My name is Kate. I am a journalist. I believe that everything is debatable. I question. I pay attention. And I hate when I am wrong. In 2006, I graduated from Shepherd University, a pre-law student with majors in political science and mass communications, where I focused heavily on metropolitan politics and amassed boxes of policy and parliamentary debate and public speaking trophies. Local politics and policy fascinate me: bodies of volunteer, part-time and, occasionally, professional legislators defining land use, addressing immigration, gentrification, and poverty, maintaining working infrastructure, educating children, and meeting state and federal mandates all within the confines of their home or Dillon’s rule. Since my first job in 2006 with The Herald-Mail in Hagerstown, I have covered more than a dozen local governments in Maryland, Nevada, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, from the highly political cities of Las Vegas and Boulder City, Nev. to the questionable governance of Antrim Township, Pa. and the concerns of Martinsburg, W.Va., to the wealth and influence of Montgomery County. While my pen has moved beyond government to features, crime, court, breaking news, and events, it is always drawn back to politics and policy. I have won awards from the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association and the Nevada Press Association for stories on the business dealings of local governments, among others. In addition to The Gazette, I have written for The Herald-Mail, and “The News,” a group of local papers in the Las Vegas area, and have worked in the fields of analytical chemistry, health care, and marketing.