Akilah Johnson and Talia Buford
Akilah Johnson is a narrative health care reporter for ProPublica. Previously she covered the intersection of race, politics, youth, and immigration for The Boston Globe. She shared a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and was Pulitzer finalist as a member of the Globe's Spotlight Team investigation into racism in Boston. Her reporting has won a number of other national awards including NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards, ONA's Knight Award for Public Service, and a National Headliner Award for Journalistic Innovation. Before her time at the Globe, Akilah covered education and public safety for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. She is a graduate of the University of Miami and alum of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University.
Talia Buford covers disparities in environmental impacts for ProPublica.
Previously, she was an environment and labor reporter at The Center for Public Integrity, where her work focused mostly on wage theft and the Environmental Protection Agency’s lackluster enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. She also covered energy for POLITICO Pro, and started her career covering municipal and legal affairs at The Providence (R.I.) Journal. She earned a master’s degree in the study of law from Georgetown University Law Center and a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from Hampton University.
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California’s herbicide spill ignites growing movement to ban paraquat nationwide
The spill, which closed a major highway and sent at least ten people to seek medical attention for respiratory symptoms, became a catalyst for a renewed political battle over the chemical's future in California.
Balanced budget amendment would put Social Security, Medicare, and core public services on the...
The proposal would make revenue increases extraordinarily difficult while allowing tax cuts to pass more easily, shifting pressure onto widely used federal programs.
Pentagon seeks $200 billion for Iran war as costs surge and Congress pushes back
Lawmakers question the scale, legality, and strategy of a massive funding request as troop deployments expand and the conflict shows signs of escalation.
DNC approach to Israel is political malpractice and moral failure
On no issue is that more apparent than the DNC’s insistence on treating Israel as above serious reproach.
The dark side of ecotourism: When green travel exploits people and the planet
As luxury eco-retreats and voluntourism surge, experts warn that without systemic reform, the industry may be doing more harm than good.