WASHINGTON — States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, today announced new leadership appointments that reflect its recent expansion into all 50 states. Andrea Shaw has been promoted to Editorial Director, and Lara Weber has been hired as Communications Director. Both are new positions.

“This has been a pivotal year of growth for States Newsroom, and our strengthened leadership team shows our commitment to supporting our journalists across all 50 states and in Washington, especially as we cover this volatile election season,” said Publisher Chris Fitzsimon.

Shaw oversees more than 200 journalists across the country, the Washington Bureau and Stateline. Shaw is a North Carolina native who spent 23 years at The Times-Picayune in New Orleans as senior editor, reporter and bureau chief. She was part of the team of journalists awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2006 after chronicling Hurricane Katrina and its deadly, chaotic aftermath. She joined States Newsroom in 2020 and most recently served as Senior National Editor.

“There is no one with a stronger vision for our network and the role it can play in the nation’s news infrastructure than Andrea Shaw,” said States Newsroom Chief Operating Officer Andrea Verykoukis. “At this stage of the organization’s evolution, it’s critical we have someone with the highest standards and aspirations overseeing all of our news offerings. We’re grateful Andrea is willing to take on this work.”

Weber oversees public relations and external communications for States Newsroom. A veteran journalist who worked for more than 25 years at the Chicago Tribune as an editor, newsroom leader and member of the Editorial Board, Weber most recently was vice president of global content for Seattle-based WE Communications.

“Our reporters and editors work fiercely every day to cover policy and politics from our state capitals and Washington. As a longtime journalist, Lara understands the work,” Verykoukis said. “Respected across the industry, she is well-poised to lift the visibility and reach of our newsrooms.”

Shaw is based in Chapel Hill, and Weber is based in Chicago.

About States Newsroom

States Newsroom is the nation’s largest nonprofit news organization. We shine a light on policy and politics in state capitals around the nation and we provide that coverage for free, no pop-ups, paywalls or ads. In an era of rampant disinformation and news deserts, we provide nonpartisan coverage of the state issues that most affect people’s daily lives.

Leading studies cite States Newsroom as key to filling the void in coverage left by staffing cuts at legacy media outlets. According to one study, the overall percentage of reporters working for nonprofit newsrooms in the statehouse press corps has more than tripled since 2014 and now makes up the largest portion of statehouse reporters in 10 states and the second largest in 17 states.

We run — or partner with — news outlets in all 50 state capitals.

We fully fund newsrooms in 39 states, each with its own website. They are:

Alabama Reflector – alabamareflector.com
Alaska Beacon – alaskabeacon.com
Arizona Mirror – azmirror.com
Arkansas Advocate – arkansasadvocate.com
Colorado Newsline – coloradonewsline.com
Florida Phoenix – floridaphoenix.com
Georgia Recorder – georgiarecorder.com
Idaho Capital Sun – idahocapitalsun.com
Indiana Capital Chronicle – indianacapitalchronicle.com
Iowa Capital Dispatch – iowacapitaldispatch.com
Kansas Reflector – kansasreflector.com
Kentucky Lantern – kentuckylantern.com
Louisiana Illuminator – lailluminator.com
Maine Morning Star – mainemorningstar.com
Maryland Matters – marylandmatters.org
Michigan Advance – michiganadvance.com
Minnesota Reformer – minnesotareformer.com
Missouri Independent – missouriindependent.com
Daily Montanan – dailymontanan.com
Nebraska Examiner – nebraskaexaminer.com
Nevada Current – nevadacurrent.com
New Hampshire Bulletin – newhampshirebulletin.com
New Jersey Monitor – newjerseymonitor.com
Source New Mexico – sourcenm.com
NC Newsline – ncnewsline.com
North Dakota Monitor – northdakotamonitor.com
Ohio Capital Journal – ohiocapitaljournal.com
Oklahoma Voice – oklahomavoice.com
Oregon Capital Chronicle – oregoncapitalchronicle.com
Pennsylvania Capital-Star – penncapital-star.com
Rhode Island Current – rhodeislandcurrent.com
South Carolina Daily Gazette – scdailygazette.com
South Dakota Searchlight – southdakotasearchlight.com
Stateline – stateline.org
Tennessee Lookout – tennesseelookout.com
Utah News Dispatch – utahnewsdispatch.com
Virginia Mercury – virginiamercury.com
Washington State Standard – washingtonstatestandard.com
West Virginia Watch – westvirginiawatch.com
Wisconsin Examiner – wisconsinexaminer.com

States Newsroom also has content-sharing agreements with 11 leading nonprofit newsrooms: CalMatters (California), Connecticut Mirror, Spotlight Delaware, Honolulu Civil Beat, Capitol News Illinois, CommonWealth Beacon (Massachusetts), Mississippi Today, New York Focus, The Texas Tribune, VTDigger (Vermont), and WyoFile (Wyoming).

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