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.
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Austin's near-unanimous confirmation came despite concerns raised on both sides of the aisle that he hadn't been out of uniform for the legally mandated minimum seven-year period. -
Leaders, former officials and citizens voiced optimism with the dawn of the new U.S. administration. China's state news agency tweeted: "Good Riddance, Donald Trump!" -
The retired four-star Army general served in the military for 40 years including as the first Black general to lead U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East. -
Sean Urbanski, 25, was convicted of murdering Collins in 2017. Limitations in Maryland's hate crime statute that exempted Urbanski led to a change in the law. -
Together the group faces 42 counts related to the drinking water catastrophe roughly seven years ago. The crimes range from perjury to misconduct in office to involuntary manslaughter. -
Keller, 38, is facing three counts: obstructing law enforcement, knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. -
The number represents an uptick in National Guard troops that will be deployed to the area, but it could still fluctuate. -
A Minnesota judge cited the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as reason to have Derek Chauvin's trial start on March 8, while the other officers involved in Floyd's death will have their trial in August. -
Detective Joshua Jaynes, who secured the search warrant for Taylor's apartment, and Detective Myles Cosgrove, who federal investigators said fired the shot that killed her, have been terminated. -
Much of Dickey's work, including 1996's Sister, Sister, was centered on strong Black female characters. He wrote 29 books and sold more than 7 million copies worldwide.
