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.
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Bigger is not better for a growing number of homeowners who live in, or use, tiny homes. The storm-ravaged Gulf Coast — where much of the housing is gone — is one place where miniature homes are trying to take root. -
Tulane University in New Orleans held its graduation ceremony Saturday after a traumatic year. Students who held on through Katrina and nine months of recovery heard advice and admonitions from former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.
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On Monday, eight months after Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans may give some residents of devastated Ninth Ward the go-ahead to return to their homes. The long-awaited decision will depend on the results of water-purity tests. Also Monday, displaced residents can begin casting ballots at satellite polling stations around Louisiana in the run-off mayor election.
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New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and other officials lay out new evacuation plans for the city, nearly nine months after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The revamped strategy focuses on helping the evacuation of those without transportation. Nagin also reassures residents that looting will be prevented.
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Tourists and townsfolk alike are dancing to the beats of the Jazz Festival in New Orleans. It's the first major music festival in the city since Hurricane Katrina struck last year. So far, ticket sales have been brisk.
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After the trauma of Hurricane Katrina and the forced evacuation of most of its black residents, New Orleans holds municipal elections. Mayor Ray Nagin will face a May runoff vote against Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu.
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States struggling to meet their testing requirements under the No Child Left Behind act are increasingly struggling with scoring problems and testing delays. Officials say the problems stem from the limited number of companies that provide tests and testing services.
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A fire has destroyed the landmark Pilgrim Baptist Church on Chicago's South Side. Built in 1890, the church became a catalyst for the popularity of gospel music in the 1930s under choir director Thomas Dorsey. -
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been distributing checks to families whose homes were destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Cheryl Corley reports on one family's decisions on how to use the money they've received from the federal government. -
Rosa Lee Parks became a symbol of the civil rights movement when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. Her arrest in 1955 triggered a long bus boycott and ultimately challenged the Jim Crow laws of the South. She was 92.
