Straight-news journalism that works for taxpayers

Elyse Apel, a graduate of Hillsdale College, is a reporter for The Center Square covering Colorado, Minnesota, and Michigan. Her work has appeared in a range of national outlets, including the Washington Examiner, The American Spectator, and The Daily Wire.

With years of award-winning broadcast experience in the Springfield market, Greg Bishop now reports on Illinois government and other statewide issues for The Center Square.

​Bishop is a graduate in communication and political studies from the University of Illinois-Springfield. He lives just south of the Capital City with his wife Meghan where they garden, train for long-distance races, and travel across the Midwest attending various concerts.

Caroline Boda is a Content Marketing Writer, writing The Center Square’s flagship newsletter. She studied political science at Virginia Tech and is a native of Washington, D.C.

Thérèse Boudreaux is a staff reporter covering Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota for The Center Square. Previously, she interned at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Thérèse graduated with a degree in politics from Hillsdale College, where she was involved in both the newspaper and radio station.

Misty Castile is Louisiana editor and Southeastern regional editor for The Center Square. She has earned multiple honors from the Arkansas Press Association, and she contributed to a reporting team recognized with the RFK Human Rights Book and Journalism Awards Grand Prize and Domestic Print honors.

J.D. Davidson is the Midwest Regional Editor for The Center Square, responsible for Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. An Ohio native, J.D. is a veteran journalist with nearly 40 years of experience in newspapers in Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. He has served as a reporter, editor, managing editor and publisher. He can be reached at jdavidson@thecentersquare.com or 256-996-2238.

John Derr has spent more than three decades in media leadership, advertising, and revenue development, with a career focused on supporting sustainable journalism at the local and regional level.

Most recently, John served in dual roles with the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association: as Director of Sales for MANSI Media, the association’s advertising and media services agency, and as Director of Strategic Partnerships for PNA. In those capacities, he worked closely with publishers, advertisers, agencies, and nonprofit organizations to develop integrated print and digital advertising strategies, collaborate on new initiatives, and build long-term partnerships across Pennsylvania and beyond.

Previously, John was Publisher of the Chestnut Hill Local and Vice President of Sales and Marketing at LNP | LancasterOnline, where he led both traditional and digital revenue efforts. He began his career in news media at Montgomery Newspapers in suburban Philadelphia.

John is a graduate of Grove City College in Pennsylvania. He is also the author of Another Christmas Carol. He resides in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

You can contact John at jderr@thecentersquare.com or 717.826.1501.

Randy Diamond is a veteran reporter with more than three decades of experience. He has covered state government in New Jersey, the tourism and energy industries in Texas, the aviation industry nationally and the complex world of institutional investing globally. He has traveled around the world and also enjoys writing the occasional travel story.

Johnny Edwards is an investigative reporter for The Center Square covering the southeastern states. He is a lifelong Southerner who spent 10 years on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s investigative team, then worked as an on-air I-Team reporter for the city's FOX TV station. Johnny and his wife have an adult daughter and live outside Atlanta in DeKalb County.

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Paul Elders brings more than 15 years of combined experience between video, radio, and online streaming. Paul went to Illinois State University where he graduated with a BS in Television Production and a Minor in Film. Starting out as a camera operator, Paul's passion for learning more led him to become a producer while continuing to grow his technical knowledge by creating his own small freelancing business. Paul also spent some time working in public service for the State of Illinois in the Department of Revenue and the Office of the Treasurer. Paul takes pride in getting things done, and being able to improvise when the need arises. Specializing in video, Paul has dabbled in other fields such as computer networking, radio journalism, and audio engineering, making him a well rounded problem solver. Paul loves engaging with clients and working with them to bring their visions to life, and believes that journalism is the most important private-public service that one can do for the sake of taxpayers.

Tim Clouser is The Center Square’s Eastern Washington reporter. He attended Washington State University, where he served in various roles with the local newspaper and covered the statehouse and eastern half of the state for outlets such as The Columbian Basin Herald, NonStopLocal, and The Daily Beast.

Kate Guenther brings over a decade of experience supporting news organizations in content management, digital marketing, and user design. As the Director of Design and Visual Marketing at the Franklin News Foundation, Kate leads the creation and execution of visual communication strategies. Kate has been instrumental in the redesigns of the Franklin News Foundation, The Center Square, and BlueRoomStream websites, leading the team through conceptualization, design, development, and final launch.

