Cheryl Corley
Cheryl Corley is a Chicago-based NPR correspondent who works for the National Desk. She primarily covers criminal justice issues as well as breaking news in the Midwest and across the country.
In her role as a criminal justice correspondent, Corley works as part of a collaborative team and has a particular interest on issues and reform efforts that affect women, girls, and juveniles. She's reported on programs that help incarcerated mothers raise babies in prison, on pre-apprenticeships in prison designed to help cut recidivism of women, on the efforts by Illinois officials to rethink the state's juvenile justice system and on the push to revamp the use of solitary confinement in North Dakota prisons.
For more than two decades with NPR, Corley has covered some of the country's most important news stories. She's reported on the political turmoil in Virginia over the governor's office and a blackface photo, the infamous Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida, on mass shootings in Orlando, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Chicago; and other locations. She's also reported on the election of Chicago's first black female and lesbian mayor, on the campaign and re-election of President Barack Obama, on the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and oil spills along the Gulf Coast, as well as numerous other disasters, and on the funeral of the "queen of soul," Aretha Franklin.
Corley also has served as a fill-in host for NPR shows, including Weekend All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and defunct shows Tell Me More and News and Notes.
Prior to joining NPR, Corley was the news director at Chicago's public radio station, WBEZ, where she supervised an award-winning team of reporters. She also worked as the City Hall reporter covering the administration of the city's first black mayor, Harold Washington, and others that followed. She also has been a frequent panelist on television news-affairs programs in Chicago.
Corley has received awards for her work from a number of organizations including the National Association of Black Journalists, the Associated Press, the Public Radio News Directors Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists. She earned the Community Media Workshop's Studs Terkel Award for excellence in reporting on Chicago's diverse communities and a Herman Kogan Award for reporting on immigration issues.
A Chicago native, Corley graduated cum laude from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and is a former Bradley University trustee. While in Peoria, Corley worked as a reporter and news director for public radio station WCBU and as a television director for the NBC affiliate, WEEK-TV. She is a past President of the Association for Women Journalists in Chicago (AWJ-Chicago).
She is also the co-creator of the Cindy Bandle Young Critics Program. The critics/journalism training program for female high school students was originally collaboration between AWJ-Chicago and the Goodman Theatre. Corley has also served as a board member and president of Community Television Network, an organization that trains Chicago youth in video and multimedia production.
-
People who have hopes of winning a big lottery prize will have to put their dreams on hold in Illinois. The Governor and Illinois lawmakers can't come to terms over a state budget and until they do, lottery prizes over $25,000 will be delayed. Lottery winners aren't too happy, and some have filed a class action lawsuit against the state.
-
Parents, teachers and activists are fighting to defend a high school the school board voted to close several years ago. They say officials are ignoring their input over what kind of school to reopen.
-
Laura Martinez defied many skeptics when she opened up her Chicago restaurant, La Diosa, this year. It helps that she used to work for the late Charlie Trotter, one of the city's most acclaimed chefs. -
The decision dismissed a ruling granting the students' petition to join the College Athletes Players Association. But it failed to answer the big question: are student athletes university employees?
-
The National Labor Relations Board announced Monday it dismissed a previous ruling by a Chicago regional office in favor of the Northwestern University athletes.
-
Ten years after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, much progress has been made to rebuild the city, but black and white residents assess the recovery quite differently. -
Despite other gains, New Orleans' murder rate, which hit a 40-year low last year, is on the rise again and remains nearly quadruple that of other cities its size. Residents say police need to do more. -
A year ago, after a white police officer shot an unarmed black youth in Ferguson, Mo., the phrase "Hands up, don't shoot" became a rallying cry. While it has become a mantra, some call it a lie. -
Last year, many businesses in Ferguson, Mo., were looted and vandalized in unrest that gripped the city. Customers are starting to return, but some owners don't feel positive about staying here. -
A Justice Department report says the St. Louis County Family Court violates the constitutional rights of children and routinely discriminates against black children.
