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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More than 5,000 people turn out to welcome home an Army National Guard unit that lost five members during a year-long tour of Iraq. Delivering supplies and mail around Baghdad, the unit, from Paris, Ill., drew more than 100 mortar attacks and came under enemy fire 60 times. The unit sustained injuries that earned soldiers 32 Purple Heart awards.
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Radio Islam, the nation's first daily English-language Muslim radio program produced in the United States, began airing this month in Chicago. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
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A new law is taking hold in many states, requiring owners of new homes to hold off suing the builder for repairs until they give the builder a chance to fix the problem. Homebuilders say it's only fair. Some owners of new homes say it's not fair to them and they want it repealed. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
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NPR's Cheryl Corley reports on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's search for a new musical director who doesn't mind the broad range of duties. Conductor Daniel Barenboim is leaving the job, saying it involved too many non-artistic demands.
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Republican Jack Ryan, an investment banker-turned-teacher, and Democrat Barack Obama, currently a state senator, are competing in a closely watched Senate race that could potentially shape the balance of power in Congress. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
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The Russian-backed president of Chechnya and at least five others were killed Sunday in an explosion in the Chechen capital, Grozny. Among the dozens of wounded was Russia's senior military commander in the region. The bomb went off in a stadium where President Ahmed Kadyrov was attending celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany. Hear NPR's Cheryl Corley and Kim Murphy of The Los Angeles Times.
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Later this year, vibraphonist Gary Burton will resign as vice president of Berklee College of Music, ending a three-decade affiliation with the school. NPR's Cheryl Corley talks with Burton about the move and his desire to do more performing and recording.
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U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba authored the investigative report about abuses of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison at the hands of American soldiers. His report has proved embarrassing to the Pentagon and the White House. But Taguba, the second-highest ranking Filipino-American officer in the U.S. Army, is a source of pride to the Filipino-American community. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
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In the second part of our series about the rise of professional shoplifting, we hear from the FBI's Dan Wright about how organized groups of thieves carry out their crimes. U.S. businesses lose an estimated $15 billion to shoplifting each year. Hear NPR's Cheryl Corley.
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NPR's Cheryl Corley calls the "Europe Direct" hotline in Brussels and gets answers from a multi-lingual operator about what EU membership will really mean for people living in the ten new member states.