Holly Edgell
Managing Editor, Midwest NewsroomContact: hollyedgell@kcur.org
Job Title: Managing Editor
Topic Expertise: Investigative, climate, housing, diversity, inclusion
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Geographic Expertise: Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Florida. Belize.
Education: Kent State University (1995) MA in journalism; Michigan State University (1990) BA in journalism
Language: English; advanced (but not fluent) Spanish
Honors & Awards: Emmy Award for Best TV Newscast (KOMU/2003); IRE Award for Best Podcast (2022 Midwest Newsroom/KCUR Studios); RTDNA Regional Murrow Award for Investigative News (2022 Midwest Newsroom/STLPR)
Memberships: National Association of Black Journalists; Journalism and Women Symposium
About Holly
Holly Edgell is the managing editor of the Midwest Newsroom, a public radio collaboration among NPR member stations in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.
Holly was previously the editor of a four-station collaborative coverage initiative on race, identity and culture. Based at St. Louis Public Radio, she led a team of four reporters in St. Louis, Hartford, Kansas City and Portland, Oregon.
Holly came to St. Louis Public Radio as a journalist with more than 20 years of experience. In addition to working as a television news producer in several cities, in 2010 she launched 12 St. Louis-area websites for Patch.com, the hyperlocal news initiative introduced by AOL.
Also in St. Louis, she took on a wide range freelance reporting assignments for news organizations such as The National Catholic Reporter and the New York Daily News.
In 2012, she was part of the leadership team that launched WCPO Insider (WCPO.com), the first local television news initiative to introduce an a la carte subscription model for exclusive, in-depth content that audiences could not find elsewhere.
She later served as Director of Digital media for KSHB-TV in Kansas City and WEWS-TV in Cleveland.
In addition to newsroom experience, Holly taught journalism at the University of Missouri and Florida A&M University. She was also a member of the first cohort of Google News Lab trainers. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists. Holly holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in media management from Kent State University. Born in Belize, Holly loves travel, true crime and history podcasts and crossword puzzles.
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The annual “State of the Air” report from the American Lung Association shows some progress for the region and the nation in smog reduction but reports that particulate pollution levels are deadly. -
Representatives from Illinois, Kansas and Missouri are part of the caucus behind a package of bills that would promote healthy outcomes for Black mothers, who die from pregnancy-related causes at far higher rates than women of other races. -
The university's national alumni group issued a "no confidence" rebuke to the Board of Curators, for accepting the review's findings and reinstating President John Moseley. -
A family-owned funeral home in Missouri purchased the 19th-century building and converted it into an operation for performing alkaline hydrolysis — a water-based alternative to traditional cremation. -
Given the Show-Me state's proximity to the South — and its history as a slave state — researchers decided to ask how Missouri residents thought about their identity. -
In its State of Tobacco Control study, the American Lung Association gives most of the region poor grades for curbing smoking and the use of other tobacco products. -
According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Iowa and Nebraska saw gains in union membership while Kansas and Missouri unions saw slight declines. -
In interviews with the Midwest Newsroom, leaders of the Missouri university’s national alumni association echo Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey, who wrote a scathing critique of President John B. Moseley before she died by suicide.
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The president of the historically Black university in Jefferson City is now on administrative leave amid accusations of bullying from the former vice president for student affairs. -
Wastewater tests are designed to provide an early warning system so that public health officials can ward off outbreaks.
