Maine

Daniel O’Connor

Daniel O’Connor covers rural government at Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor. Dan studied at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism for two years before his move to Maine. Working alongside his master’s program, he covered corporate behavior, trade and tariffs as a business reporter for pet industry publication GlobalPETS, wrote consumer stories for The U.S. Sun, and freelanced political news for New Jersey Monitor. Dan is a 2023 graduate of Seton Hall University, where he served as the editor of The Setonian, building out award-winning datasets to track COVID on campus for the student newspaper. While there, he reported from New Jersey’s state capitol as an intern at Politico. Becoming a corps member has brought him back to his roots; he got his start at his high school paper covering small-town budget meetings.

Reuben M. Schafir

Reuben M. Schafir covers Indigenous communities in Maine for the Portland Press Herald. He previously covered the county government and the environmental beats for the Durango Herald. There, he reported on environmental threats to water in Southwest Colorado, covered the state’s two federally recognized tribes and ensured accountability and transparency on the part of governments and elected officials. He won numerous awards from the Colorado Press Association and the Top of the Rockies Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for his reporting on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s experimenting with water-efficient crops, who is harmed when insurance companies and health systems don’t get along, innovative wildfire management practices, election coverage and more. When he’s not working sources, Reuben is an explorer of all things outdoors and likes pickin’ tunes on string instruments.

Sean Scott

Sean Scott is the incoming religion, politics and society reporter for The Maine Monitor. Before joining The Monitor staff, Scott served as the founding editor for the Oxford Free Press, a nonprofit print and digital newsroom which launched in Ohio in June 2024. He began his journalism career at The Miami Student, Miami University's student newspaper, while studying journalism and urban and regional planning. He wrote about everything from local elections to faculty unionization and served as editor-in-chief in his senior year. His work for The Student and the Free Press has earned local, statewide and regional awards, as well as a national award for campus reporting. While in college, Scott also held internships with The Cincinnati Enquirer and the Journal-News in Hamilton, Ohio. Scott spends much of his free time with his two cats, Ghost and Nymeria.

Bangor Daily News

A 135-year-old business owned by one family, the Bangor Daily News increasingly serves the entire state of Maine with an earlier shift to digital than most midsize papers. This news organization prizes strong journalism that serves readers and connects communities.

Portland Press Herald

Founded in 1921, The Portland Press Herald is now Maine’s largest paid newspaper with statewide coverage and distribution to 263 cities and towns and a digital audience that averages 1.5 million users each month. Now under the ownership of the Maine Trust for Local News, The Press Herald is part of the state’s largest network of independent news outlets. The Maine Trust for Local News is a subsidiary of the nonprofit National Trust for Local News.

The Maine Monitor

The nonprofit Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting publishes The Maine Monitor as a free digital publication to provide people in Maine with in-depth, nonpartisan, award-winning news which fills information gaps in investigative and rural reporting. Mainers in every county receive its newsletters and the newsroom supports Maine media by providing all of its reporting for free republication.
Jules Walkup

Jules Walkup

Jules Walkup covers the midcoast region of Maine for the Bangor Daily News, which includes the coastal area from Brunswick to Rockland. Prior to joining Report for America, Jules received their B.A. in journalism from the University of Georgia in December 2022. With a minor in political science and a certificate in sustainability, Jules is heavily interested in political journalism and climate change reporting, with a focus in solutions journalism. They worked up from a news contributor in 2020 to managing print editor in 2022 for UGA’s independent student newspaper, The Red & Black. They also wrote environmental stories for the rural paper the Oglethorpe Echo, where they received two awards for their photo story about seniors and the changes they’ve seen in their rural community over the years. In summer 2022, Jules interned for CNN’s Ana Cabrera Show as a producer. Jules is passionate about serving the community they’re reporting on with in-depth, character-centered journalism supported with meaningful and impactful photojournalism.

Bangor Daily News

A 132-year-old business owned by one family, the Bangor Daily News increasingly serves the entire state with an earlier shift to digital than most midsize papers. This news organization prizes strong journalism that serves readers, and the 127-person team is young, scrappy, and hungry to grow the BDN’s journalism, capacity and public service.

Mehr Sher

Mehr Sher is working as a statewide environmental reporter for Bangor Daily News in Maine.Sher has always been passionate about telling underreported stories from undercoveredregions. Prior to joining BDN, Sher graduated from Columbia Journalism School with honors forher master’s degree in investigative journalism. During the program, she reported extensivelyon the Afghan refugee resettlement program and investigated the effectiveness of hate crimelegislation in Indiana. Sher began her journalism career abroad in Pakistan,where she was based for over six years. During her career there, she investigated systemicfailure, an inadequate health care system, and a cover up, which led to the exacerbation of anHIV/AIDs outbreak in over a thousand children in Larkana, Sindh. In 2015, she graduated fromNorth Carolina State University with a bachelor’s in international relations. Sher speaks manylanguages – including Pashto, Urdu, intermediate French, basic Korean, and is currentlyindependently learning Farsi. She is originally from Raleigh, North Carolina and is an ethnicPashtun from northwestern Pakistan. Sher appreciates great coffee, music, films, poetry,outdoor activities, and traveling.

Bangor Daily News

A 132-year-old business owned by one family, the Bangor Daily News increasingly serves the entire state with an earlier shift to digital than most midsize papers. This news organization prizes strong journalism that serves readers, and the 127-person team is young, scrappy, and hungry to grow the BDN's journalism, capacity and public service.