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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The nearly all-white jury has been sent home until Monday, when they're expected to hear closing arguments. Earlier in the day, Travis McMichael, who killed Arbery, underwent cross-examination.
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Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam spent more than a half-century being thought of as murderers of one of the nation's most important Black leaders in 1965.
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The Navajo Nation Museum is bringing a newly voiced version of the classic spaghetti Western to the Navajo Nation.
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The 24-year-old recent Oxford graduate called it "a precious day in my life" and shared a few photos of the intimate ceremony.
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The men chasing Ahmaud Arbery in their pickups got so close to him that his hand print was found on one of the trucks, along with fibers from his T-shirt, prosecutors told the jury.
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Flower Foods, which makes Tastykakes, said one of its vendors reported an ingredient in some cupcakes may have been contaminated with bits of wire mesh. The company is recalling the products.
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The Day of the Dead is deeply rooted in pre-Hispanic Aztec rituals blended with Roman Catholic traditions. But many of the indigenous symbols remain, including the vibrant and fragrant marigold.
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Kim Wyman vigorously pushed back against President Trump's unfounded claims of voter fraud and is widely seen as a mail-in ballot and security expert. She'll start her new role on Nov. 19.
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The exhibit at San Diego's Museum of Contemporary Art will include 50 of the artist's pieces, including the Virgen de Guadalupe triptych which remains one of López's best known works.
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Navy officials had been searching for the bodies of five crew members who died when an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter crashed into the sea on Aug. 31.