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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The late Georgia congressman's body lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda. The public viewing for the "conscience of the Congress" is being held outside through Tuesday amid the coronavirus pandemic. -
Gregory and Travis McMichael, a father and son, along with William "Roddie" Bryan, face nine counts, including malice murder, felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. -
A Georgia county prosecutor has charged a white Atlanta police officer who shot a 27-year-old black man in the back last week in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. -
George Floyd's death at the hands of police sparked protests around the world. His family's private service Tuesday follows public memorials that drew thousands of mourners. -
Protesters outraged over police brutality and systemic racism have spilled into the streets across the country, from Minneapolis to New York and in smaller cities such as Omaha, Neb. -
In Minneapolis, where Floyd died, a semitrailer drove into a crowd of protesters on an interstate. Authorities in Kentucky say a man was killed as security forces confronted a crowd early Monday. -
Troops will be sent to the northern and southern U.S. borders as the spread of the coronavirus grows. Last week, the Trump administration ordered partial closures of those borders. -
Some 20,000 people got tickets to say farewell to NBA great Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. People without tickets were being urged to watch at home. -
U.S. officials said the people infected with the virus were isolated from the other passengers. The two evacuation flights landed at military bases in California and Texas. -
Nestl茅 USA listed 26 products that may contain "food-grade rubber pieces." They include "ready-to-bake refrigerated Nestl茅 Toll House Cookie Dough bars, tubs and tube-shaped 'chubs.' "
