St. Tammany Parish

Joni Hess

Joni Hess covers the quickly developing communities of St. Tammany Parish for The Times- Picayune and The Advocate, a news organization in New Orleans. Hess is a native of New Orleans, which sits on the south shore of St. Tammany. Previously, she was a U.S. reporting fellow for a global media organization, openDemocracy, where she covered the imprisonment of Cameroon asylum seekers, discrepancies in Black maternal health care, and infringements on women and LGBTQI rights. As a freelancer, Hess received a reporting grant from New America to cover the lack of access to paid leave policies for families. Her feature appeared in The Lily, a publication of The Washington Post. Hess graduated from Xavier University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and went on to earn a master’s in social work.

The Times-Picayune and The Advocate

The Advocate is Louisiana’s largest daily newspaper, serving the cities of Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette, and their surrounding regions. The Advocate is committed to providing comprehensive coverage of local news, City Hall, the state house, politics, business, environment and other areas of general interest for our readers, in print and online. With a news and editorial staff of approximately 105 reporters, editors, designers, photographers and digital journalists, The Advocate is the largest daily newspaper in New Orleans and the only print news outlet committed to covering all aspects of the city.  

Marie Fazio

Marie Fazio reports on St. Tammany Parish for The Times-Picayune and The Advocate, a news organization based in New Orleans. Previously, she was a reporting fellow at The New York Times, covering breaking news and general assignment reporting. Fazio has written crime and feature stories and breaking news for the Chicago Tribune, and her series highlighting disability issues in Illinois earned her an award from the Chicago Headline Club for best investigative/public service reporting. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Fazio worked at the student paper, The Observer, and has also reported at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Florida Times-Union, in her hometown of Jacksonville. She is an avid runner and enjoys the simpler things in life, like sunrises, hot coffee and paper maps.

The Times-Picayune and The Advocate

The Advocate is Louisiana’s largest daily newspaper, serving the cities of Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette, and their surrounding regions. The Advocate is committed to providing comprehensive coverage of local news, City Hall, the state house, politics, business, environment and other areas of general interest for our readers, in print and online. With a news and editorial staff of approximately 105 reporters, editors, designers, photographers and digital journalists, The Advocate is the largest daily newspaper in New Orleans and the only print news outlet committed to covering all aspects of the city.