WRITING

Carlos Nogueras

Carlos Nogueras reports on the vast Permian Basin region in West Texas for the Texas Tribune, writing about the hundreds of thousands of people who shoulder the impacts of an extraction-based economy in the oil and gas capital of the country. Before relocating to Texas, Nogueras was a political reporting fellow for Al Día News in Philadelphia, a bilingual digital paper and magazine covering Latino politics, its dynamics, power players and the policy shaping the Hispanic community. Nogueras has written extensively about Latino lawmakers—their stances versus their words, promises on the campaign trail and how they helped define municipal local politics. In Puerto Rico, where Nogueras was born and raised, he was a freelancer writing about the unpaid labor behind motherhood during the pandemic, gun violence and the waning coffee industry. He earned his bachelor's degree in music from Berklee College of Music in Boston and began his master's degree in journalism at the University of Puerto Rico.

Liana Hardy

Liana Hardy covers educational equity in Henrico County, Virginia for the Henrico Citizen. Prior to joining the Citizen, Hardy interned for the Alexandria Times in Alexandria, Virginia, where she wrote stories on local sports, arts and music, education and politics. Hardy earned her bachelor's degree in history from Georgetown University, where she worked as a news and features editor for The Hoya, the university's main student newspaper. She also completed coursework for minors in journalism and Spanish. Hardy is a native of the D.C. region, growing up in Arlington, Virginia, where she loves to explore nature trails and local food sites.

Stephen Marcantel

Stephen Marcantel works at the Acadiana Advocate in Lafayette, Louisiana, covering the news coverage gaps facing rural Acadiana, the surrounding parishes of Lafayette. He graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2022 with a bachelor's in mass communications. Since then, he has worked as a freelancer at the Acadiana Advocate covering various business and life stories. He also freelanced for the nonprofit online newspaper The Current in Lafayette. Marcantel has covered stories of mothers losing their children to fentanyl and fighting for change, food insecurity facing the poorest in our community, the lack of shelter space for those experiencing homelessness in Lafayette, and Lafayette's struggle to clean up the Vermilion River.

Carly Berlin

Carly Berlin covers housing and infrastructure for Vermont Public and VTDigger. Previously, she was the metro reporter for New Orleans Public Radio, where she focused on housing, transportation and city government. Her stories have aired on Marketplace, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Before working in radio, she was the Gulf Coast Correspondent for Southerly, where she reported on disaster recovery across south Louisiana during two recording-breaking hurricane seasons. Much of that coverage centered on the aftermath of Hurricanes Laura and Delta in Lake Charles at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center. Berlin grew up in Atlanta and earned a BA in English with a Creative Writing concentration from Bowdoin College in 2018. She’s an avid bird watcher and ultimate frisbee player.

Lucille Lannigan

Lucille Lannigan covers rural communities in Southwest, Georgia, for the Albany Herald. She was born and mostly raised in Key West, Florida, and served as co editor-in-chief at the newspaper of the island's only high school. In 2022, Lannigan interned on CBS-affiliate 10 Tampa Bay’s digital desk, where she covered topics like Florida's changing abortion laws and mastered the art of creating digital news content. During her senior year at the University of Florida, Lannigan worked as a Pulitzer fellow, covering Florida’s phosphate industry and producing an accountability feature on Florida’s reclaimed mining lands. Lannigan wrote investigative and political content on Florida’s 2023 legislative session for WUFT's Fresh Take Florida. Her byline has appeared in the Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times, Tallahassee Democrat, and more. Her love for journalism stems from her time at The Independent Florida Alligator, the University of Florida's independent, student-run paper. Over two years, she reported on race, equity, health and the environment and served as the metro desk editor. She graduated in 2023 with a journalism bachelor's degree from the university.

Tannistha Sinha

Tannistha Sinha covers politics in Houston for the Houston Defender Network. She graduated with a master's of science in journalism from the University of Southern California last year, and was the recipient of the Annenberg Graduate fellowship. While pursuing stories for the curriculum, she also served as a reporter and USC editor at the student-led newsroom Annenberg Media, and interned at the inequality desk of BuzzFeed News, where she focused on socioeconomic stories. After graduating, she joined HousingWire Media as a general assignment reporter, where she covered housing and real estate trends across the country, and concentrated on affordable housing and propTech. She grew up in Kolkata, India, and completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in English literature from Jadavpur University. Being an avid debater, she represented her university in several public speaking competitions across India. Her works have also been published by notable Indian newsrooms like The Hindu, The Telegraph, CNN News18, NDTV and The Wire.

Charlie McGee

Charlie McGee is an investigative reporter for The Tributary covering systemic problems in Jacksonville, Florida. He previously reported for the Victorville Daily Press in California’s High Desert with exclusive work prompting mass-action lawsuits against Goldman Sachs and Synagro over a sewage-pit fire, an FBI probe of alleged city-hall corruption, and policy changes across San Bernardino County. He has written for outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Rolling Stone magazine and Vice News on topics ranging from questionable COVID-19 spending to renewable-energy debates to CEO pay. He amassed research as assistant to former WSJ reporter Liz Hoffman for her 2023 book, “Crash Landing.” His work as investigations editor for The Daily Tar Heel sparked a campaign-finance investigation in North Carolina and the reversal of a $2.5 million deal between UNC-Chapel Hill and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. McGee has been recognized with honors including second-place in the California News Publishers Association’s 2021 Investigative Reporting competition and second-place in the Associated Collegiate Press’s 2020 Reporter of the Year competition.

Macon Atkinson

Macon Atkinson covers political and personal trends, threads and issues from a rural voter perspective during the presidential election for The Post and Courier. Prior to joining that newsroom, she worked at daily newspapers in the Carolinas and Texas, covering public safety, city politics and downtown development. She won a 2023 Sidney Hillman Foundation award for her work on "The Cost of Unity," a project revealing the gentrifying forces behind Greenville, South Carolina's success. Originally from Charlotte, she graduated from Appalachian State University in 2019. When she's not working, you can find her out on a run or cooking in her kitchen.

Torsheta Jackson

Torsheta Jackson is the Education Equity Solutions reporter for the Mississippi Free Press in Jackson, Mississippi. Prior to joining the newsroom full time, Jackson spent 19 years as an educator and coach and 12 years as a freelance journalist. She has bylines in YES! magazine, Mississippi Free Press, Mississippi Scoreboard, Jackson Advocate, Jackson Free Press, Eater and Bash Brothers Media. Her work as part of the newsroom's Black Women and COVID project covered education history, equity and access in Noxubee County and garnered national recognition. Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from The University of Southern Mississippi, graduating top of her Broadcast Journalism cohort. She also holds master’s degrees in curriculum and instruction from the University of Mississippi and in human lactation from Union Institute and University. She lives in Richland, Mississippi with her husband Victor and the two youngest of their four children. She enjoys traveling, making memories with her family, reading and coaching youth sports.

Claudia Rivera Cotto

Claudia M. Rivera Cotto is a bilingual reporter who covers political, government and immigration issues in North Carolina for Enlace Latino NC. Before joining Report for America, she reported on social issues for the Columbia Missourian. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and English from the University of Puerto Rico, where she served as News Co-Director of Pulso Estudiantil. Rivera Cotto also has a master’s degree in Investigative and Data Journalism from the University of Missouri. Her journalism focuses on corporate and government accountability reporting.