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 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.
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Witnesses saw a "flaming basketball" streaking across the sky, then heard a loud crash, then Dustin Procita's house went up in flames. But that may be a coincidence, not the fire's cause.
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Scientists wanted to learn whether bees, like humans and other mammals, had any interest in playing for fun's sake. They say they have evidence that bees do, and that could change how we view insects.
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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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Harri Hursti bought the Dominion machine to uncover its vulnerabilities, something he often does for state election officials. But authorities are trying to find out how the machine ended up online.
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Brandy Bottone got the first traffic violation dismissed, arguing that under Texas' abortion law, her fetus counted as a person. She's hoping to make the same argument again.
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Shortly after researchers unearthed the mummified body of a 55,000-year-old Steppe bison in the Alaskan tundra, they sliced off a piece of its neck. To eat!
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It can take years to grow the perfect mullet, and these kids have put in their time to take home the 2022 USA Mullet Championship trophy. Here's a peek at some of the most remarkable contestant 'dos.
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A statue honoring the aviation pioneer is now part of the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall. Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
