Missouri

Jacob Douglas

Jacob Douglas covers rural issues including economic sustainability in small-town Missouri for Kansas City, PBS. Douglas covered education technology, renewable energy and rural life during internships with CNBC and Kansas City Public Television. He graduated with honors from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in the Spring of 2020. His most recent projects at the journalism school include leading a team of reporters seeking out much-needed information about COVID-19 in underreported areas in Southern Missouri and developing an arts and culture podcast for the J-School. He grew up in Dallas City, Illinois and got started in journalism by covering high school sports for the Hancock County Journal Pilot.

Humera Lodhi

Humera Lodhi reports for The Kansas City Star where she works as part of a team focusing on gun violence and uses her data skills to offer a deeper understanding of firearms statistics. She is a writer, programmer, multimedia creator and proud Missourian who has reported for various Missouri outlets such as the St. Louis Post Dispatch and KCUR on civil rights legislation, social media extremism and neglected public infrastructure. She was part of an award-winning research team that created a digital database mapping the British suppression of the African slave trade, created and produced a Snapchat series covering the midterm elections for Raycom Media and built an app for journalists that uncovered hidden relationships between topics using artificial intelligence. Lodhi graduated from the University of Missouri with degrees in journalism and statistics in 2019. Afterwards, she pursued a master’s degree in data journalism from Columbia University.

Kaitlin Washburn

Kaitlin Washburn reports for The Kansas City Star where she is part of a team examining gun violence in Missouri. As part of the team, Washburn reports in-depth on the politics of guns in the Missouri Legislature. This is her second tour of duty with Report for America. For the past year as an RFA member, she covered the omnipresent agriculture industry in California’s Central Valley for The Sun-Gazette. Prior to that, Washburn covered campaign finance and dark money for the Center for Responsive Politics, recreational cannabis and questionable state health care for The Oregonian and state politics for the Columbia Missourian. In 2019, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. At MU, her emphasis was in investigative reporting, and she spent three years as a researcher for Investigative Reporters and Editors.

The Kansas City Star

The Kansas City Star is the largest media organization covering the Kansas City region, which encompasses Kansas and Missouri. We cover both statehouses. The Star was founded in 1880 as "a paper for the people," a mission that continues today. We strive to tell stories that affect the lives of Kansas Citians and beyond.  

The Kansas City Star

The Kansas City Star is the largest media organization covering the Kansas City region, which encompasses Kansas and Missouri. We cover both statehouses. The Star was founded in 1880 as "a paper for the people," a mission that continues today. We strive to tell stories that affect the lives of Kansas Citians and beyond.  

The Kansas City Beacon

The Beacon is a new nonprofit, digital only news outlet based in Kansas City, covering the two million-person metro and both sides of the state line (Kansas and Missouri). Our mission: To spur reforms in the public interest by shining light on wrongdoings and abuse by government, businesses and other institutions in the region through in-depth, solutions-driven journalism. The Beacon was founded in April 2019 and will begin publishing in early 2020.

The Kansas City Star

The Kansas City Star is the largest media organization covering the Kansas City region, which encompasses Kansas and Missouri. We cover both statehouses. The Star was founded in 1880 as "a paper for the people," a mission that continues today. We strive to tell stories that affect the lives of Kansas Citians and beyond.  

Kansas City PBS

Kansas City PBS has a long tradition of public service that has laid the foundation for expanding its news gathering relationship with our community. Our content platforms — television, radio, digital, social media and educational outreach — exist to serve the diversity of our region. We explore complicated issues with thoughtful reporting. We share the diverse stories of people, places, and progress in our community. We advance conversations through community engagement and social media. Specifically, Kansas City PBS operates four KCPT-related public television channels; KTBG 90.9 The Bridge, an NPR-affiliated AAA music station; and FlatlandKC, an online digital magazine; in addition to social media and community events.  

The Community Voice

The Community Voice is a bi-weekly, state-wide publication that targets Kansas' African-American community. The publication was founded in 1993, and purchased by the Gooch family in 1996. The publication was originally a monthly, and has been bi-weekly for almost two decades. Until 2015, our coverage area was predominately the Wichita community, but we've expanded into the Kansas City market, focusing heavily on the Kansas side of the metropolitan area. Again, in response to a request to expand, we formally expanded our coverage in 2018 to include the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Eric Schmid

Eric Schmid has interned for Fox News Channel, AccuWeather as a Dow Jones News Fund Digital Media Intern and WSHU Public Radio. He covered governments in Nassau and Suffolk counties, environmental issues and other general assignments as a News Fellow at WSHU’s Long Island News Bureau. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Stony Brook University last May as one of the journalism school co-valedictorians. Community reporting in the Metro East area in Illinois Eric covers the Metro East area in Illinois and is developing insights and knowledge about issues specific to the area, including economics, education and politics. He produces radio reports, web features and multimedia reports specific to Metro East issues and news. For example, while St. Louis Public Radio has developed a strong reputation for providing important information about ballot issues in Missouri, it has never been able to develop a similar depth of coverage and knowledge for our Illinois constituents. St. Louis Public Radio is providing training about news, production and relevant issues Eric might find himself covering.