Cheryl W. Thompson
Cheryl W. Thompson is an investigative correspondent for NPR.
Prior to joining NPR in January 2019, she spent 22 years at The Washington Post, where she wrote extensively about law enforcement, political corruption and guns, and was a White House correspondent during Barack Obama's first term. Her investigative series that traced the guns used to kill more than 500 police officers in the U.S. earned her an Emmy, a National Headliner, an IRE, a White House News Photographers Association and other awards. In 2015, her reporting found that nearly one person a week died in the U.S. after being Tasered by police. The story was part of a year-long series on police shootings in the U.S. that won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. In 2017, her examination of Howard University Hospital revealed myriad problems with the storied facility, including that it had the highest rate of death lawsuits per bed than the five other D.C. hospitals. Her project published in May 2018 investigated the unsolved serial murders of six black girls in the nation's capital nearly 50 years ago, and won an SPJ DC award for magazine feature writing. She has won numerous other awards, including two Salute to Excellence Awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, and was named NABJ's Educator of the Year in 2017. She was part of the Washington Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2002 for Sept. 11.
Thompson is a member of NABJ, teaches investigative reporting as an associate professor at George Washington University and serves as board president of Investigative Reporters and Editors, a 6,100-member organization whose mission is to improve the quality of investigative journalism.
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NPR Probe: Even Before Pandemic, Authorities Lost Track Of Sex OffendersThe coronavirus has forced jurisdictions nationwide to close in-person sex offender registration offices. That has made it tougher for law enforcement to verify and track offender whereabouts.
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Sex Offender Registries Often Fail Those They Are Designed To ProtectNPR reviewed sex offender registry databases nationwide and found a system with myriad problems, including tens of thousands of convicted offenders who law enforcement have lost track of. -
In the government's hurried pandemic response, more than 250 companies, some with little or no medical supply experience, got contracts worth more than $1 million without fully competitive bidding. -
Not-so-small companies like Shake Shack and organizations like the LA Lakers were able to get loans that were meant for suffering small businesses. What happened? -
Loopholes In Small Business Relief Program Allow Thriving Companies To Cash InThe Paycheck Protection Program is designed to help small businesses from falling off a cliff during the pandemic, but some companies on firm ground have gotten millions to expand. -
Banks handling the federal government's loan program for small businesses made more than $10 billion in fees, while thousands of small businesses were shut out of the program. -
In many states, officials have mandated how many people can gather in one space at a time. Some funeral directors ask mourners to stand six feet apart and implore priests and other clergy to be brief.
