We have some new journalists at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Allow me to introduce you

Steve Coffman
·3 min read

If you’re a careful reader of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, you may have noticed some new bylines recently.

I’d like to introduce you to several journalists who have joined the staff of the Star-Telegram in the last month to help with our mission to provide local news coverage of the region.

They are:

  • Charles Baggarly, high school sports editor/reporter. He is a recent graduate of Texas Christian University, where he served in various roles for campus media, including sports editor of TCU 360, and he did freelance work for the Dallas Morning News.

Charles Baggarly
Charles Baggarly

  • Kamal Morgan, racial equity reporter. He was the equity and justice reporter for the Pensacola News Journal in Florida for nearly two years before coming to Fort Worth. He has a master’s degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York and an undergraduate degree from the College of Wooster in Ohio.

Kamal Morgan
Kamal Morgan

  • Lina Ruiz, early childhood reporter. She covered local government and education for TCPalm/Treasure Coast Newspapers in Florida for two and a half years prior to joining the Star-Telegram. She has an associate’s degree from Santa Fe College and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida, both in Gainesville.

Lina Ruiz
Lina Ruiz

  • Chris Torres, visual journalist. He worked at the Santa Clarita Valley Signal in California for two years before joining the Star-Telegram. He has an associate’s degree from Los Angeles Pierce College and a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Northridge.

Chris Torres
Chris Torres

They join two other new staff members who began work earlier this year:

  • Lawrence Dow, digital sports reporter. He was a news desk assistant for the NFL prior to joining the Star-Telegram. He has a master’s degree from the University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Journalism, and a bachelor’s degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Lawrence Dow
Lawrence Dow

  • Nicole Lopez, breaking news reporter. She worked for Gannett’s USA Today Network and KTSM-TV in El Paso before joining the Star-Telegram. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Nicole Lopez
Nicole Lopez

Morgan and Ruiz are part of the Star-Telegram’s Crossroads Lab, a group of five full-time reporters whose positions are funded through philanthropic partnerships to provide independent deep reporting on under-covered issues important to the future of our community. The other members of that team are Silas Allen, education reporter, Ciara McCarthy, health and wellness reporter, and Jenny Rudolph, business/economic development reporter.

Major funders of the Crossroads Lab include the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, The Morris Foundation, the Rainwater Charitable Foundation and the R4 Foundation.

I’m grateful to our partners - and to those of you who have made individual donations to the Crossroads Lab - for helping to extend the Star-Telegram’s effort to reach communities on these critical topics and issues.

Strong local news organizations make communities better. They inform and engage people about the challenges we face and the effort to find solutions, and they celebrate success.

If your business or philanthropic organization wants to learn more about this unique opportunity to help make Fort Worth a better place, please call or email me. If you’d like to make an individual donation to the Crossroads Lab, you may do so here. (https://givebutter.com/q5cbKm)

In the meantime, I thank you for supporting the Star-Telegram with your readership and subscription, which help make our work possible.

Steve Coffman is the president and editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He can be reached at scoffman@star-telegram.com or (817) 390-7704.