VTDigger hires political, policy and regional reporters

Vermont’s largest newsroom, VTDigger, has hired several new reporters and promoted others to new positions, the nonprofit announced Wednesday. 

The hires come as VTDigger continues to expand its newsgathering operations. So far this year, the online-only organization has created three positions in the newsroom — deputy managing editor, Franklin/Grand Isle regional reporter and Chittenden regional reporter — increasing its ranks to 24 journalists. 

Leading VTDigger’s coverage of the Vermont Statehouse, executive branch, congressional delegation and elections will be newly named political reporters Lola Duffort and Sarah Mearhoff. 

Duffort has worked for VTDigger since July 2018, covering education and — for the past 18 months — playing an integral role in the organization’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. She previously reported for the Concord Monitor and the Rutland Herald. 

Mearhoff has served as a political reporter for Forum News Service since October 2018, first in South Dakota and most recently in Minnesota. Prior to that, she was a legislative relief reporter for the Associated Press in Mississippi and a government accountability reporter for the Ithaca Journal in Ithaca, N.Y. 

VTDigger has also added three reporters to its state policy team: Liora Engel-Smith will cover health care; Emma Cotton will cover energy, the environment and climate change; and Peter D’Auria will succeed Duffort in covering education. 

Engel-Smith, who holds graduate degrees in public health and journalism, got her start as a researcher for a pharmaceutical company. After moving to journalism, she covered education for Iowa’s Muscatine Journal and then health care for New Hampshire’s Keene Sentinel. Most recently, Engel-Smith was a rural health reporter for North Carolina Health News, an online nonprofit. 

Cotton, a Report for America corps member, has spent the past year covering Rutland and Bennington counties as a regional reporter for VTDigger. Prior to that, she was a general assignment reporter for the Addison County Independent and an assistant editor for VT Sports Magazine and VT Ski + Ride Magazine. 

D’Auria has spent the past two years covering Hudson County, N.J., for the Jersey Journal. He previously worked for the Chilkat Valley News in Alaska and interned for Willamette Week in Oregon. Before dedicating himself to journalism, D’Auria spent several years teaching English in Banda Aceh, Indonesia and French Guiana. 

Replacing Cotton as one of VTDigger’s two southern Vermont regional reporters — focusing on Rutland and Bennington counties — will be Tiffany Tan. She has covered crime and justice for the Bennington Banner since November 2018 and previously held a similar beat at South Dakota’s Rapid City Journal. Tan launched her journalism career as a producer for an investigative television program in the Philippines and subsequently worked as a reporter and copy editor for news outlets in Singapore and China. 

VTDigger now has six regional reporters deployed throughout the state, covering local and regional news in two-thirds of Vermont’s counties. 

Riley Robinson will also join VTDigger’s staff as a general assignment and multimedia reporter. A recent graduate of Northeastern University, Robinson interned for VTDigger over the summer through the Dow Jones News Fund program, contributing stories, videos and photographs. She will assist Duffort and Mearhoff in Statehouse coverage this winter. 

Anne Galloway, VTDigger’s founder and editor-in-chief, said she was pleased to welcome the new hires and to see valued members of the existing news team take on new roles. 

“We’re fortunate to be able to recruit top-notch talent to VTDigger,” Galloway said. “Vermonters will surely benefit from the work these dedicated journalists will do on their behalf.” 

Cotton and Engel-Smith took on their new roles in August. Duffort and Tan will do so in September. Mearhoff, D’Auria and Robinson will join VTDigger’s staff in October.