Before joining the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Simmerdeep Kaur was the lead reporter at the Redwood City Pulse, where she covered city government and launched the newsroom’s first-ever podcast. The series featured in-depth interviews with Redwood City Council candidates ahead of the 2024 elections. Kaur’s odyssey into journalism began as an undergraduate, working as a part of her university’s editorial team and interning at several newsrooms in India. As a Master’s student at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, she was determined to reinvent herself and go beyond writing. She acquired data skills by learning Python and tools for visualizations to serve as a strong supplement to her stories. Kaur is a firm believer that in an era of growing threats to press freedom, robust journalism is more essential than ever. Over the past three years, she has reported on a wide range of topics, including police brutality, threats to press freedom, AI warfare, and the dangers of lithium-ion batteries.
Beat: Effects of federal policy on health and childcare access in southeast Washington.
Many families in Walla Walla County are forced to look elsewhere for specialty health care. Patients are flown to Spokane, Seattle or Portland for critical care, and local clinics are reducing or consolidating services. At the same time, young families face another serious challenge — finding childcare. The health and childcare access reporter investigates the impacts of federal policies on these issues, which are critical to the health and economic security of the community.