State News Digest is published by Henry Lawson and edited by Ruth Goodwin. The senior editorial staff work from state capitals and major cities across the country.
PublisherHenry is the publisher of State News Digest, working from Trenton, New Jersey. His background is in media and business operations, and he holds responsibility for the publication’s overall direction, financial sustainability, and the independence of the editorial operation from the commercial side of the site. He leaves the day-to-day editorial decisions to the newsroom and writes an occasional column on the business of journalism.
Editor-in-ChiefRuth leads the newsroom from Montgomery, Alabama. Her career spans more than fifteen years in editorial leadership at regional and national publications, with a background that includes reporting on state government, labor, and investigative work before she moved into editing. She sets the standards for what runs on the site, oversees the corrections record, and is the final authority on questions of what State News Digest will and will not publish.
Dennis manages the day-to-day operations of the newsroom from Salem, Oregon. He came to the publication after twelve years at a Pacific-region daily, where he rose from city desk reporter to assistant managing editor with stops on the politics and copy desks. He is responsible for the editorial calendar, story assignments, and the flow of publication across the desks.
Cheryl runs the business and economy desk from Pierre, South Dakota. Her reporting career includes more than a decade covering business, finance, and the household economy at regional daily newspapers and a national business publication. She is the editor most likely to reach for the underlying numbers on a story and the one who insists on distinguishing what a company has actually announced from what its press release wants readers to think it announced.
Wayne oversees the publication’s standards program from Carson City, Nevada. He handles fact-checking on sensitive material, manages the corrections record, and serves as the point of contact for readers and named subjects who identify errors in published pieces. His background is on copy desks and in fact-checking at regional daily newspapers, and he is the in-house authority on the publication’s stylebook.
Jean edits the features section from Juneau, Alaska. Her career includes more than a decade of feature writing and editing at national publications and regional newspapers, with a particular interest in food, travel, and the everyday economics of American households. She is the editor who reaches for the narrative angle on a story that could otherwise run straight, and she is responsible for a substantial share of the long-form work published on the site.
State News Digest accepts work from outside contributors — freelance journalists, working professionals with substantive expertise, and academics whose work translates for a general readership.
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