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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Police yielded to the almost entirely white mob of pro-Trump insurrectionists as they stormed the Capitol. Protesters for racial justice see a contrast with how their demonstrations were policed. -
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office said a deputy shot and killed 23-year-old Casey Goodson on Friday. Law enforcement recovered a gun. His family's attorneys say he was licensed to carry a firearm. -
With coronavirus cases spiking and the job market struggling, President-elect Joe Biden announces the advisers who he hopes can guide the U.S. back to solid economic footing. -
Wisconsin does not have automatic recounts, but a losing candidate can file a sworn petition requesting one if the margin of victory is less than 1%. Democrat Joe Biden leads by roughly 21,000 votes. -
Brett Hankison, who was terminated in June, has been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment. None of the three men faces state charges directly over Taylor's death.
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Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide. The shootings took place on the third night of protests following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. -
A video that appears to show police shooting a man several times at close range has been met with outrage. Gov. Tony Evers on Monday has deployed the state's National Guard. -
In the police video, Officer Tou Thao seems to get increasingly agitated as the crowd becomes more vocal, with onlookers repeatedly asking him why Floyd's vital signs aren't being checked. -
"I absolutely expect there to be charges based on the evidence," attorney Benjamin Crump says after Taylor's family meets with Louisville's mayor and the Kentucky attorney general.
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"He, as much as anyone in our history, brought this country a little bit closer to our highest ideals," former President Barack Obama said of the longtime congressman and civil rights legend.
