Cardinal News has hired Samantha Verrelli as our new Roanoke Valley reporter.
Verrelli is a recent Penn State graduate with degrees in journalism and Spanish. She was an investigative reporter for The Daily Collegian at Penn State for four years and a freelance reporter with PennLive. She’s from outside Philadelphia.
She was part of a team of reporters who covered the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio (which sits on the border of Pennsylvania), including the cleanup, the railroad’s response and the lingering health and social effects on the community. Her other recent work includes reporting on understaffing and inmate deaths at state prisons, and on fraternity hazing problems at Penn State.
Verrelli will provide Cardinal News’ readers with on-the-ground coverage of our region’s largest metro area.
She can be reached at samantha@cardinalnews.org.
“We are so pleased to deepen our coverage of the Roanoke Valley, and to have Samantha join our staff, especially at a time when so many important issues are being debated and decided,” said Luanne Rife, executive director. “She has already demonstrated the ability to deeply report important stories.”
This is the ninth reporting position created to give the communities in Cardinal’s footprint the type of journalism they deserve. It was made possible through the support of Cardinal’s readers.
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