The University of Maryland’s Capital News Service bureaus in Annapolis and Washington are now operating for the spring semester. Adrianne Flynn is the new director of the Annapolis bureau. She can be reached at 410- 626-1008, or by e-mail at aflynn@acns.umd.edu. Steve Crane is the director of the Washington bureau and can be reached at 202-628-1677, or by e-mail at scrane@jmail.umd.edu.
The Annapolis bureau will be staffed by eight students and the Washington bureau will be staffed by six students. Additionally, an online version of the service, Maryland Newsnet, will continue to be produced by students in College Park. Maryland Newsnet is on the Internet at www.newsnet.umd.edu.
Following are brief biographical sketches of the new staffers: ANNAPOLIS BUREAU: ADRIANNE FLYNN, 39, is the bureau director for Annapolis. She comes to Capital News Service from the Arizona Republic, where she covered Capitol Hill and the Arizona delegation for four years. Locally, Flynn has worked for the Washington Times, covering the District of Columbia, and the Montgomery Journal. Prior to moving to Maryland in 1993, she was county and political reporter for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News. Flynn began her career at the Mesa (Ariz.) Tribune as a copy editor, and held nearly every beat at that paper during her seven years there. She is a 1982 graduate of Arizona State University and a 1979 graduate of Williamsport (Pa.) Area Community College. She is a Pennsylvania native. MARIA BURNHAM, a 23-year-old graduate student in the College of Journalism, will cover welfare, social services and the Prince George’s County delegation. She has written for the Gazette and Sentinel newspapers in Prince George’s County, the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger and the Washington Times. Originally from Mississippi, Burnham graduated from Louisiana State University where she worked at the student newspaper in various positions. She expects to graduate in 1999. MELINDA DESLATTE, 23, is a graduate student in the College of Journalism, who will cover transportation, public works and the Harford County delegation. Originally from New Orleans, Deslatte earned her undergraduate degree in mass communication from Louisiana State University, where she was managing editor of the student newspaper. In the past two years, she has interned at the Birmingham (Ala.) News, the Washington Times, washingtonpost.com and The Advocate in Baton Rouge, La. Deslatte expects to graduate from the University of Maryland in May 1999. STEPHANIE DOSTER, 28, a native of Annapolis, is a graduate student in public affairs reporting. She received her bachelor’s degree in international relations from Syracuse University in 1992 and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkmenistan, where she taught English to members of the health care community from 1994 to 1996. After her Peace Corps service, she traveled throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. She speaks Russian. Doster worked last fall as an editorial assistant at the American Journalism Review. She will be covering environmental and agricultural issues and the Eastern Shore delegation for Capital News Service. BRIDGET GUTIERREZ, 26, is in her final year of graduate study at the University of Maryland College of Journalism. The Baltimore City native will cover business development and Baltimore County issues from the CNS bureau in Annapolis. After graduating from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 1994, Gutierrez worked for a Fortune 500 company for two years before deciding to return to school to pursue a career in journalism. She spent the past year as an editorial assistant at the American Journalism Review, where she wrote and fact-checked articles. Gutierrez is looking forward to obtaining her master’s degree in May and landing her first job as a reporter. NATALIE HOPKINSON, 22, is a graduate student in the public affairs reporting program at the University of Maryland, College Park. She lived in Canada, Indiana and Florida before moving to Washington, D.C., to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science from Howard University in 1998. She has interned at the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Wall Street Journal. She will be covering crime and courts and the delegations from Carroll and Howard counties. LIZA PORTEUS, 20, is a junior journalism major at the University of Maryland. She has been a staff writer, copy editor and news editor of the campus daily newspaper, The Diamondback, and a reporter and shift producer for the campus radio station, WMUC. A native of Albany, N.Y., Porteus was an intern at the Community News in Clifton Park, N.Y., and at WRGB News Channel 6 in Schenectady, N.Y., before college. She will cover politics as well as federal and state relations. She will also cover the Southern Maryland delegation. LISA RAMIREZ, 26, is a graduate student in the public affairs reporting program at the University of Maryland. A native of Chicago, she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Columbia College – Chicago in 1995. For the last three years, she has worked at the News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Ind., where her duties included general assignment reporting, education reporting and, most recently, health reporting. Ramirez will cover health and medicine as well as the Montgomery County delegation in Annapolis. CHILDS WALKER, 22, is a graduate student in public affairs reporting at the University of Maryland. He graduated in May from Emory University (Ga.), where he served for two years as sports editor of the Emory Wheel. While at Emory, Walker also interned at the Atlanta bureau of the New York Times, where he worked closely with Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg. He most recently worked part-time on the high school sports desk at the Washington Post. Walker wants to cover either sports or general assignment features for a daily newspaper. He will be covering education and the Western Maryland delegation. WASHINGTON BUREAU: A.C. BENSON, 28, is a graduate student at the University of Maryland College of Journalism. Originally from Anne Arundel County, he graduated from the University of Delaware in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Benson came to the University of Maryland after serving five years as an Army officer, where he led a tank platoon and was on a general’s staff. He interned this winter at a newspaper in Breckenridge, Colo. He will cover the environment and agricultural issues and will Reps. Roscoe Bartlett and Wayne Gilchrest. AMY JETER, 24, is a graduate student in public affairs reporting at the University of Maryland who received her bachelor’s degree in political science and history at Rice University in Houston. She interned at the American Journalism Review last summer and fall and has also been published in London’s Financial Times, the Albuquerque (N.M.) Tribune, Albuquerque Monthly Magazine and the Gazette newspapers. She will cover crime and justice, as well as Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Rep. Robert Ehrlich. AMANDA JONES, 23, a graduate student in public affairs reporting, will cover education and Rep. Steny Hoyer. Originally from the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Jones graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1995 with a degree in mathematics and education. She also holds a master’s degree in education and spent the past two years as a junior high school math teacher in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. She has written for the Connection newspapers in northern Virginia, the Gazette in Maryland and the Diamondback. KERI P. MATTOX, 23, a native of Philadelphia, is a graduate student in the public affairs reporting program at the University of Maryland. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Boston University in 1998. Mattox worked in Paris as a press intern for the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works before coming to the university, where she was an editorial assistant at the American Journalism Review last summer and fall. She will cover business and economic development, with an emphasis on science and technology issues, and will follow Sen. Paul Sarbanes and Rep. Constance Morella. BETH A. PERRETTA, 24, a native of Connecticut, is a graduate student in the public affairs reporting program at the University of Maryland who will cover health and medicine issues and Rep. Albert Wynn. Perretta has free-lanced for the Connection newspapers in northern Virginia and for the campus daily, The Diamondback. She graduated with honors from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies in 1996. Perretta worked at the U.S. Catholic Conference on education and telecommunications policy for a year between her undergraduate and graduate studies. KRISTIN VAUGHAN, 25, will cover welfare and social services, with a special emphasis on children and family issues, as well as Reps. Elijah Cummings and Benjamin Cardin. The Columbia resident is a graduate fellow of the Casey Journalism Center for Children and Families. Vaughan was a municipal reporter and night cops reporter for The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, and before that she covered several school districts and municipalities in Montgomery County, Pa., as a two-year Philadelphia Inquirer correspondent. A 1995 graduate of Howard University, she has interned at Knight-Ridder’s Washington bureau, The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer and the Kansas City Star.
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