Texas

Carolina Cuellar

Carolina Cuellar reports on immigration and communities in the Rio Grande Valley for Texas Public Radio, which is based in San Antonio. Cuellar is a bilingual reporter who grew up in Stockton, California after she and her family emigrated from Colombia. A scientist-turned-journalist, she worked on the science desk at KQED, public TV and radio stations serving Northern California, and has written about dog DNA criminal forensics and the largest fire in Santa Cruz County history, the CZU Lightning Complex wildfire that started in August 2020. Her work has appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, The Mercury News, and science sites such as Eos and Mongabay. Cuellar, a first-generation college graduate, holds a master’s degree in science communication and a bachelor’s in molecular, cellular and developmental biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She was a researcher in a virology lab and at a genomics company, with a focus on protein engineering, before pursuing a career in journalism.

Elena Bruess

Elena Bruess covers drinking water issues and the environment for the San Antonio Express-News, focusing on development in Texas Hill country and the Edwards Aquifer. Previously, Bruess reported on national and international freshwater issues for Circle of Blue, a nonprofit environmental news organization. As a 2020 reporting fellow for the Pulitzer Center, she covered the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on a primarily Latino neighborhood in Chicago. Bruess has reported on culture, comedy and food as a freelancer. She grew up in Iowa and Greece, and holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa's undergraduate writing program. Bruess earned a master's from the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, where she was awarded the Comer scholarship for environmental reporting.

Ivan Flores

Ivan Armando Flores is a photojournalist for the Texas Observer, an Austin-based nonprofit news organization, covering the state's Indigenous communities. As a freelance photographer, Flores focused on migration, refugees, addiction crises and the war in Afghanistan, where he reported from on and off for several years. His work has appeared in Foreign Policy, The Guardian and The New York Times. Flores holds a master's degree in journalism from The City University of New York, and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Florida International University. He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and Diversify Photo, an online database of visual storytellers for editors seeking to diversify their rosters. He calls Miami home.

Laura Onyeneho

Laura Onyeneho reports for the Houston Defender Network, covering the city's education system as it relates to African American children. Onyeneho is a multimedia journalist and has reported on social, cultural, lifestyle and community news. As an independent journalist, her coverage of issues that impact Black communities has been published online at The Crisis, Radiant Health, 21Ninety, Her Agenda and Afroelle Magazine. In 2019, she was a multimedia producer for the Boston Herald, and has worked as a news associate at Boston's WBZ-TV, a CBS station. Onyeneho earned her master's degree in broadcast journalism at Emerson College, and her bachelor's at Curry College. She's from Lowell, Massachusetts.

Pauly Denetclaw

Pauly Denetclaw reports for the Texas Observer, an Austin-based nonprofit news organization, covering the state's Indigenous communities. Before coming to the Observer, she was a reporter for the Navajo Times in Window Rock, Arizona, covering youth, LGBTQ2S+, arts, culture, and more. Denetclaw is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and grew up in Manuelito, New Mexico. She's Haltsooí (Meadow People, her mother's clan), and Kinyaa'áanii (Towering House People, her father's clan). Denetclaw's work earned her the Arizona Press Club's top award for both breaking news in the community and coverage of social issues. A recipient of the Native American Journalists Association's award for investigative reporting, Denetclaw teamed up with a journalist to reveal the effects of the Gold King Mine waste spill on tribal communities in New Mexico for National Native News, which airs on radio stations in the U.S. and Canada.

Sam González Kelly

Sam González Kelly is a metro reporter at the Houston Chronicle, focusing on communities of color and issues most affecting historically marginalized people. Prior to this, Kelly spent two years on the breaking news desk of the Chicago Sun-Times, his hometown paper, covering everything from crime and weather to police violence and social justice movements, in addition to pitching and writing features on music, labor, education and sports. After graduating from Pomona College in 2018, where he majored in media studies and minored in music, Kelly reported on arts and culture in Chicago’s West Side for Free Spirit Media. He is a native Spanish speaker who enjoys reporting in Spanish, especially on stories where sources may otherwise be overlooked due to a perceived language barrier.

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.”

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.

El Paso Matters

El Paso Matters is a member-supported, nonpartisan media organization that uses journalism to expand civic capacity in our region. We inform and engage with people in El Paso, Ciudad Juarez and neighboring communities to create solutions-driven conversations about complex issues shaping our region. We were incorporated in 2019 and began publishing in February 2020.