The Star hires experienced local government reporter to cover Missouri General Assembly
.jpg "The Kansas City Star has hired Jeanne Kuang to cover the Missouri General Assembly in Jefferson City.")
The Kansas City Star has hired Jeanne Kuang to cover the Missouri General Assembly in Jefferson City.
Kuang was previously a local government watchdog reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware. In Delaware’s largest city, she covered housing, inequality, police brutality protests and gun violence. Previously, she wrote about Illinois criminal justice issues and the courts at Injustice Watch, a nonprofit journalism outlet in Chicago
“I am humbled and excited to take on this position at The Star during such a turbulent time in our history, and follow in the footsteps of the great watchdog journalists who held the job before me,” Kuang said. “I take seriously my responsibility to tell ordinary people about their government and hold the powerful accountable.”
Kuang, a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, has also interned at the Sacramento Bee and the Chicago Tribune. She grew up in southern California.
She joins a team of reporters that includes Katie Bernard, who covers the Kansas Legislature in Topeka, Jonathan Shorman, lead political reporter, and Bryan Lowry, a Washington, D.C., correspondent for The Star and parent company McClatchy.
Kuang has already begun to report on state government and how decisions in Jefferson City impact residents across the state. She’s covered Gov. Mike Parson’s rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, explored Missouri’s unusual licensing system for assistant physicians and examined how a recent spate of extreme cold weather may portend high natural gas bills for Missouri and Kansas customers.
“Jeanne has already made her presence felt in Jefferson City,” said Star political editor Bill Turque, “and we’re excited about the kind of journalism she’s going to produce.”
