.

“We are thrilled to have had such a strong pool of candidates, and delighted that Holly will be joining the Midwest Newsroom as a KCUR employee,” Morris said. “Holly has extensive leadership in working with newsrooms across the Midwest and beyond, and will help to form and create a highly functional and collaborative team for the hub.”

The Midwest Newsroom is the fourth regional news “hub” created by NPR and Member stations, joining counterparts in Texas, California and the Gulf States of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

“We’re excited to see Holly join our team of stellar managing editors leading the hub newsrooms across the country,” NPR Managing Editor for Collaborative Journalism Kenya Young said. “The addition of the Midwest Newsroom to the collective with Holly at the helm ensures our mission to plan shared coverage and create stories that reach local, regional, and national audiences. Holly will be an agent of change in the Midwest region and I look forward to seeing how she shapes collaborative journalism within our network.”

With its focus on in-depth reporting, the new Midwest team will include a three-person investigative unit and two editors. The team will bring public service reporting to a region dominated by rural news deserts as local publications have fewer resources for extensive projects.

To support Edgell, KCUR and its collaboration partners will play a major role in bringing the regional newsroom to life, ensuring the region will be well-served by the investigative reporting produced through this new collaboration.

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