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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Paul Austin and Tenisha Tate-Austin alleged that an appraiser undervalued their home by nearly $500,000. They got a higher appraisal after they removed evidence that a Black family lived in the home. -
The State Department said the victims, who were found alive after days in captivity, are back on U.S. soil. Officials said they are in the process of returning the remains of two others to the U.S. -
The abduction took place on the streets of Matamoros, Mexico. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for the return of the Americans and the arrests of those involved. -
The actor's lawyers argued that he had been charged under a previous version of a New Mexico firearm law. The change would reduce his prison time if convicted in the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins. -
Nearly 23 years after being ripped from a relative's home in Miami, González has been nominated to become a member of the communist country's parliament. -
The meltdowns that recently brought flights to a halt have prompted lawmakers to draft new rules for airlines. The changes would give travelers at least $1,350 if bumped from an overbooked flight. -
Santonastasso Enterprises broke the law when more than a 100 teens were asked to work too many hours or too many late shifts, according to the Department of Labor. -
The skeleton and skin of what is believed to be the last Tasmanian tiger have been stashed away in a cupboard at a museum in Tasmania, where experts lost track of the bizarre looking creature. -
Hardcore Starbucks fans eagerly await the day the coffee company gives out limited-edition holiday cups. The union organizing Starbucks workers hope those same customers will help support their cause. -
Two customers who bought $6 worth of Barilla pasta say they were duped. They thought they were buying products made in Italy. What they got was made in Iowa and New York. -
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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The latest spike is months early and it's pushing care facilities to capacity. Children under the age of 5 are most vulnerable.
