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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Arjun Malaviya set out to travel the world on his 17th birthday in July 2023. Over 13 months, the California teenager traveled through some of the world's most populated cities and most remote villages. -
Goth subculture originated in Britain more than 40 years ago, and it is undergoing something of a resurgence. NPR delves into the darks club scene in Los Angeles, where Gothicumbia mashes together goth counterculture with traditional Latin American cumbia music. -
After the Trump administration fired its CDC director, former heads of the agency signed a public letter urging Congress to use its oversight powers at the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Parishioner Cathrine Spandel said worshippers at Annunciation Catholic Church in south Minneapolis had just finished a psalm when gunfire erupted. "It seemed like it went on forever," she said. -
More than 3.6 million children born in 2020 amid the COVID-19 global pandemic are walking into elementary schools across the country this fall. -
People all over TikTok and Instagram are using the word "clanker" as a catch-all for robots and AI. Here's a deep dive into the origins of the pejorative and an explanation of why it's spreading. -
The 2016 legal battle raised questions about the line between freedom of expression and privacy, and what is actually newsworthy. Questions that needed to be reexamined in light of the invention of the internet, according to law experts. -
Roland Reisley is the last original client of Frank Lloyd Wright, still living in the Usonian home designed by the famed architect. Even after 73 years, he told NPR, he still marvels at the beauty of the home. -
Tucked into the woods of Pleasantville, N.Y., lies Usonia — a cooperative community created in part by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. One resident is 101 years old.
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Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, members of the Park Slope Food co-op have been debating whether to ban Israeli goods from the shelves.
