The Bangor Daily News has hired Jules Walkup to report on midcoast Maine as part of a partnership with Report for America.
Walkup will be covering Maine’s lower midcoast including Bath, Brunswick, Boothbay, Thomaston and Rockland. Their reporting will focus on issues facing coastal towns including local government, schools, housing and how climate change is shaping the area.
Walkup grew up in Florida and attended the University of Georgia’s College of Journalism where they graduated Summa Cum Laude. They served in several editorial roles, including most recently managing print editor, for The Red & Black, the school’s independent student newspaper.
They also interned with CNN Newsroom with Ana Cabrera, where they worked on two to five segments daily. Walkup has also reported on the environment, agriculture and sustainability for The Oglethorpe Echo.
Their previous reporting has included an audio-visual project about a changing Georgia told through the lives of nursing home patients, a profile of a rural beekeeper who created a successful business by infusing honey from his bees with THC, and a story about how a climate change-related freeze in the southern state led to a loss of blueberry crops.
“We’re thrilled to have Jules covering this fascinating and important area in Maine,” Dan MacLeod, the BDN’s managing editor, said. “Their skill and desire to tackle big stories will be a huge service for our audience there.”
Report for America is a national service program that places talented, emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered topics and communities. In addition to paying up to half of the journalists’ salaries, it provides ongoing training and mentorship by leading journalists, in addition to other support. It is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, a nonprofit media organization.
Walkup is one of 250 Report for America corps members serving in 200 newsrooms across the country presently.
