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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Debate is hot about the impact of a higher minimum wage. Half a million Californians work in fast-food, where wages had stagnated for decades. Restaurant owners warn of higher prices and fewer hours.
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Luz Vargas' son was home alone on the day of the Maui fire while she, her husband, and their middle son were at work. They raced home to save him but he died in the fire.
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According to Maui County, over 3,000 students have been displaced from their schools by the devastating wildfires in West Maui. With the school year just starting, parents are unsure what to do.
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They're among three lawmakers who were recorded talking in racist terms. And though they've been stripped of assignments and haven't been attending meetings, they're still collecting hefty paychecks.
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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.
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Officials have linked a set of keys to an abandoned U-Haul van found blocks from the Brooklyn shooting. Investigators say the van was rented by Frank R. James in Philadelphia.
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The sudden influx means resettlement agencies are rushing to secure a range of services for evacuees as they begin a new chapter of their lives.
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The rapidly expanding storm struck Western Cuba and is expected to hit Louisiana on Sunday as a major hurricane.
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"Because of security threats outside the gates of Kabul airport, we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time," the U.S. Embassy said.
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Capt. Cristian Granucci called an impending vaccine requirement "total tyranny" and threatened to sue his own union. The rules go into effect in October, and those who don't comply could get fired.