REPORTING

Rachel Carlton

Rachel Carlton covers the Harris County Commissioners Court in Houston for Community Impact Newspaper, which delivers hyperlocal news. Before joining Community Impact, Carlton was a freelance journalist based in Houston, and a contributor to the “City Cast Houston” podcast. A standout in the 2020 Big Scribble competition, Carlton graduated from Rice University with bachelor’s degrees in cognitive sciences and linguistics. Her first taste of journalism came as a junior at Rice, where she co-authored an opinion piece for the student paper, the Rice Thresher, on the experience of sexual assault survivors. Carlton later joined the paper’s staff and provided key COVID-19 coverage.

Sarah Huffman

Sarah Huffman reports on business and technology in Philadelphia for Technical.ly, the technology news network. Before joining Technical.ly, Huffman was an intern and then freelance reporter for Norwood News, covering local government and community events and organizations in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. She is a 2021 graduate of Fordham University, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in journalism and communications, and was an editor for the student newspaper. In her free time, Huffman is an amateur baker and enjoys testing new dessert recipes.

Xcaret Nuñez

Xcaret Nuñez covers agriculture and rural communities for KOSU, an NPR affiliate in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Nuñez was a Missouri Statehouse reporter for the Missouri News Network, and has worked at KBIA, the NPR affiliate in Columbia, Missouri, as a reporter, producer and anchor where she covered the community and education beats. A first-generation college graduate, she holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in religious studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Nuñez is originally from Yuma, Arizona, the Southwest city known as the “Lettuce Capital of the World” and “Sunniest City on Earth.”

Bethany Baker

Bethany Baker is a journalist at The Salt Lake Tribune, a nonprofit newspaper in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a documentarian creating videos, photos and multimedia content, she covers water-management issues involving the Colorado River, the Great Salt Lake and related resources, as well as issues within the region's Indigenous communities and other topics impacting Salt Lake City and Utah. Before this, Baker worked on her master’s degree in journalism at Harvard Extension School, and she was a photojournalist at daily papers throughout the West. Originally from the Chicagoland area, Baker studied French in high school, and is developing her Spanish fluency. An avid outdoors enthusiast, she loves backpacking, rafting, rock climbing and snowboarding, and has two dogs and a quarter horse gelding.

Cory Johnson

Cory Johnson is a multimedia journalist covering Mississippi’s George and Greene counties for WKRG, a CBS affiliate based in Mobile, Alabama. Johnson previously worked as an associate producer for Gray Television’s national investigative unit, and was a reporter and supervising producer for KOMU, mid-Missouri’s NBC affiliate. Johnson’s work as a reporter for two community newspapers in Wauseon, Ohio, his hometown, was recognized by the National Press Club. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he’s a member of the university’s prestigious Rollins Society for having served impoverished communities throughout Missouri, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Peru and Thailand. An Eagle Scout, he enjoys biking, camping, canoeing and hiking.

Hannah Norton

Hannah Norton covers the Texas Legislature and state politics for Community Impact Newspaper, a hyperlocal news organization based in Austin, Texas. She is a recent graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor's degree in journalism and an emphasis on print and digital news. While there, Norton reported for the Columbia Missourian, the university’s community paper, focusing on state government, social justice issues and homelessness. She has interned with Euractiv, a Brussels-based media network that specializes in political coverage of the European Union. A native of Seattle, Norton loves spending time outdoors and traveling.

Jeniece Roman

Jeniece Roman covers Indigenous communities in Connecticut and Long Island for WSHU, an NPR member radio station based in Fairfield, Connecticut. Prior to joining WSHU, Roman reported for Connecticut’s New Britain Herald and the Record-Journal in Meriden; she has won several awards from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists. Roman earned a bachelor’s degree from Southern Connecticut State University, majoring in journalism with a concentration in political science, and she was the student chapter president of the Society of Professional Journalists and the editor-in-chief of The Southern News, the student-run paper. Roman enjoys reading books, photography and true crime podcasts.

Kayla Young

Kayla Young is a bilingual reporter covering immigration, race and equity for WFAE, an NPR member station in Charlotte, North Carolina, and La Noticia, the state’s biggest Spanish-language paper. Young grew up in Greeley, Colorado and for the past five years she has lived in Grand Cayman, reported for the Cayman Compass newspaper, and worked as a freelancer for the Center for Investigative Journalism, The Economist Intelligence Unit and ABC News. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin, Young moved to Santiago, Chile, where she covered student protests and breaking news. Since then, she has reported on South Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the U.S.

Mallory Gruben

Mallory Gruben reports on K-12 education in Snohomish County for The Daily Herald in Everett, Washington. Previously, she freelanced on the north and central Oregon coast, reporting primarily for the Newport News-Times and The Astorian. She started her journalism career at The Daily News in Longview, Washington, where she covered education, business and the environment. Her work has won awards from the Northwest Society of Professional Journalists. A graduate of Hastings College in Nebraska, she was editor-in-chief of the student paper and helped to save the paper from being eliminated by budget cuts. Gruben grew up in Eckley, a village of about 230 people in the northeastern part of Colorado.

Rachel Hellman

Rachel Hellman reports on the challenges and opportunities in Vermont’s small towns for Seven Days, a weekly paper and news site based in Burlington, Vermont. Previously, Hellman was a freelance journalist and her writing, which focused on the societal and environmental impact of climate change, appeared in The Guardian, The Boston Globe, Fortune, and U.S. News & World Report. As an intern for CBS News, Hellman assisted in producing a groundbreaking nationwide investigation into the changes that police departments in the U.S. have made over the past five years regarding race and policing. Since graduating magna cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis in 2020, she has worked on a carpentry team for the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, on an all-women farm crew in central Vermont, and as a commercial pie baker in Brooklyn, New York.