The stories here were reported, written and produced by Northwestern University graduate journalism  students in the Washington program of the Medill School. Most also were published or broadcast by media organizations across the country served by Medill Washington's unique news service, which focuses on how the nation's capital  affects local communities. Medill Washington also specializes in enterprise reporting, multimedia and online journalism and on accountability, using the power of the computer and the wellspring of the database to uncover misbehavior by people in power.

 The Washington Program's reporting has been recognized professionally by numerous awards, including prizes from the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Press Foundation and Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Medill Washington students are fully credentialed working journalists getting real-world experience, a hallmark of the Medill School. Combined with their training at Medill's Evanston campus and in Medill's Chicago newsroom , the Washington experience has helped launch hundreds of successful careers  in print, online and video journalism.

A faculty of professionals with broad experience in newspapers, broadcast and online news supervises their work.

Medill News Service Media Partners:

Biloxi Sun Herald - MS

Durham Herald-Sun - NC

Frederick News-Post - MD

Imperial Valley Press - CA

MarketWatch.com

The Nashville Tennessean -- TN

Politico, Politico.com/Campuspolitico.com

Religion News Service

Santa Barbara News-Press - CA

Spartanburg Herald-Journal - SC

St. Joseph News Press - MO

UPI.com

Waterloo Courier - IA

Brownfield Radio Network - IN

KVRR-TV - ND

TV-2 Virgin Islands

WLUI-FM - NY

WAMU-FM - DC

 AP Online Video - DC

Ellen Shearer is the William F. Thomas Professor at Medill and
Washington director and bureau chief.  She led the "Powertrips" investigative projects in 2004 and 2006, in which Medill DC reporters created databases of privately sponsored congressional travel as part of a series of investigative stories. The project won an Investigative Reporters and Editors award. She was co-director of the 2006 News21 project in which 10 Medill fellows investigated the federal government and privacy in the post-9/11 world.

She is co-author of the book "Nonvoters: America's No-Shows," has written chapters in five other books and is a regular contributor to "The American Editor" magazine. Ms. Shearer is on the board of the Washington Press Club Foundation.

Before joining the Medill faculty, she was a senior editor at New York Newsday, a consulting editor at Newhouse News Service, marketing executive at Reuters, and bureau chief and reporter for United Press International.

Mary Coffman is an associate professor of broadcast journalism at Medill. Her areas of expertise include political reporting, regional
reporting and local television news.

Ms. Coffman has supervised students on major team reporting projects, including an in-depth look at lobbyists, direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs and an examination of obesity in America.

During the summer of 2006 she co-directed 10 Medill fellows on News21, a special investigative reporting projected sponsored by the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education. The fellows produced multimedia stories about homeland security, privacy and civil liberties.

During the Spring Quarters of 2001 and 2004, she led Medill's Global Journalism two-week seminar in Paris. Ms. Coffman joined Medill in 1994 after 20 years in television news as a reporter, producer and manager.

Sharon Downey Kornely has been teaching in the Washington program for nearly 17 years. Before joining the Medill faculty, she was a television news writer and producer in Iowa, Ohio, New York and Washington. Her copy helped Canadian police and the FBI capture some of their most wanted suspects when she wrote the show scripts for "America's Most Wanted."  Kornely keeps tabs on hundreds of her favorite former students.

If you haven't checked in lately, give her a call.

Salome Angrand has worked as the Medill Washington program office manager since September 2005. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she majored in psychology.

 Ms. Angrand is the "go-to" person for the work-study program in Washington, as well as for technology, travel and scheduling. She is from Miami, Fla.