Join the WMRA Freelance Corps!
Sustainability Matters
Do you have journalism experience you'd like to put to work researching, reporting, and relaying local news stories with accuracy and context to local NPR listeners?
Apply to join the ranks of our freelance reporters!
Send a brief introduction and a few examples of your published work to Assistant News Editor, Randi B. Hagi (hagirb@jmu.edu) to be considered and learn more about our freelancer program.
We pay per-story for original, local, fact-checked radio pieces that illuminate the region's current events for our listeners.
Recent stories from our freelance reporters
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September is Hunger Action Month, a nationwide campaign highlighting the urgent need to end hunger. WMRA's Calvin Pynn spoke with Les Sinclair, Communications Manager for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank about food needs in our region and the efforts underway to address those needs. -
SNAP-Ed is a federally funded program that helps people learn how to be physically active and cook healthy meals. The program also helps people use their food assistance benefits, known as SNAP, more efficiently. But the SNAP-Ed program has been cut in this year’s massive budget bill, along with record cuts to SNAP itself. WMRA’s Ayse Pirge reports. -
The Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton celebrated contributions to American independence from the people of Virginia’s Frontier ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary... Candidates for Virginia’s lieutenant governor are making their pitches to local leaders... Democrats disagree with Governor Glenn Youngkin’s positive outlook on the state’s economy ... Meanwhile, the Virginia Department of Corrections struggles to fill open jobs... And Radio IQ Politics Analyst Jeff Schapiro and Michael Pope recap the week in politics and state government -
The Harrisonburg City Council has postponed a rezoning request for a controversial property downtown... Public school enrollment is expected to decline in the next decade... The E-P-A is cancelling a program that would expand solar energy... The Wildlife Center of Virginia released two bald eagles that were in its care... And near Richmond, federal immigration agents detained the 19-year-old son of an Afghan refugee
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The Harrisonburg City Council has postponed a request to rezone a property downtown. They plan to vote on the matter in September after collecting more information about a controversial six-story apartment building design. WMRA’s Bridget Manley reports. -
The University of Virginia’s student council declared “no confidence” in the school’s board of visitors... A jury trial for executives of the company Nexus has been delayed again... Governor Glenn Youngkin has ordered stronger oversight of Virginia nursing homes... The Republican candidate for governor is accused of violating disclosure laws... And the ACLU is suing the state of Virginia over disenfranchisement of felons
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The Virginia National Guard will begin training with ICE this month... The Wildlife Center of Virginia will release two bald eagles... Poll workers are being recruited ahead of election season... A former associate of the embattled company Nexus has opened a 3D printing business... Higher education is hot topic among candidates running for the Virginia House of Delegates... And community leaders got a chance to meet the new executive director for the Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro Habitat for Humanity
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The University of Virginia ends a decades-long program for low-income students... People may be leaving the state of Virginia as its considered a high tax state... A controversial data center proposed for Northern Virginia is on hold... The Virginia Department of Social Services shared SNAP applicants data with the federal government... And Williamsburg launched an outreach program to serve people without housing...
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The cost of health care through the health insurance marketplace is likely to increase... Virginia Republicans are embracing early voting... Virginia Commonwealth University removes references to race in scholarships... Researchers at Old Dominion University discover 5,000 year old sand dunes... Students learn how to care for animals at the Wildlife Center of Virginia... And politics analyst Jeff Schapiro and Michael Pope recap the week in politics and state government...
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Many women are on the ballot in Virginia this fall... The town of New Market is developing a commissary kitchen... A team at UVA is working on a better weather forecasting system... And the Rappahannock Indian Tribe celebrates after obtaining a thousand of acres of ancestral land...
