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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Doctors say they are seeing an unprecedented number of cases. How concerned should parents be? Why are young children so vulnerable? What's causing this year's outbreak? We offer some answers. -
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. -
Debate over the mural's meaning became heated during a school board meeting last week. Parents say the painting contains anti-Christian and demonic messages, while also being pro-LGBTQ. -
The resignation comes hours after protesters disrupted a scheduled Wednesday city council meeting inside Los Angeles City Hall. -
People calling for the repatriation of the ancient tablet and other items say the continued display of the objects in European institutions ignores a history of colonialist looting and exploitation. -
Talk about a late bloomer. Carl Allamby, who ran an auto repair shop for more than 20 years, was recently hired as an attending physician at Cleveland Clinic's Hillcrest Hospital at age 51. -
Robert Sarver, who owns 35% of the Suns and Mercury, says he's looking for buyers after he was disciplined by the NBA for abusive behavior. His cited the "unforgiving climate" for his decision. -
The defendants allegedly carried out a plot to steal $250 million from a nutrition program meant to serve needy children in Minnesota. Officials called it a "brazen scheme of staggering proportions."
