Southwest

Sara Ernst

Sara Willa Ernst reports for Houston Public Media, where she covers health disparities related to factors including income that affect Houston communities. Ernst was a Reporting Fellow at New Hampshire Public Radio, working both in daily news and long-form podcasting. During her time there, she was a producer for the podcasts The Second Greatest Show On Earth and Outside/In. She co-reported a two-part podcast on sex education in New Hampshire, covering topics from the statewide curriculum, abstinence-based education, LGBTQ inclusivity, consent and more. Before working on the podcast team, she was a General Assignment Reporter in the NHPR newsroom, covering the charter school debate embroiling the Granite State and the 2020 New Hampshire Presidential Primary. After graduating from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Ernst interned for NPR in Washington D.C. She previously held internships at Nashville Public Radio and WBUR Boston. She was a Chips Quinn Scholar in 2018 and is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association.

Houston Public Media

News 88.7 covers the Houston metro region, the nation's sixth largest radio market. Our newsroom slogan is "Stronger, More Engaging News Content" and our goal is: "Our audience will identify News 88.7 as a friendly place where smart people work hard to tell them about serious issues in a way not available from other media. Our content will reflect the unique sound, texture and character of the Houston region." In the last several years, our broadcast news has become much more closely aligned with the sound and pacing of NPR newscasts and the shows "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered". We have roughly 400,000 weekly radio listeners, 70,000 streaming, and our webpage gets about 400,000 views a month.

Bennito Kelty

Bennito Kelty covers the IDEA beat, taking a close look at inclusivity, diversity, equity and access for the Tucson Sentinel, a nonprofit news site in Tucson, Arizona. Before this, he worked for the Yuma Sun in Yuma, Arizona reporting on the Arizona-Mexico border and county government. Kelty calls Aurora, Colorado home and its diverse immigrant community led him to become interested in understanding cultures from around the world that exist in America and how these groups of people live together. That interest, plus growing up in a Mexican American home, influenced his love of languages, including his own native Spanish and English. Kelty started reporting as a journalism student at the University of Missouri, where he won recognition from the Missouri Press Association for a story in the Missourian, the school’s community paper. Kelty has also won an award with The St. Louis American for breaking news coverage.

Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Las Vegas Review-Journal is the dominant news organization in Southern Nevada. We cover the state of Nevada as well as major news in eastern California, southern Utah and northwest Arizona. Our mission is to tell the most important stories in Las Vegas, to hold institutions and leaders accountable, and to fight for the public's right to know.  

The Dallas Morning News

Founded in 1885, the Dallas Morning News is Texas’ leading news organization and is the winner of nine Pulitzer Prizes. It has one of the largest newsrooms in the Southwest. In 2015, the DMN was in the first group of news organizations to go through a digital transformation initiative known as Table Stakes, launched by the Knight Foundation and Temple University. Since then, the DMN has been a leader in digital innovation among local news organizations. The News’ mission is “making our communities stronger and more prosperous through quality journalism and innovative marketing solutions.”

Dillon Bergin

Dillon Bergin covers the environment for Searchlight New Mexico, focusing on the state’s booming oil and gas industries. He has written about immigration and migration, climate change, and food for the New Republic and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He was a Fulbright Germany Journalism Fellow from 2019 to 2020. A proud Midwesterner from South Bend, Indiana, he’s spent the last four years between Philadelphia, where he went to school, and Freiburg, Germany where his heart resides. For Searchlight New Mexico, Dillon investigates the way the state’s oil and gas industries affect New Mexico’s land, water and wildlife, and the impact of these industries on the health of New Mexicans.

The Texas Observer

The Texas Observer remains the veteran, fearless independent publication that it has been since 1954. For more than 65 years, our commitment to public interest journalism has made the Observer the go-to source for investigative reporting and thorough analysis of the issues shaping Texas. In Texas’ media landscape, we stand alone in our willingness and ability to challenge narratives crafted by the state’s power brokers that create barriers to equal access to prosperity, education, health and dignity. As the mediasphere continues to consolidate, leaving fewer and fewer independent outlets, we remain a strong, independent voice.

San Antonio Express-News

The San Antonio Express-News is a legacy daily whose roots go back to 1865. For many years, the paper was known as “the Voice of South Texas,” a motto that still appears on our masthead. San Antonio is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, and we aim to be an authoritative and indispensable source of local and regional news. We aggressively cover City Hall, county government, the largest local school districts, courts and law enforcement. We also do ambitious enterprise reporting on the U.S.-Mexico border and U.S. immigration policy. Other coverage priorities include local arts and cultural institutions, high school sports, the San Antonio Spurs, and a burgeoning food and restaurant scene. Our editorial board maintains a robust opinion section – two pages per day of editorials, letters and op-ed pieces. We are part of Hearst Co. and share a Statehouse bureau in Austin and a Washington team with our sister paper, the Houston Chronicle.

The Salt Lake Tribune

The Salt Lake Tribune was founded as an alternative voice in 1871. From air quality to cultural trends to analysis of the Utah Jazz, the news organization’s goal is to inform, enlighten and empower Utahns with news they can trust. The Salt Lake Tribune is Utah’s leader in accountability journalism and investigative reporting, consistently pushing for access, open records and transparency through requests, appeals, legislation and, when necessary, litigation.  

Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is an independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR’s mission is to produce, foster and promote investigative journalism through original and collaborative reporting, often using data, and by training the next generation of investigative journalists.