Chris Ehrmann reports for SpectrumNews 1, where he focuses on how decisions made by local governments impact the environment. He is currently a Report for America corps member with The Associated Press in Hartford, Connecticut. An Emmy-nominated journalist, documentary filmmaker and photographer, he has worked for The Associated Press in Michigan and Connecticut, covering politics, crime, criminal justice and mental health reform. Additionally, he has reported on city and county government and environmental issues in Oregon and Michigan with other news outlets. Born and raised in the Detroit area, he graduated in 2016 from Wayne State University where he was a member of the Journalism Institute for Media Diversity, which focused on increasing minority hires in newsrooms and on journalism professionalism. While in Oregon, he filmed, edited and produced two documentaries on homelessness and mental health reform, one of which was nominated for a Pacific Northwest Emmy. Recently while at The AP in Connecticut, he wrote about what life was like in New Rochelle, New York, the epicenter early on of Covid-19 in New York state.
Beat: Local government decisions affecting environmental sustainability
Chris explores the question of how to make a mega-city such as Los Angeles sustainable. He is responsible for covering municipal decisions regarding sustainability, attending city council meetings, and following the city’s progress on its Green New Deal goals. The beat includes creating a series dedicated to the intersection of L.A.’s sustainability goals and environmental justice, investigating the impacts of the Green New Deal on some of L.A.’s most vulnerable communities. The beat also involves launching a comprehensive effort to understand how the city is becoming more sustainable and what short and long-term effects this might have on under-served Angelenos.