Jesse Bedayn reports on Colorado’s Statehouse with a focus on housing for The Associated Press. A second-year corps member, he previously covered California’s wealth inequality for The Mercury News and CalMatters, connecting policy decisions to the voices of those impacted on the ground. An investigation by Bedayn exposed how low-income seniors become stranded in nursing homes and how their pleas for help go unanswered. That investigation was carried over from his work at the Investigative Reporting Program and as a stringer for The New York Times. He holds a master’s degree in narrative writing and investigative reporting from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, and a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Kent in England. Having grown up in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, Bedayn can be found bumming around the wild or woodworking.
Beat: Colorado statehouse
These journalists have a passion for breaking news and state politics and policy to cover state government. Reporting to a field news editor with a dotted line to the state government editor, they seek to consistently break news and show the impact that policy decisions have on the lives of citizens. They’re self-starters who are comfortable with data sets and freedom of information requests, and also with moving swiftly among topics such as technology, elections, voting laws, inequality, health care, cryptocurrency, education and law enforcement. They know how to find a story at the local level but are comfortable writing it for a broad audience in ways that resonate in a state or community, or around the world. They work in multiple media formats, and have a demonstrated track record of inclusive storytelling. They must have the ability and willingness to work any shift, including at night and on weekends, or as coverage demands, as The AP is a 24/7 operation.