Michigan

Anna Nichols

Anna Nichols covers the Michigan statehouse for The Associated Press, concentrating on roads, bridges and other ailing infrastructure in this Rust Belt state. The state capital is familiar terrain for Nichols, a graduate of Michigan State (in East Lansing) where, as a student journalist for the campus paper, The State News, she won national attention for her work on the sexual assault corruption scandal that engulfed USA Gymnastics and led to the conviction of team physician Larry Nassar. She has also covered welfare and criminal justice for the Michigan Advance, where she developed the paper’s human welfare beat. A veteran of local news coverage, Nichols was also a reporting Intern for MLive, and the Saginaw News & Bay City Times. Her awards include the Society of Professional Journalists Detroit Chapter 2018 Lawrence A. Laurain Scholarship, being named Michigan Press Association 2018 Foundation Scholar and winning the National College Media 2018 “Best of Show” print issue centerpiece.

Kaye LaFond

Kaye LaFond is a reporter who employs her extensive data skills for the Traverse City Record-Eagle in Michigan. Her focus as a Report for America corps member is bringing thoroughly reported, meaningful analysis of the numbers behind assumptions and trends to the Record-Eagle’s readers. LaFond is an engineer-turned-reporter who covered science, the environment and tribal affairs during stints at Michigan Radio and Interlochen Public Radio. Her investigative journalism has highlighted failures of government and has been recognized with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for Best Investigative Reporting and one for Best News Documentary as well as numerous awards from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters and the Michigan Associated Press Media Editors. Before becoming a full-time journalist, LaFond produced infographics and animations for the science communications team at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab. She holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Michigan Technological University, as well as bachelor’s degrees in both Environmental Engineering and Applied Ecology. LaFond lives in northern Michigan.

FlintBeat.com

Flint Beat is a hyperlocal news website covering Flint, Mich. with a focus on local government accountability, solutions journalism, and the restorative narrative. Flint Beat was launched in 2017 to help fill news gaps in the community with a mission to empower, impact and inform the residents of Flint.

Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Free Press primarily covers three counties in southeast Michigan, including robust coverage of the city of Detroit. Founded in 1831, it’s the oldest business in Detroit. The Detroit Free Press has earned 10 Pulitzer Prizes in its history, including one for exposing lies and corruption in the administration of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Its role is to serve as watchdog and community convener.

Associated Press

The Associated Press is a global news agency that began 172 years ago as a cooperative of five New York City newspapers. With 263 locations in more than 100 countries, AP provides journalism to roughly 15,000 media outlets around the world. AP sets standards for ethics and excellence, and has won 52 Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2016 gold medal for Public Service for an investigation into labor abuses in the seafood industry, reports that freed more than 2,000 slaves. AP’s seven news bureaus in the northeast U.S. provide vital local and regional news to 378 newsrooms.

Traverse City Record-Eagle

The Traverse City Record-Eagle is northern Michigan's largest news outlet, operating print and digital publications, including a daily print edition, a quarterly magazine and two podcasts. The Record-Eagle has a strong history of strong watchdog reporting complemented by artful narrative writing. Our newsroom is situated in downtown Traverse City, but serves a five-county core coverage area as well as broad, growing sections of news desert in northern Michigan.  

Detroit Free Press/Politifact

The Detroit Free Press primarily covers three counties in southeast Michigan, including robust coverage of the city of Detroit. Founded in 1831, it’s the oldest business in Detroit. Its role is to serve as watchdog and community convener. PolitiFact is a nonprofit newsroom housed at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida and is devoted to fact-checking American politics. Its mission is to give citizens the information they need to govern themselves in a democracy.

Angie Jackson

Born and raised in metro Detroit, Angie has been a reporter for the Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., where she covered crime and criminal justice. She has embedded in neighborhoods that have long struggled with gun violence, provided an in-depth look at a mass shooting that left seven police officers dead or wounded and shed light on suicides among firefighters and first responders. She previously worked in Michigan at the Grand Rapids Press and the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Angie is a graduate of Michigan State University. Covering formerly incarcerated citizens and their families Angie covers the issues of formerly incarcerated citizens in Detroit. Michigan’s prison population is coming down from a record high in 2007 due in part to a combination of relatively fewer new prisoners and a slightly higher parole rate. The recidivism rate has steadily declined in the last 20 years. This is good news, but what happens when you’re out of prison? How do you find work? Many employers won’t hire individuals who were formerly incarcerated. If you can find work, there are still many obstacles to building a good life —transportation, substance abuse and job training are just a few. The future of each returning citizen is key to an equitable recovery for the city of Detroit. This unique reporting role will focus on storytelling, myth/stigma-busting, resource-building and community engagement. The audience for this beat includes the formerly incarcerated, their families, people in positions to help and the community at large. Angie speaks to people in each constituency to define their needs and the best way to reach them, as well as leaders and clients of several existing nonprofits for returning citizens about the problems they face. The Detroit Free Press wants to know their stories. We also want to know how to help. Angie thinks holistically about what audiences need and how to reach them.

Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Free Press primarily covers three counties in southeast Michigan, including robust coverage of the city of Detroit. Founded in 1831, it’s the oldest business in Detroit. The Detroit Free Press has earned 10 Pulitzer Prizes in its history, including one for exposing lies and corruption in the administration of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Its role is to serve as watchdog and community convener.