Lucia Cheng
News FellowExpertise: Reporting, producing and photographing stories affecting the Des Moines metro area, all in order to help IPR listeners and readers better understand, appreciate and explore their state
Education: Bachelors degree from Grinnell College
Favorite Iowa Destination: Saints Rest Coffee and Jay's Deli in Grinnell
Experience:
- Has been a freelance reporter for the Pasadena Star News in California
- Served as a reporter as well as the features editor, and later the news editor, for Grinnell's The Scarlet & Black student newspaper
- Reported and edited stories on COVID-19 and its impact on xenophobia as well as Title IX issues in the Grinnell community
- Received multiple Iowa College Media Association awards as part of The Scarlet & Black
- Participated in the first cohort of NPR’s Next Generation Radio in Iowa, in 2023
- Served as an intern in 2022 for Smithsonian Magazine, covering a Civil Rights icon and Geraldine Mock, the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world alone
- Served as an audio fellow with the Asian American Journalists Association in 2022
My Favorite Stories
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DMARC food pantries in Des Moines face even more stress on their budget deficit after seeing a record high demand for food assistance this holiday season.
My Latest Stories
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Nitrate levels are still at dangerous levels in Des Moines’ rivers. To keep the area’s sources for drinking water from exceeding EPA standards, Central Iowa Water Works is continuing its ban on lawn watering, possibly for weeks. -
Thousands rallied across Iowa to denounce the Trump administration’s plan to cut the federal budget and to use of the military in response to protests. -
Polk County’s lead homelessness planning organization, Homeward, identified more people struggling with homelessness. Those numbers might go up more when COVID rental assistance money runs out, but there are solutions. -
The State Historical Society will look for a new university partnership to take over editing for the Annals of Iowa. -
U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher blocked parts of Iowa’s LGBTQ instruction ban but upheld other sections in a ruling issued Thursday. He made a distinction between mandatory lessons and extracurriculars, but there are still questions on what is considered instruction.
