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.
-
In the plan, service providers will provide technology to combat a practice known as spoofing to aid state attorneys general in locating and prosecuting the fraudulent robocallers. -
Authorities are still struggling to find a motive in the Dayton, Ohio shooting that killed nine and injured dozens; meanwhile, the governor is set to discuss gun control and mental health proposals.
-
In Dayton, Ohio, police stopped a mass shooting early Sunday within a minute, but not before nine people were killed, including the gunman's sister. Victims were remembered at a vigil Sunday night.
-
Because Puerto Rico's Senate has not approved Pedro Pierluisi yet, legal challenges are expected. Protesters gathered outside the governor's mansion Friday to see his disgraced predecessor leave. -
After Labor Secretary Alex Acosta's resignation, federal prosecutors in Manhattan alleged financier Jeffrey Epstein attempted to buy influence over people who were set to testify against him. -
The African American Gun Association is at a crossroads, trying to decide whether to stay a community-oriented organization or get into the political fray. -
Americans siding with Nicolás Maduro camped out inside the now-vacated Venezuelan embassy in Washington D.C. Venezuelans who support Juan Guaidó say the protesters have no connection to the country.
-
The Department of Housing and Urban Development says Facebook allowed advertisers to use their platform to unlawfully discriminate by restricting which users can see housing ads.
-
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a previously scheduled hearing Tuesday on so-called red flag laws, which allow for the temporary removal of guns from individuals if they are deemed a risk. -
While the reopening of the government is welcome news for many federal workers, some express trepidation that they'll face the same predicament after Feb. 15.
