NEW

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.

Elizabeth L. Cline

Before joining the Arkansas Times, Elizabeth L. Cline covered sustainability, labor, and global supply chains as an independent journalist for publications including The Atlantic, Vogue Business, Slate, and Forbes. Her freelance reporting for the Arkansas Times has explored subjects ranging from the Vietnamese food scene in Fort Smith and snake mating habits to Sen. Tom Cotton’s role in undermining diplomacy and paving the way for military confrontation with Iran. Cline is best known for her 2012 book Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, an early investigation into the environmental and labor impacts of the global apparel industry that helped spark broader public conversations around fast fashion and ethical consumption. She holds a master’s degree in Global Studies and International Relations from Northeastern University. After spending two decades in New York City, Cline now lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she enjoys kayaking, birding, and hiking.

Erika Konig

Erika Konig is an immigration and human rights reporter at the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis. Before joining Report for America, Konig worked as a reporting intern at the Institute while earning her bachelor's degree on campus. Her coverage of public transportation cutbacks affecting the poor and disabled, food insecurity in Memphis, and abuses of President Trump's immigration crackdown has been republished in news sites across Tennessee. Konig also interned at WMC-TV, writing news scripts and editing videos for the evening news broadcast. A first-generation college graduate who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico as a child and became a naturalized U.S. citizen last year, Konig is enrolled in the University of Memphis' open-source investigative reporting program.

Biba Adams

Prior to joining the Michigan Chronicle, Biba Adams began her journalism career in the early 2000s and has been a contributor to VIBE, Ebony Magazine, AllHipHop, Revolt, The Root, The Atlantan, and theGrio. Biba has written stories celebrating culture and community with one of her specialties being retrospective pieces about the golden age of hip-hop. Biba returned to her hometown Detroit in 2017. She has contributed content to the Metro Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau, Detroit Metro Times and served as the editor-at-large of Model D Media — a Detroit-focused, solutions-oriented digital media site. Biba serves on several community boards and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the National Association of Black Journalists. She also serves as a brand consultant to lifestyle brands and entertainment companies. A classic Gemini, Biba is known for the quick wit, insightfulness, and playful energy that she brings to every project she puts her hands on.

Molly Farrar

Molly Farrar covers accountability and policy in the consolidated city-county government of Jacksonville for The Florida Trib. Before joining Report for America, Farrar worked as a digital journalist for WHDH Channel 7 and as a freelance reporter in the Greater Boston area covering local politics. Her news and transportation reporting won regional awards, and Farrar was selected as a First Amendment Institute Fellow with the New England First Amendment Coalition. Her investigative work on criminal justice and prisons was published in GBH News and The Intercept. Her stories have also appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Boston Globe. Farrar graduated from Boston University with a degree in journalism and cello performance, where she also served as editor-in-chief of the Daily Free Press, the independent student newspaper.