Brakkton Booker
Brakkton Booker is a National Desk reporter based in Washington, DC.
He covers a wide range of topics including issues related to federal social safety net programs and news around the mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
His reporting takes him across the country covering natural disasters, like hurricanes and flooding, as well as tracking trends in regional politics and in state governments, particularly on issues of race.
Following the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, Booker's reporting broadened to include a focus on young activists pushing for changes to federal and state gun laws, including the March For Our Lives rally and national school walkouts.
Prior to joining NPR's national desk, Booker spent five years as a producer/reporter for NPR's political unit. He spent most to the 2016 presidential campaign cycle covering the contest for the GOP nomination and was the lead producer from the Trump campaign headquarters on election night. Booker served in a similar capacity from the Louisville campaign headquarters of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2014. During the 2012 presidential campaign, he produced pieces and filed dispatches from the Republican and Democratic National conventions, as well as from President Obama's reelection site in Chicago.
In the summer of 2014, Booker took a break from politics to report on the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.
Booker started his career as a show producer working on nearly all of NPR's magazine programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and former news and talk show Tell Me More, where he produced the program's signature Barbershop segment.
He earned a bachelor's degree from Howard University and was a 2015 Kiplinger Fellow. When he's not on the road, Booker enjoys discovering new brands of whiskey and working on his golf game.
-
Life Care Center of Kirkland was told by federal authorities it would be assessed fines of $13,585 per day from Feb. 12 through March 27. The nursing home is linked to at least 37 COVID-19 deaths. -
Domingo's reported hospitalization comes days after he posted a message on Facebook saying it was his "moral obligation" to reveal he tested positive for the disease caused by the coronavirus. -
From Broadway plays to playwrights giving writing lessons to online courses from Ivy League schools, here's a look at some things (but not everything!) that have suddenly become free. -
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said the man who died from the coronavirus had underlying health issues. But he also said the state has seen an 88% increase in confirmed cases in the past 48 hours. -
Officials in San Francisco reversed course and are allowing dispensaries to stay open during the "shelter in place" order. New York made a similar declaration for its medical marijuana businesses. -
Trolls World Tour in April will be Comcast NBCUniversal's first film available at home on the same day as its global release. The company said some films in theaters will begin streaming Friday. -
Charles Scharf told lawmakers that the company's structure and culture "were problematic." But he projected confidence that it could win back the public's trust after years of scandals. -
U.S. officials said the people infected with the virus were isolated from the other passengers. The two evacuation flights landed at military bases in California and Texas. -
Slovenia's Dalila Jakupovic was trying to make the first round of the tournament set to open next week. She had trouble breathing and later told reporters, "I was really scared that I would collapse." -
The House intelligence chairman told NPR that President Trump should also be charged with obstruction: "It is difficult to imagine a more ironclad case of obstruction of Congress than this one."
