
POLITICO Announces 2025 Class of POLITICO Fellows
Brad Dayspring
EVP, Global Communications & Brand, POLITICO bdayspring@politico.com Melissa Cooke
Director of Communications, POLITICO mcooke@politico.com Dana Beckman
Communications Specialist, POLITICO dbeckman@politico.com
Tweets by POLITICOPress
POLITICO Announces 2025 Class of POLITICO Fellows
Announcement from POLITICO's Editorial Director for Diversity and Culture John Yearwood, Senior Managing Editor Sudeep Reddy, and Deputy Editor-in-Chief Joe Schatz:
Hi all,
We're thrilled to announce that Danny Nguyen and Cassandra Dumay will be joining us as 2025 POLITICO Fellows. Both journalists have distinguished themselves in reporting in Washington and elsewhere.
The POLITICO Fellows Program, among the most prestigious in the industry, trains young journalists in the fundamentals of covering politics, policy and power. The journalists rotate among various teams in the newsroom for one year and are then given the opportunity to apply for permanent positions with POLITICO if they successfully complete the program.
Since the program's inception in 2020, fellows have had a major impact on POLITICO's work. Their stories have been critical in our coverage of the 2024 presidential election, war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic, among so many others.
The program is part of POLITICO's extensive commitment to train the next generation of journalists. In addition to fellows, POLITICO employs dozens of student interns each year and sponsors the POLITICO Journalism Institute, an intensive training program to advance diversity across the industry and support the next generation of journalists in covering politics and policy.
'The fellowship program is a great way to bring super-talented young people into our newsroom,' said John Yearwood, editorial director for diversity and culture. 'We couldn't be happier with the 2025 class. It includes impressive emerging journalists who are poised to make important contributions to our profession.'
Meet our new fellows:
Danny Nguyen most recently covered local and national politics and anchored a newsletter for The Baltimore Banner. He joined the Banner from The Washington Post, where he reported on social issues, transportation and major breaking news, including the Baltimore Bridge collapse and the Microsoft/Crowdstrike outage. He was also a freelance reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, where his reporting on California's plans to scale back broadband service installations in low-income areas prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to restore funding to a pandemic-era internet expansion program. The San Francisco native graduated from Vanderbilt University with a biology degree in 2022. When he's not in the newsroom, you can usually find Danny weightlifting in the gym. He starts Feb. 4 on the Breaking News desk.
Cassandra Dumay has reported on her home state of Massachusetts for the Boston Globe — where she is currently a fellow with the investigative Spotlight team — as well as The MetroWest Daily News and Boston's local NPR station, GBH. She is a senior at Boston University majoring in journalism with a minor in political science. She previously received fellowships from ProPublica's Emerging Reporters Program, the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting and the National Association of Black Journalists. She is a former president of Boston University's Society of Professional Journalists. Cassandra, who recently returned from a summer study-abroad trip in Spain, interned with POLITICO's transportation team last fall. She loves hot wings almost as much as she loves hot scoops. She'll join us after graduation in June.
Please join us in congratulating them.
John
Sudeep
Joe

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Hill
35 minutes ago
- The Hill
Hundreds of HHS staff call on Kennedy to stop misinformation in wake of CDC shooting
More than 750 current and former staff of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are calling on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop 'spreading inaccurate health information' and do more to protect public health professionals in the wake of a shooting at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month. The letter sent Wednesday to Kennedy and members of Congress accused the secretary of endangering the nation's health and the lives of his employees with his rhetoric. The staff noted the Aug. 8 attack 'was not random.' 'The attack came amid growing mistrust in public institutions, driven by politicized rhetoric that has turned public health professionals from trusted experts into targets of villainization—and now, violence,' the letter noted. Law enforcement officials said the alleged shooter was distrustful of the COVID-19 vaccine and thought he had been harmed by it. The shooter allegedly fired 500 rounds, and about 200 struck six different CDC buildings, pockmarking windows across the main Atlanta campus. DeKalb County police officer David Rose was fatally shot, and the letter writers said they wanted to honor him. 'CDC is a public health leader in America's defense against health threats at home and abroad. When a federal health agency is under attack, America's health is under attack. When the federal workforce is not safe, America is not safe,' the letter stated. The staffers emphasized they signed the letter in their personal capacities, and some remained anonymous 'out of fear of retaliation and personal safety.' The signatories said Kennedy is 'complicit in dismantling America's public health infrastructure and endangering the nation's health.' They cited his rhetoric questioning the integrity of the CDC's workforce, disbanding of an expert vaccine advisory panel, false and misleading claims about the measles vaccine and mRNA vaccines, and the agency's firing of thousands of employees in a 'destroy-first-and-ask-questions-later manner.' HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kennedy posted a message to social media the day after the shooting expressing support for public health workers. 'No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,' he wrote. 'We are actively supporting CDC staff on the ground and across the agency. Public health workers show up every day with purpose — even in moments of grief and uncertainty.' Kennedy visited CDC headquarters and met with the agency's new director, Susan Monarez, two days after the shooting, a time when most employees were told to stay home and telework. Kennedy has yet to address misinformation about COVID vaccines. When asked directly about a plan to quell misinformation and prevent something like the CDC shooting from happening again during a Scripps News interview, Kennedy deflected any direct link. The letter asked Kennedy to 'cease and publicly disavow the ongoing dissemination of false and misleading claims about vaccines, infectious disease transmission, and America's public health institutions;' affirm the CDC's scientific integrity; and guarantee the safety of the HHS workforce. 'The deliberate destruction of trust in America's public health workforce puts lives at risk. We urge you to act in the best interest of the American people—your friends, your families, and yourselves,' the letter stated.


