NEW

Cat Carroll

Prior to joining the Times Union, Carroll reported internationally on migration with the support of the Wolff Fellowship. She was a 2025 Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium Reporting Fellow, and her work has appeared in The Guardian, Progressive Magazine, and the Cap Times. Carroll got her start in journalism at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she served as managing editor and later chair of the board of directors of the independent student newspaper The Badger Herald. She grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and speaks German, Spanish, and Arabic, and is currently learning Turkish.

Chart Riggall

Prior to joining the Ouray County Plaindealer, Chart covered courts and legal affairs for Law360 in his hometown of Atlanta, GA. He began his reporting career at the nearby Marietta Daily Journal, covering local and state politics and economic development. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia. Before journalism, he led other lives as a government oversight investigator, brewery hand, and public lands worker in southwest Colorado.

Ryan Oehrli

Ryan Oehrli is a statewide accountability reporter at NC Local. Before joining Report for America, Oehrli reported on criminal justice at The Charlotte Observer, public safety at the Asheville Citizen Times, and other beats at several Mississippi outlets. Oehrli covered Border Patrol and ICE operations, the killing of Iryna Zarutska and North Carolina’s pardon system, among other issues. In 2025, with colleagues at the Observer and the News & Observer in Raleigh, he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for breaking news reporting on Hurricane Helene.

Claire Carlson

Before joining MinnPost as the reporter covering drinking water in Minnesota, Claire Carlson was a reporter for the Daily Yonder, where she spent four years reporting on the nexus of climate change, food systems, and rural communities. She also worked as a freelance journalist for Civil Eats, Offrange, FoodPrint, Minnesota Reformer, Sierra Nevada Ally, and other regional and national publications. She credits her career to the single journalism class she took in graduate school that showed her how to write a lede, nut graph, and how to pitch editors (and not get her feelings hurt when rejected). She holds a master’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Montana and a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from the University of Nevada-Reno.

Kent Friel

Prior to joining Salem Reporter to cover education and children's social services, Friel covered Idaho's Wood River Valley as an intern for the Idaho Mountain Express, a twice-weekly, locally-owned print newspaper that serves as the paper of record in Blaine County, Idaho. Across two internships for the Express, he covered everything from elections and the environment to housing and transportation. His reporting was recently recognized in the Idaho Press Club’s Best of 2025 Annual Awards. He holds a degree in history from Dartmouth College, where he was executive editor of the college’s independent student newspaper, The Dartmouth. He also handled layout for The Dartmouth’s print edition, spearheaded a project to introduce a twice-monthly print magazine and wrote a regular cooking column! His writing has also been featured in the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine and The New York Times Book Review. He speaks Spanish and French, and when not chasing down a story, you can find him immersed in a book!

Laura Turbay

Before joining The Associated Press, Turbay reported on immigration and the federal mass deportation campaign for the Chicago Tribune. She is a bilingual journalist with roots in Colombia and Texas where she grew up. Her journalism career began as a local reporter in the South Bronx for the student news outlet the Mott Haven Herald. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in New York where she specialized in business journalism. She has reported for Crain’s Chicago Business and PublicSource in Pittsburgh.

Destini Ambus

Prior to joining The Austin Free Press, Ambus worked as the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for the Savannah Morning News. She attended Auburn University, where she earned her B.A. in journalism and was the editor-in-chief of The Auburn Plainsman. She was also a member of the inaugural class of the New York Times Corps.

Liana Handler

Liana Handler is the women’s sports business and culture reporter for The Oregonian. A bilingual sports journalist, she interned for the Los Angeles Times, the Orlando Sentinel and The Banner. A graduate of the University of Florida, Handler pursued sports stories in north-central Florida, with bylines in the Independent Florida Alligator, the Tampa Bay Times, the Orlando Sentinel and WUFT News. Handler was also a member of the Sports Journalism Institute’s 2025 class and part of the 2026 Association for Women in Sports Media Scholars class. She was one of the recipients of the Associated Press Sports Editors’ 2025 scholarship and placed fourth in its student contest. She placed first in the student sports section of the Florida Society of News Editors Journalism Awards and earned the University of Florida’s undergraduate student Walter “Red” Barber Award. When she’s not writing, she enjoys playing dominoes and spending time at the beach.

Eddy Binford-Ross

Eddy Binford-Ross covers education for Salem Reporter. She graduated in 2026 from Georgetown University, where she served as editor-in-chief of The Georgetown Voice, the student-run newsmagazine. She previously worked as an education reporting intern at The Oregonian and the Statesman Journal, writing about racial disparities in honors classes, legislative impacts on Pre-K and higher education, tribal-run preschools, efforts to increase literacy and more. Binford-Ross’s journalism career began as a student at South Salem High School, where she received regional and national accolades for her coverage of Oregon’s racial justice protests, as well as her reporting on the political financing of the local school board. When she’s not writing about schools, you can usually find her hiking or reading a good book. She speaks French conversationally.

Luis A. Meléndez

Luis A. Meléndez Pérez is a sports reporter at Metro Puerto Rico. Before joining Report for America, Meléndez Pérez was a promotions producer for Wapa Deportes, the only sports channel in Puerto Rico. Meléndez Pérez worked on campaigns for sporting events, such as the World Baseball Classic, FIBA Americas Qualifiers, and professional sports leagues on the island. While studying at Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto Arecibo, Meléndez Pérez appeared on a sports radio show. He also created a sports podcast, Sazón Deportivo, where he covers a wide range of athletics.