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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The Republican from Nebraska speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, the future of the GOP and working with the Biden administration.
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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.
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Tamika Palmer says she wants the officers who killed her daughter to be charged. "Even in the very beginning of this year, she kept saying 2020 was her year," she said. "And she was absolutely right."
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Jeffery Ryans, the man who sustained dog bites, "certainly wasn't posing an imminent threat of violence or harm to anyone," according to the district attorney.
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The "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" march comes as frustration over police brutality and use of force have sparked national protests following the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd.
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The shootings of the three protesters appeared to change the tenor of demonstrations on Wednesday night. The protests had turned violent a night earlier when two people were killed.
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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.
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Attorney Benjamin Crump tweets the news of Jacob Blake's condition Tuesday — and adds he is praying it is not permanent. Blake was shot in the back by police in Wisconsin on Sunday.
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Nearly half the people who attended the reception have tested positive for the virus. Maine authorities say it has spread to others who did not attend the wedding, including a woman who has died.
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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.
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Eurie Stamps was killed during a drug raid at his home. Police were reportedly looking for his stepson and another man. Prosecutors said the shooting was accidental and the officer wasn't charged.
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The Full Housestar will serve two months, and her fashion designer husband will serve five months. They pleaded guilty in May to fraud charges related to securing their daughters' admission to USC.