the Georgia Associated Press. She is a 2010 graduate of the University of Florida College of Journalism and strongly believes journalism is not dead. @AUG_MCMANUS
Jan Murphy
Jan Murphy is the Capitol Bureau Chief for PennLive/The Patriot-News. She is an experienced journalist who has been covering state, county and local governments for a little more than three decades. She has won numerous awards in various categories including newsfeature, investigative, news beat and even sports feature. Her emphasis for the past 14 years has been state government, covering state budgets to pension reform, along with a myriad of other subjects that often delve into financial areas. She is looking forward to this workshop to learn how she can improve her writing when it comes to dollars and cents to make it more meaningful to readers. @janmurphy
Katie Orr
Katie Orr has been with Capital Public Radio in Sacramento since 2013. She covers everything from the Governor and Legislature to state agencies. She received her Masters in Political Science from San Diego State University. She previously worked at KPBS in San Diego, where she covered city hall. Katie has also worked at stations in Cincinnati, OH, Evansville, IN and Durango, CO. She graduated with a broadcasting degree from Arizona State University in 2003.
Emily Previti
Emily Previti is a reporter for Keystone Crossroads, a statewide public media collaboration among WHYY in Philadelphia, WITF in Harrisburg, WESA in Pittsburgh and WPSU in State College. The project focuses on issues facing Pennsylvania’s cities including poverty, aging infrastructure, financial distress and public worker pensions. Emily previously covered municipal dysfunction and state interventions as a city hall reporter in Harrisburg for the Patriot-News/PennLive, and in Atlantic City for The Press of Atlantic City. She twice won the New Jersey Press Association’s Art Weissman award for public service journalism. Before going to work for The Press, Emily covered suburban Chicago for Northwest Newsgroup. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Her “off” hours are spent running, swimming, reading, and seeking laughter and good music.
Ned Resnikoff
Ned Resnikoff is a reporter at msnbc.com, where he covers labor, inequality, and climate change. His reporting on food stamp cuts and food insecurity earned msnbc a 2014 Can Do Award from the Food Bank For New York City. His work has been cited on shows such as All In with Chris Hayes, The Rachel Maddow Show, and The Ed Show. Additionally, he has contributed articles to The Baffler, Jacobin Magazine, Salon.com, and elsewhere. @resnikoff
Shira Schoenberg
I am currently the Boston-based Statehouse reporter for The Springfield Republican/MassLive.com. I cover state government, elections and occasionally the courts. I covered the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary as a correspondent for the Boston Globe. Previously, I spent five years working for the Concord (N.H.) Monitor, where I started out covering local towns, then moved to Concord City Hall and the New Hampshire Statehouse. I covered then-candidate Barack Obama during the 2008 New Hampshire primary. I have a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. I live in Cambridge, Mass. with my husband. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and indoor rock climbing.
Sandra Svoboda
Sandra Svoboda is the special assignments manager at WDET, Wayne State’s public radio station in Detroit. Since January 2014, she has covered the city’s bankruptcy on air and on the blog, www.nextchapterdetroit.com . She has a bachelors’ degrees in journalism and history from Indiana University and a master’s of public administration from Wayne State University (WSU) where she is now pursuing a master of library and information science. Her work on Detroit’s bankruptcy has been recognized with awards from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters, the State Bar of Michigan, the Society of Professional Journalists and WSU’s Public Administration program. She has previously worked for the Metro Times, The (Toledo) Blade and the Associated Press, and she teaches at WSU and the University of Michigan.
Claudia Vargas
Claudia Vargas is a reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer covering City Hall, with a focus on the administration. Prior to City Hall, she covered Camden, NJ, where she developed an interest in municipal government and delved into some municipal finance stories. Before coming to the Inquirer, Claudia worked at the Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, NY covering public safety. She never took economics but she can’t stay away from number stories. @inqcvargas
Kate Wells
Kate Wells is a reporter at Michigan Radio – a statewide NPR member station with over half a million weekly listeners. While she started out covering a lot of arts and education, now she spends most of my time covering Detroit’s money problems. As the city emerges from bankruptcy, the stories change from day to day – retired firefighters battle cancer without healthcare, water shutoffs are resuming, rape kits are backlogged, and the school system is once again going through an overhaul – but they all go back to fact that the city’s finances dictate daily life.