Kate holds a B.A. in Electronic Filmmaking and Digital Video Design from Fairleigh Dickinson University and has earned certificates in digital marketing, UX design, and UI design.

Shirleen Guerra is a staff reporter for The Center Square. Shirleen attended Odessa College, where she completed an apprenticeship through The Odessa American, where she previously freelanced.

Adam Herbets is an investigative reporter who covers the Western United States. He previously worked at television stations in California, Nevada, and Utah.  Adam's reporting has created new state laws, led to criminal convictions, changed government policies, and removed officials from powerful positions. He is the recipient of twelve Emmy Awards and one Edward R. Murrow Award. He is a proud Eagle Scout and insufferable Philadelphia sports fan.

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Sam Housman is an award-winning editor, photographer, and graphic designer with over 10 years of experience. As a jack-of-all-trades media specialist, Sam brings an engaging sense of storytelling to all he does.

Kim Jarrett’s career spans over 30 years with stops in radio, print and television. She has won awards from both the Georgia Press Association and the Georgia Association of Broadcasters.

Carleen Johnson is The Center Square's Washington state Associate Editor. She has 31 years of experience in broadcast journalism in the Puget Sound region, including 27 years in Seattle news radio and 5 years as a traffic reporter for several radio stations in the area in the mid-1990s.

Art Kane has been a reporter, editor, producer and executive producer at top metro news outlets for more than three decades. His work has resulted in indictments, removal of corrupt officials and changes to state law. He has been honored with a Peabody, two duPont-Columbia awards, Sigma Delta Chi award and twice voted outstanding Journalist of the Year by the Nevada Press Foundation. He is also the author of The Last Story: The Murder of an Investigative Journalist in Las Vegas (2024 WildBlue Press) which chronicles the murder of a colleague at the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the conviction of an elected official for the murder. He lives with his wife and two rescue dogs outside of Las Vegas.

Eliana assists in the operational and strategic functions of the Audio & Video department, ensuring projects are executed efficiently and to a high standard.

Eliana’s journey in media began at WRFH during her time at Hillsdale College. Fascinated by content development and audio production, she flourished as a newscaster, crafted history features, and eventually became News Director and Promotions Director. After graduating with a B.A. in History from Hillsdale College in 2022 and spending a year teaching 4th grade, her passion for producing audio content brought her to the ATN team.

Keegan Kernodle went to Boise State University where he graduated with a B.A. in Media arts with an emphasis in production and a certificate in innovation and design. During his time there he worked for their University Television Production working as a camera operator, technical director, and video editor. After school Keegan has worked on a variety of freelance video projects while working other careers. Keegan takes pride in being adaptable and able to learn new skills on the fly.

TJ Martinell is a native to Washington and has been reporting in the state since his high school days. At The Center Square, he has investigated the state’s election security, voter fraud, government contracts, crime statistics, environmental policies, and state sex offender regulations. He has worked at a variety of publications, including weekly traditional newspapers and daily online news sites. His work has been recognized numerous times by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and the Society for Professional Journalists.

Dave Mason is the Western States Regional Editor for The Center Square. He oversees coverage in states such as California, Colorado and Arizona. Dave is a longtime journalist who has written about news, entertainment, politics, health care and more. He has worked at newspapers in California, where he was the managing editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press.

Nolan studied Communications and Politics at Grand Valley State University. He is a Michigan native, born and raised in Canton.

Andrew Paxton is dedicated to journalism that serves the public interest. His work has been recognized by multiple state and national media organizations during his time as a reporter and editor in Arizona and Washington state.

Sean Reed is a journalist from the Chicago suburbs. He began his reporting career working as Multimedia Editor at his college newspaper – Northern Star – before moving to the State Capital, where he now reports on the legislature.

Andrew Rice is an apprentice reporter for The Center Square based in Washington, DC. He has worked in various newsrooms covering politics, government and the courts for the past four years. Originally from North Carolina, he is a proud graduate of Appalachian State University, where he studied journalism and political science.

Sarah Roderick-Fitch is The Center Square’s Washington D.C. Bureau Chief. She has previously worked as an editor, and has been a contributing writer for several publications. In addition to writing and editing, Sarah spent nearly a decade working for non-profit, public policy organizations in the Washington, DC area.