Fox News
37 minutes ago
- Fox News
END Mass Mail-in Voting
President Trump calls for an END to mail-in voting. I'm Tomi Lahren, more next. Mail-in voting existed before COVID and before 2020, particularly in California wherein residents are sent a mail-in ballot whether they request one or not. But in the dumbest year in modern American history, 2020, the mail-in voting SHAM went nationwide. The narrative was that while you could loot and riot for George Floyd IN PERSON, voting IN PERSON was too dangerous. Many states steamrolled the normal process of changing electoral protocols due to the COVID panic. And now, years after the pandemic, it seems as though we are STUCK with mass mail-in voting. But not if President Trump can help it. He posted on Truth Social that he will lead a movement to END mail-in voting and return to in-person paper ballots. He sees the old school way as much safer and simpler, and he's not wrong. While experts INSIST mail-in voting is secure, with all the issues with our postal system, combined with fraudsters and other nefarious antics, losing physical custody of your vote opens the door to FRAUD. And for what? The old way worked just fine and with few valid exceptions, and it's time we go back to it! I'm Tomi Lahren and you can watch my show 'Tomi Lahren is Fearless' at Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Republicans voted to slash Biden-era transportation grants. Their constituents aren't happy.
A city in southwestern Utah was poised to benefit from an $87.6 million federal grant to help reconnect neighborhoods split by an increasingly congested Interstate 15. But the money intended for the project in St. George vanished after President Donald Trump signed the GOP's massive tax and spending package last month. The solidly Republican community isn't alone. Across the country, the new law rescinded more than $2.2 billion in unobligated dollars from a $3.2 billion Biden-era program aimed at helping reconnect disadvantaged neighborhoods divided by roadways, according to records reviewed by POLITICO. Areas hit by the cuts include some represented by GOP lawmakers who voted for the law — in the latest example of Trump's most significant legislative triumph complicating life back home for his allies in Congress. In Bowling Green, Kentucky, the law canceled 93 percent of an $11 million grant meant to boost pedestrian safety on a roadway. In western Montana, it wiped out money aimed at improving a highway on the Flathead Indian Reservation and better connecting Missoula-area communities. And on Maryland's Eastern Shore, the law ended more than $4 million in funding that would have gone toward addressing similar concerns in two municipalities. It 'felt like the carpet was pulled out from underneath of us,' said Zack Tyndall, the mayor of Berlin, Maryland. Mayoral elections there are non-partisan. 'We're still trying to figure out how we can move forward.' In St. George, a short drive from Zion National Park's stunning views and sandstone cliffs, the $87.6 million would have helped address the increasingly busy interstate highway that bifurcates the rapidly growing city. Residents in the area voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2020 and 2024. But now they're feeling the impacts of Republicans' quest to scrub the government of Biden-era programs that conflict with Trump's priorities. 'There's a 2-mile stretch of that highway where you can't get through,' said Jimmie Hughes, a Republican City Council member in St. George. The project 'really was an answer to a lot of congestion. It's a little bit heartbreaking, but we're not giving up.' Hughes said his city may have been in a 'baby out with the bathwater' situation. Transportation Department spokesperson Nate Sizemore said in a statement that 'Congress was right to cancel' the grant program, saying it 'prioritized [diversity, equity and inclusion] and Green priorities while ignoring the core infrastructure needs of our country.' He added that DOT is 'removing Biden-era requirements that tied critical infrastructure funding to woke social justice and climate initiatives that diverted resources from the Department's core mission' — a priority of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. The target of the funding clawback is the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program, one of a series of provisions included in former President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act that seek to use federal dollars to ease long-standing social and economic inequities. But the grant program also sought to improve walkability and safety in places like St. George. 'This project allows for us to accommodate the increased demands in vehicular traffic to get across I-15,' said Shawn Guzman, director of government affairs for St. George. 'So, we think that this project falls squarely under the goals of Secretary Duffy and this administration's to use funding for needed infrastructure projects.' The rescinded money was part of a larger highway widening project that the state is spearheading to expand the lanes on I-15. The state still plans to move forward with the project, but it remains to be seen how much its scope will be scaled back if new funds aren't found, according to Kevin Kitchen, a spokesperson for the Utah Department of Transportation. "It is too early to determine the details of what that will look like without the $87.6 million,' Kitchen said. Spokespeople for Utah Republican Sens. John Curtis and Mike Lee didn't respond to a request for comment. Nor did one for GOP Rep. Celeste Maloy, who represents the St. George area and, like the senators, voted for the recent domestic policy law. Maloy heralded the bill generally when it cleared the House, counting the fact that it 'rescinds wasteful IRA