The Marshall Project Announces St. Louis Local News Team

The Marshall Mission is delighted to announce the launch of its third native newsroom — this time in St. Louis, which is able to embody two investigative reporters, an engagement reporter, and a partnerships coordinator.

The reporting group will all be primarily based within the St. Louis space. The Marshall Mission – St. Louis will mix journalistic horsepower from The Marshall Mission’s nationwide newsroom with a neighborhood group to deepen native legal justice protection in Missouri. The problems embody the dying penalty, the school-to-prison pipeline, re-entry, and healthcare in prisons.

“Our assembled group of reporters will carry recent eyes and a long time of expertise to cowl the legal justice system. I’m extraordinarily excited for the work we’ll do in St. Louis and round Missouri,” mentioned Marlon A. Walker, managing editor of native, who has deep ties in St. Louis, the place he beforehand labored on the St. Louis Publish-Dispatch.

The Marshall Mission’s nationwide newsroom has already established a presence reporting in St. Louis. In 2024, we reported a narrative a couple of dying penalty case in Missouri that highlighted the hurt brought on by paying dying penalty attorneys a flat price irrespective of how lengthy they work on a case.

We additionally partnered with St. Louis Public Radio and APM Reviews to report a five-part collection on how St. Louis police struggled to resolve over a thousand murders up to now decade. By combining public data that our companions had already fought to safe with the abilities of our reporting and visuals group, we labored collectively to provide an immersive, multimedia story that offered a deeper understanding of the reporting. The investigation was not too long ago honored with an EPPY award, which celebrates excellence in digital journalism.

The Marshall Mission has employed a formidable group of journalists with an extended observe report overlaying legal justice points. They embody:

Jesse Bogan joins The Marshall Mission as a employees author. Earlier than that, he labored for practically 15 years on the St. Louis Publish-Dispatch, the place he wrote in-depth tales about individuals and communities on the margins. He beforehand coated the Southwest for Forbes journal and the Texas-Mexico border for the San Antonio Specific-Information. Bogan has a grasp’s diploma from the Missouri College of Journalism. Earlier than information reporting, he was a grain dealer in Mexico for ADM. He grew up within the Missouri Ozarks.

Katie Moore joins The Marshall Mission as a employees author. Beforehand, she was the justice reporter on The Kansas Metropolis Star’s accountability group, the place she coated policing, jail circumstances, and the dying penalty. She was a part of a group that reported on racism inside the Kansas Metropolis Police Division, which led to a federal investigation. She has additionally reported for The Topeka Capital-Journal and was a fellow with the Worldwide Girls’s Media Basis. Moore holds a bachelor’s diploma in English from the College of Kansas and a grasp’s diploma in Peace and Justice Research from the College of San Diego.

Ivy Scott joins The Marshall Mission as an engagement reporter. She was beforehand a reporter for the Boston Globe, the place she most not too long ago coated local weather points. Earlier than her time on the local weather desk, she coated legal justice points, together with the state courts, native police departments, district attorneys, the Division of Correction, and the lawyer basic’s workplace. She was a 2024 Livingston finalist for her narrative reporting on the aftermath of the mass capturing in Lewiston, Maine, and a Society for Options Journalism winner for her podcast miniseries on relationship and love in jail. She studied worldwide journalism at Brown College and is sort of fluent in French.

Will Lager joins The Marshall Mission as an interim partnerships coordinator. He’s a multidisciplinary journalist who bridges the areas between journalism, knowledge and the general public via collaboration, visible storytelling, viewers engagement, product and design growth. Over 10 years at MPR, Lager constructed partnerships and labored on award-winning initiatives just like the Peabody and Murrow-winning “Betrayed by Silence,” on the abuse of the Catholic Church. After MPR, he labored on numerous neighborhood initiatives, together with a pop-up newsroom overlaying the homicide trial of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin. Lager can be an adjunct school on the Missouri College of Journalism educating Multimedia Planning and Design, emphasizing audience-first and accessible digital initiatives.

The Marshall Mission – St. Louis will co-publish a lot of its tales with native publications to help the way in which different native newsrooms cowl legal justice themselves. This follows an identical mannequin to newsrooms in Cleveland and Jackson, Mississippi.

The Missouri Basis for Well being’s three-year grant will allow The Marshall Mission to rent employees and construct capability in Missouri. The Joan & John Vatterott Household Basis can be supporting this initiative.

“We stay dedicated to strengthening the journalistic infrastructure in Missouri and constructing a pipeline of reporters who will stay within the state to inform our tales,” mentioned Missouri Basis for Well being Vice President of Strategic Communications Courtney Z. McCall. “We see partnerships like this one as a step towards attaining well being fairness and enjoying a job in altering methods that function a barrier in fixing the advanced well being problems with our communities.”