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 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. -
Agency officials issued a final ruling on Wednesday saying chlorpyrifos can no longer be used on the food that makes its way onto American dinner plates. The move overturns a Trump-era decision. -
Tensions are rising among Haitians as recovery teams are still slow in reaching the needy impacted by the Aug. 14 earthquake that hit the southwestern area of the island. -
Health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic say there is another concerning prospect looming: a surge in children diagnosed with a combination of COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus. -
The State Department is reducing the U.S. Embassy in Kabul to a "core diplomatic presence" amid the deteriorating security situation. -
Gov. Ron DeSantis ratcheted up a confrontation with school superintendents on Monday, saying anyone who defies his ban on mask mandates might lose a paycheck. Teachers and staff wouldn't be punished. -
City council members introduced a sort of "no shots, no service" mandate, following in the footsteps of New York City. In Los Angeles, would-be customers would have to show proof of at least one dose. -
Officials had vowed to continue the search for people among roughly 11 tons of rubble that remained until all missing persons had been recovered. Now firefighters have finished their search. -
"Be alert to criminals who ask you, by phone, email, text – or even on social media, to verify your information," the IRS cautions. -
As employees enter a new round of negotiations, they are calling for the public to resist the urge to indulge in Doritos and Cheetos until a new deal that includes less forced overtime is reached. -
One day after a federal district judge in Texas ruled against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, President Biden said the Department of Justice intends to appeal the decision. -
Jarrod Ramos, who carried out the attack on the Capital Gazette, admitted to five murders. On Thursday, a jury found he understood what he was doing.