dollars' as among the 'many wins for Utah.' The GOP legislation required that unobligated dollars awarded through the program be rescinded. That meant clawing back the vast majority of an $11 million grant meant to revamp a road in Bowling Green that was built in the 1980s, which 'cut through the heart of an economically disadvantaged community,' according to a DOT summary of awards. Pedestrian safety was the driving factor in applying for the money, said Brent Childers, the city's director of neighborhood and community services. He said the road left people unable to 'walk from one side of the neighborhood to the other.' The area is represented by House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), who voted in favor of the GOP reconciliation package. His panel played a key role in crafting the sprawling tax cuts and spending measure, though the provision that gutted this grant program originated in the House Transportation Committee. A spokesperson for Guthrie didn't respond to a request for comment. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), who also voted for the law, saw his western Montana district hit by cuts, too. A roughly $75 million award for a project pitched by the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes to reconstruct and improve a 2.9-mile stretch of roadway on the Flathead Indian Reservation had 84 percent of its funds rescinded. 'The highway is the primary transportation corridor through the reservation, linking members of the [tribes] and other residents to jobs, schools, medical care, and other essential destinations,' the DOT awards summary says. 'In its current condition, however, the road presents a significant barrier to community connectivity due to longstanding safety issues and a lack of adequate alternate routes.' The law also gutted all $24 million in federal grant money for a project in Zinke's district aimed at providing safer movement for people and cars from East Missoula to Missoula, including by reconstructing a railroad crossing bridge over a highway. That grant was the lion's share of the project's total cost of $30 million. Dave Strohmaier, a Democrat who is a Missoula County commissioner, described the move as 'basically a broad-brush keyword search' for programs that included language about issues such as DEI. 'In this particular case, without a doubt, the word 'equity' has a big bull's-eye on it,' he said. DOT's awards summary described the corridor as an 'outdated rural highway with a history of severe and fatal crashes that lacks safe, comfortable, and convenient multimodal facilities.' 'I would challenge the administration to look at what the actual projects did on the ground,' Strohmaier said. 'This project was all about bricks and mortar. What this project would do is rebuild a railroad crossing, construct sidewalks and build essential infrastructure that sets the stage for economic development. 'This has been identified as a huge safety hazard for literally decades,' he added. Spokespeople for Montana Republican Sens. Tim Sheehy and Steve Daines, who both voted for the law, didn't answer a request for comment. A spokesperson for Zinke also didn't. In Easton, Maryland, which is in the district of House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.), $3.3 million had been awarded through the Biden-era program to add sidewalks and tackle other issues in a highway corridor. But the new GOP law pulled that funding. And in the town of Berlin, which is also in Harris' district, the law yanked $950,000 in unobligated dollars from an already-awarded $1.2 million grant. That was for planning to tackle the 'barrier' created by U.S. Route 113, which bisects the municipality just west of Ocean City, Maryland. Tyndall, the mayor, said the road can be dangerous, citing a spot where a state trooper hit and killed a 16-year-old boy and injured his brother in 2013. The town wants to improve safety there — options include a pedestrian bridge, increased lighting or better crosswalks — and the grant was for thinking up ways to do this. The state, he added, is an 'avid partner' and 'the most willing party' to discuss how to make up the funding shortfall. When POLITICO first spoke with Tyndall, he said he had contacted Harris' office but didn't get a call back. The mayor said he finally got a response from Harris' district director after POLITICO emailed a spokesperson for comment. Tyndall said the staffer he spoke with didn't seem aware that the rescission was due to the GOP law. In a statement, a Harris spokesperson said the lawmaker has 'consistently demonstrated his commitment to providing appropriate constituent assistance while upholding fiscal responsibility.' Republicans aren't the only ones whose districts have been affected. A major effort in upstate New York to tear down an elevated section of Interstate 81 that runs through Syracuse also suffered a blow due to the law. The measure clawed back around 16 percent of a $180 million award, which was a relatively small piece of the overarching project. The raised portion of the highway, built more than 50 years ago, devastated Syracuse's 15th Ward, which was home to a majority of the city's Black residents. Joe Driscoll, the city's I-81 project director, said the rescinded money was poised to help revamp and improve infrastructure in a public housing community that the highway splits. Driscoll said he and others are looking for other pots of state or federal money to fill the $29.7 million gap. Rep. John Mannion (D-N.Y.), who represents the area and voted no on the reconciliation package, said in a statement to POLITICO that slashing the funding 'in the middle of construction to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy is bad policy and a betrayal of Syracuse and our region.' Solve the daily Crossword