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.
-
The cremated remains arrived with ceremony in a motorcade with members of Sicknick's family and were carried by colleagues into the Capitol. His urn rests on a pedestal next to a U.S. flag.
-
Linda Thomas-Greenfield was grilled by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about a speech she gave at a Chinese-backed institution on the campus of Savannah State University in 2019.
-
Protesters took to the streets of Tacoma, Wash., after several people were struck and at least two were injured. The officer was placed on paid administrative leave.
-
Leaders, former officials and citizens expressed optimism with the dawn of the new U.S. administration. China's state news agency tweeted: "Good Riddance, Donald Trump!"
-
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.
-
"I think you can expect to see somewhere upwards of beyond 20,000 members of the National Guard that will be here in the footprint of the District of Columbia," D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said.
-
Roy Austin Jr. will fill the new position, which was created by Facebook after a scathing audit released in July 2020 concluded the company's policies had caused "serious setbacks for civil rights."
-
Pittman is the first woman and the first African American to lead the law enforcement agency, U.S. Capitol Police confirm to NPR. She has served with the force since April 2001.
-
Brian Sicknick was a 42-year-old military veteran who had served in the Capitol Police for 12 years, according to a lawmaker, who said he "gave his life in the line of duty to keep us safe."
-
Police yielded to the almost entirely white mob of pro-Trump insurrectionists as they stormed the Capitol. Protesters for racial justice see a contrast with how their demonstrations were policed.