DATA

Kori Skillman

Kori Skillman specializes in investigative journalism and visual storytelling. Before joining the Baltimore Beat, she worked on ABC News’ assignment desk, covering breaking news and editing live broadcasts. She also produced video and social media content at McClatchy Publishing. Her passion for social justice reporting—rooted in lived experience—grew during her investigative fellowship in Vermont, where she broke stories on police accountability, including a mishandled 911 call for VTDigger and unethical officer moonlighting for SevenDays. Kori also worked in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office under Alvin Bragg and in the San Diego County D.A.’s Office, covering trials and assisting with media communications. She has written for Black Voice News, focusing on COVID-19’s impact on Black Californians. A Bay Area native, Kori holds a dual B.A. in Journalism and International Business from San Diego State University, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa, and an M.S. from Columbia Journalism School. She aspires to cover global conflicts.

Owen Racer

Before joining Cascadia Daily News, Racer reported on intergenerational farming in Ecuador and El Salvador for The Guardian, documenting how consumerism, climate change and emigration collide on farms that future generations decide to inherit or leave. In Washington, D.C., he covered the IRS and Congress for Bloomberg. In New York City, he reported on maternal health disparities, riding the city’s subways with mobile mental illness teams to explain how the increasingly popular model of mental health care impacts the workforce. From producing audio stories on mental health for NPR stations WHYY and WVXU in Cincinnati, Ohio, his hometown, to photographing youth impacted by gun violence in New Orleans, his reporting crosses topics and mediums. During the 2024 presidential election, he was the lone U.S. correspondent for The Kyiv Independent, Ukraine’s English-language media outlet, covering campaigns, foreign policy and Congress. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.

Simmerdeep Kaur

Before joining the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Simmerdeep Kaur was the lead reporter at the Redwood City Pulse, where she covered city government and launched the newsroom’s first-ever podcast. The series featured in-depth interviews with Redwood City Council candidates ahead of the 2024 elections. Kaur’s odyssey into journalism began as an undergraduate, working as a part of her university’s editorial team and interning at several newsrooms in India. As a Master’s student at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, she was determined to reinvent herself and go beyond writing. She acquired data skills by learning Python and tools for visualizations to serve as a strong supplement to her stories. Kaur is a firm believer that in an era of growing threats to press freedom, robust journalism is more essential than ever. Over the past three years, she has reported on a wide range of topics, including police brutality, threats to press freedom, AI warfare, and the dangers of lithium-ion batteries.

Adam Smith-Perez

Prior to joining Investigative Post, Smith-Perez produced podcasts, fact-checked and reported for The Nation. Smith-Perez has also worked extensively as a freelance fact-checker for several outlets, including Mother Jones, Ambrook Research, Noema Magazine, and HarperCollins. He started his journalism career reporting on COVID's impact on immigrant communities in his hometown of Boston, where he worked for an immigrant and refugee advocacy non-profit writing newsletters. As a student at Columbia Journalism School, Smith-Perez reported more extensively on the housing and overdose crisis. Following his graduation, he hosted and produced a segment about Hepatitis C for VICE News, and was a fellow at the Columbia Age Boom Academy, where he honed his reporting and research skills on the aging, housing and health beats. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists, and a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

Hali Mecklin

Before joining the Uvalde Leader-News as a Report for America corps member, Mecklin covered arts, culture and local news for Los Angeles Magazine. She also served as managing editor at Annenberg Media, the University of Southern California’s digital news outlet, and reported on LAPD’s response to pro-Palestinian encampment protests and the subsequent cancellation of main-stage commencement. During her time at Annenberg Media, she won best student arts or entertainment news story at the 2024 LA Press Club National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards for her reporting on the Syrian antiquity trade in Los Angeles. Before starting at USC, she began her career in journalism at 16 as an intern with the Santa Barbara Independent. During COVID-19 she took a break from reporting to work at the zoo as a giraffe experience specialist, where she helped guests feed and learn about endangered Masai giraffes. She loves Vietnamese food, abstract expressionist painting and her pet pug.

Jules Feeney

Jules Feeney covers growth and the local impacts of the Trump administration for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Before moving to Tennessee, Feeney investigated a North Carolina hospital system for the Guardian US as a freelance reporter and covered climate change and solutions for the Guardian's West Coast news desk as an editorial intern. While receiving a master's degree in journalism from the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Feeney reported on education, religion, and campus protests. Before becoming a reporter, Feeney worked as a deckhand on a commercial fishing boat in Bristol Bay, Alaska. He has an undergraduate degree in religion from Colorado College.

Dylan Wickman

Before joining Today’s News-Herald, Wickman was a journalism student at Arizona State University pursuing his bachelor’s degree. During his time at the university, he held several internships in the journalism industry, including as a breaking news reporter for The Arizona Republic, a photographer at Cronkite News, a marketing communications coordinator for ASU’s Educational Outreach and Student Services Department, and a content producer for Sport Endorse in Dublin, Ireland. He hopes to continue serving as a vessel for people to tell their stories through his role as an education reporter.

Oona Wood Milliken

Before joining The Nevada Independent, Oona Milliken was a student journalist at Columbia Journalism School, where she covered politics, housing and business. Prior to that, she worked as a metro reporter and freelancer in New York City. She holds an undergraduate degree from Occidental College in Los Angeles, where she first fell in love with journalism.

Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

At the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, our mission is to provide the news and information people in southeast Washington need to make informed decisions about their health, safety and economic well-being. Our 11 journalists deliver news via unionbulletin.com, a three-day print newspaper and social media. We are part of The Seattle Times Co., which believes decisions about the U-B and local are best made by the people who live and work here in the community.

Chattanooga Times Free Press

The Times Free Press is a for-profit newspaper that has served its community for more than a century and a half, since 1869 when the Chattanooga Daily Times was created. The paper serves readers in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia with the mission of building community connections and providing fact-based journalism that informs and empowers our readers.