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.
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Taylor was shot and killed in her apartment by Louisville police last March. "I can't believe it's a year later and we're still just asking people to do the right thing," her mother said recently. -
The suit names Gregory and Travis McMichael, as well as William "Roddie" Bryan, who are all facing felony murder charges in connection with Arbery's death. -
Nearly 3 million Texas electricity customers are enduring extreme cold and some cities say tap water must be boiled. One utility says its repair crews have been harassed by angry residents. -
Amy Cooper had been facing a charge of falsely reporting an incident to police, after she told them Christian Cooper, who is not related to her, threatened her in a New York City park. He did not. -
The Republican from Nebraska speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, the future of the GOP and working with the Biden administration. -
Rep. Jamie Raskin called former President Donald Trump the "inciter in chief" and rejected the defense's claim that his calls to overturn the election constitute free speech under the First Amendment. -
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. -
The incident renews scrutiny of the city and its police department following the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died of asphyxiation after an encounter with police in March. -
The brunt of the twister's damage was sustained in the city of Fultondale, just north of Birmingham. The Jefferson County coroner confirmed one dead, whom officials said was a high school student. -
Lindell, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, had been using his Twitter account to spread disinformation about the 2020 presidential election, including false claims of voter fraud.