She earned a B.A. in Communications with an emphasis on rhetorical theory and criticism and persuasion from Western Illinois University. Sarah is a central Illinois native, who has lived all over the country, and abroad. She now resides in Northern Virginia.

Brett Rowland is an award-winning journalist who has worked as an editor and reporter in newsrooms in Illinois and Wisconsin. He is an investigative reporter for The Center Square.

Bio: Geoffrey Rozo is a Data Analyst for The Center Square. He brings extensive experience in business operations with a focus on data quality and automation. Where others see overwhelming, chaotic datasets, Geoffrey sees an exciting challenge to create order from disorder, transforming messy, fragmented data into the high-quality foundations necessary for informed decision-making. He values the importance of clean, organized data and is passionate about building tools that eliminate manual effort through automated approaches.

Throughout his career, he has maintained high-quality data across various industries in the Chicagoland area. This experience includes managing employee data at BMO, sports video data at Stats Perform, and online shopping data for Fit Analytics.

Geoffrey holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Elmhurst College and an M.S. in Data Science from Northwestern University. Geoffrey resides in Indianapolis with his wife and two cats.

Christian Russell has worked in traditional and digital media for over 8 years with experience in Podcasting, Radio, Television and Social Media. Through his time in media production Christian has worked as a video producer and show producer for National Figures in news and broadcast. Christian holds three BAs in Communication Theory Studies, TV/Video Production and Broadcast Journalism from SUNY Plattsburgh.

Madeline Shannon covers state and local government in California for The Center Square. Originally from Central California, she’s worked as a reporter up and down the West Coast reporting on local news, local and state government, education and arts and entertainment. She has journalism degrees from California State University, Fresno, The Academy of Art University and the Missouri School of Journalism at The University of Missouri, Columbia.

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Christen is Pennsylvania editor for The Center Square newswire service and co-host of Pennsylvania in Focus, a weekly podcast on America’s Talking Network. Find her work in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Broad + Liberty, RealClear, the Washington Examiner and elsewhere.

Mark Stricherz is an investigative reporter for The Center Square. He is the author of Why the Democrats are Blue (Encounter Books, 2007) and is working on a book about the Jonestown massacre of 1978.

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Jared Strong is an investigative reporter for The Center Square based in the Midwest. He is a lifelong Iowan who has worked for news organizations -- big and small -- for more than 20 years. He and his wife have three children, a small flock of chickens and an old Case tractor.

Jon is a reporter who covers news in Tennessee, Wisconsin and West Virginia along with publicly financed sports stadiums, arenas and projects across the country with a taxpayer focus. Jon has been a reporter and editor in Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms and at The Center Square over the past 20 years.

Darren Svan covers state, parish, and city government in north Louisiana for The Center Square. He previously served as an education reporter focused on holding state government accountable in Boise, Idaho; as a news editor and staff reporter, he’s covered a wide variety of topics in the Mountain West states of Wyoming and Colorado. His professional background spans public education, business ventures and service in the public sector supporting the U.S. military.

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Morgan Sweeney is a staff writer covering Virginia and Maryland for The Center Square. Morgan was an active member of the journalism program as an undergraduate at Hillsdale College and previously freelanced for The Center Square.

Jim Talamonti has worked for years as a reporter covering news, sports and traffic for the Illinois Radio Network along with other media outlets, networks and sports franchises.

Ford Turner is a longtime reporter who covers the state Capitol in Harrisburg for The Center Square. He previously worked for newspapers in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Reading, and his many recognitions include the Pennsylvania Distinguished Writing Award.

Alton Wallace has reported on state and local government, global energy markets, and U.S. private markets at Gulf Coast Newspapers, Condo Owner Magazine, DTN Marketwire, LP Allocator, and other companies over 15 years while working in Alabama, Texas, and Florida.

Currently an Education Reporter for The Center Square, focusing on video, Esther brings over five years of experience in journalism. Esther is originally from Southern California, but graduated with honors from The King's College in New York City. Her work has been featured by FOX News, AOL, Washington Examiner, AMNY, the Villager and Religion Unplugged, among others.

Alan Wooten has been a publisher, general manager and editor. His work has appeared in newspapers every year since 1977, and he’s won national or state awards in every decade since the 1980s. He’s a proud graduate of Elon University and Farmville Central High in North Carolina.