Report for America corps members are publishing new stories across the U.S. every day. Report Local is a weekly round-up of some of those stories and new developments in our program.
Just how common is the degenerative disease CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, among football players?
RFA corps member Emily Woodruff reports that 110 out of 111 football players’ brains showed signs of the disease, which can lead to confusion, memory problems, depression and dementia, among other things.
As health reporter for The New Orleans Advocate, Emily is a rare breed in the Pelican State where few — if any — newsrooms have a full-time health reporter on staff. Read her two stories (here and here) and catch up with Emily with our Q&A about what led the Florida transplant to cover this under-covered local beat.