Vanessa Romo
Vanessa Romo is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She covers breaking news on a wide range of topics, weighing in daily on everything from immigration and the treatment of migrant children, to a war-crimes trial where a witness claimed he was the actual killer, to an alleged sex cult. She has also covered the occasional cat-clinging-to-the-hood-of-a-car story.
Before her stint on the News Desk, Romo spent the early months of the Trump Administration on the Washington Desk covering stories about culture and politics – the voting habits of the post-millennial generation, the rise of Maxine Waters as a septuagenarian pop culture icon and DACA quinceañeras as Trump protests.
In 2016, she was at the core of the team that launched and produced The New York Times' first political podcast, The Run-Up with Michael Barbaro. Prior to that, Romo was a Spencer Education Fellow at Columbia University's School of Journalism where she began working on a radio documentary about a pilot program in Los Angeles teaching black and Latino students to code switch.
Romo has also traveled extensively through the Member station world in California and Washington. As the education reporter at Southern California Public Radio, she covered the region's K-12 school districts and higher education institutions and won the Education Writers Association first place award as well as a Regional Edward R. Murrow for Hard News Reporting.
Before that, she covered business and labor for Member station KNKX, keeping an eye on global companies including Amazon, Boeing, Starbucks and Microsoft.
A Los Angeles native, she is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, where she received a degree in history. She also earned a master's degree in Journalism from NYU. She loves all things camaron-based.
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Because Uvalde is so small, a local Justice of the Peace had the horrible task of identifying slain kids after the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School. He says the images will stick with him. -
Nine-year-old Aubriella Melchor said she narrowly escaped the slaughter because she'd been in the bathroom. At a gas station, Christian bikers joined the girl and her mother to pray. -
A gunman killed at least 19 children and 2 adults at a Texas elementary school. The 18-year-old gunman is also dead, police said. -
The Supreme Court draft opinion leak has sparked debate over penalties for people who disclose this kind of private information. Daniel Ellsberg, who shared the Pentagon Papers, gives his perspective.
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The man who leaked the Pentagon Papers told NPR it's obvious why the Supreme Court wants to keep their process secret: "No organization really wants to show how the sausage is made." -
Maria Hinojosa recorded years of conversations with a man who never expected to get out of prison. Then he did. On Monday, Suave, a podcast about his incarceration and release won a Pulitzer.
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The 2022 Pulitzer Prize awards were spread across a wide range of newsrooms and subjects, from toxic workplace hazards to the Jan. 6 attack. -
Heard described a chaotic and violent night in 2015, during which she alleges Depp sexually assaulted her. -
Heard described years of alleged abuse at the hands of the movie star. -
Actor Jason Sudeikis says he never meant for his former fiancée to be served papers in front of thousands of spectators. But how did that happen? A process server explains the mechanics of the system.