Jimmy Vielkind
Jimmy Vielkind was the founding member and bureau chief of Capital New York’s state Capitol bureau. He has been reporting on state government and politics since 2008, first as a correspondent for the New York Observer and later for the Albany Times Union. Vielkind also covered breaking news and Brooklyn for the New York Daily News while a college student, and spent his first year after graduation as the nighttime police reporter for the Times Union. He is a regular contributor to Capital’s monthly magazine and a frequent guest on radio and television programs, including public broadcasting’s New York Now, WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, WCBS 880-AM and Time Warner Cable News’ Capital Tonight. He has bachelor’s degree in urban studies from Columbia University (2007) and a master’s in urban and regional planning from SUNY Albany (2012).
Chris Wetterich
Chris Wetterich is a reporter for the Cincinnati Business Courier. His work has been recognized by the Cleveland Press Club, GateHouse Media, the Illinois Press Association and the Association of Capital Reporters and Editors. He has covered two cities and three states in his 13-year career, starting as an intern for the Associated Press’ Pierre, S.D. bureau before covering state government issues in West Virginia and Illinois and city governments in Springfield, Ill. and Cincinnati. He was an editorial page editor for the The State Journal-Register in Springfield before moving back to his hometown of Cincinnati. @chriscincibiz
David McKay Wilson
David McKay Wilson is the Tax Watch columnist at The Journal News, where he writes on tax policy in New York City’s northern suburbs. Since the start of his journalism career, he has covered City Hall for several publications, as well as government, the State House, transportation, politics and education. From 2007 to 2012, he developed a national freelance business with alumni magazines across the nation, with his working appearing in publications at 120 colleges and universities, including Harvard, Columbia, University of Chicago and CUNY. He returned to the Journal News in 2012. @davidmckay415
Joe Wertz
Joe Wertz is a government economic, energy and environmental policy reporter for StateImpact Oklahoma, a data-driven multi-platform journalism project of NPR member stations in Oklahoma. He reports regularly for NPR, has worked as a newspaper editor and reporter in Oklahoma, and is a board member and executive officer at Freedom of Information Oklahoma, a nonprofit group that works to promote public access to government records and meetings. His broadcast and digital journalism has earned scores of awards, including a 2015 regional Edward R. Murrow, and the Society of Professional Journalists’ national Sigma Delta Chi award in 2013.
Mary Wilson
Mary Wilson covers Pennsylvania’s state Capitol for public radio stations across the state. She has reported on state politics, budgets, and legislative undertakings large and small. She followed the brief but wondrous life of Pennsylvania’s voter ID law. She has written about public pension debt and design. She has overdosed on crosstabs. She previously worked for a Maryland state senator, and at public radio station WFUV in the Bronx, where she interviewed academics and witnessed a small chunk of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s life behind podiums. @marywilson
Allen Young
Allen Young is the government and economics reporter for the Sacramento Business Journal. He has also written for Comstock’s, a Sacramento region business magazine, and Cabinet Report, an online education policy news service. He is a graduate of the University of California Santa Cruz with a bachelor’s in English. Young does not favor the Oxford comma.
Julie Zimmerman
Julie Zimmerman is an editorial writer with The Cincinnati Enquirer, where she focuses on urban renewal, public transportation, regionalism, demographics and the environment. She returned last year to the Enquirer, where she had worked in the late 1990s, after a decade out of daily journalism. During that time she worked for an Internet start-up and a Catholic publishing house, managed family rental property and spent a lot of time at the pool with her two children. She is happy to be back in a newsroom and especially happy to be writing editorials. @JayZeeCincy
