CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — States Newsroom today announces the hiring of two veteran political journalists to lead its news outlets in North Carolina and Alaska. Claire Stremple, a former Alaska Beacon reporter, returns as editor, and Laura Leslie will step in as the new editor of NC Newsline.  

Both outlets are part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, with reporters in all 50 capitals plus Washington, D.C. States Newsroom’s headquarters are in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Washington, D.C.

“We’re thrilled about both of these hires,” said Chris Fitzsimon, publisher and CEO of States Newsroom. “In North Carolina, few journalists can touch Laura’s knowledge of state politics. And in Alaska, we’ve long appreciated Claire’s reporting and leadership, so we’re grateful to have her back leading the Beacon.” 

Laura Leslie

Leslie, one of North Carolina’s top television and radio reporters, has covered politics and policy in the state for 21 years and has extensive experience with multimedia journalism. For the past 14 years, she was the capitol bureau chief at WRAL, the NBC television affiliate in Raleigh.

At WRAL, Leslie helped launch NCCapitol, the station’s multimedia hub for state political reporting, spanning video, digital, podcasting and social media. It was the first venture of its kind by any television station in the country. 

Before that, Leslie was capitol bureau chief at WUNC public radio from 2004 to 2011, where she authored the award-winning political blog, “Isaac Hunter’s Tavern,” beginning in 2006.

The Emmy Award-winning journalist also has received accolades from the Associated Press, Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas, and Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). She has been ranked among the top political reporters in the nation by the Washington Post.

“I’m excited to join NC Newsline and honored to work with its award-winning staff,” Leslie said. “At a time when so many traditional media outlets are shrinking, States Newsroom is expanding its coverage of policy debates that affect readers’ everyday lives.”

Leslie replaces Rob Schofield, who retired in August after eight years as editor.  

Claire Stremple 

Stremple is a former Alaska Beacon reporter and the current managing editor of public radio station KTOO-FM in Juneau. 

Stremple worked at the Beacon from spring 2023 through fall 2024 after prior work as a reporter for KTOO and KHNS-FM public radio in Haines, Alaska. 

While at KTOO, she won the Alaska Press Club’s 2022 Public Service Award for reporting that exposed a large backlog at Alaska’s Division of Public Assistance. After leaving the Beacon in 2024, she returned to KTOO as its managing editor.

Stremple got her start in public radio at KALW in San Francisco. She is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz and holds a master’s degree from New York University in Paris.

Stremple said she is glad to be returning to the Beacon and coverage of the state capitol. “There’s a lot of opportunity for investigative work there, and that prospect is really exciting to me.”

Stremple, who starts her new role Oct. 20, replaces the Beacon’s founding editor, Andrew Kitchenman, who left in August to join the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

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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