Meet the 2005-06 Ted Scripps Fellows

Five journalists have been selected as 2005-06 Ted Scripps Fellows in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The fellowships are hosted by the Center for Environmental Journalism and funded through a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation. The nine-month program offers mid-career journalists an opportunity to deepen their understanding of environmental issues and policy through coursework, seminars and field trips in the region.

The new fellows include:

• Bebe Crouse, environment editor for National Public Radio in Washington, D.C. She oversees NPR's environmental and general news coverage in 12 western states and edits staff and freelance environment stories from other regions. Crouse's career includes five years at CBS News where she wrote daily news analysis and commentary for Dan Rather and produced other feature and live segments for the network. She also spent three years as a Mexico City-based independent producer and reporter. Among her journalism honors are the 2003 National Headliner Award for Investigative Reporting for a team-produced look at malfeasance within the U.S. Border Patrol and the 2001 Peabody Award for NPR's team coverage of 9/11. Crouse earned a bachelor's degree in environmental studies and natural science from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a master's certificate in international journalism from the University of Southern California/El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City. Her fellowship project involves developing a feasibility plan and outline for a new public radio program focused on environmental issues.
  
  
  
• Don Hopey is an environment reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. His writing displays a mix of local, state and national investigative stories and issue-oriented outdoor features. He has produced articles about pollution caused by the nation's hazardous waste incinerators, shortcomings in Pennsylvania's regulation of longwall coal mining, and an 80-mile canoe trip through the Wild and Scenic sections of the Allegheny River. Hopey has traveled to Central Europe to research and report about a range of environmental problems. His work has been recognized by a number of local and regional awards. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and studied law at Duquesne University and journalism at Pennsylvania State University. Hopey's independent project will focus on the health and environmental effects of coal-burning power plants.
  
  
  
• Jeff Johnson is senior editor for Chemical and Engineering News in Washington, D.C. He covers energy, the environment, science policy, chemical accidents and economics. Topics he has written about include air emissions and the Clean Air Act, mercury pollution, renewable energy from the ocean, cleanups at former Department of Energy nuclear weapons plants and "clean coal." Previously, Johnson worked for Environmental Science & Technology, a monthly environmental science magazine, and the Daily Environment Reporter, a Bureau of National Affairs publication where he covered the environmental activities of Congress. He earned a BS in industrial engineering at California State Polytechnic University and a master's in journalism at the University of Oregon. He intends to write a series of articles on energy and the environment for his fellowship project.
  
  
  
• Greg Stahl is the senior reporter at the Idaho Mountain Express in Ketchum, Idaho. Working in rural Idaho, Stahl has covered public land issues such as user conflicts between backcountry skiers and snowmobilers, resource issues such as forest health, and endangered species issues including gray wolf reintroduction. His co-authored series examining a wilderness area designation for the state's Boulder and White Cloud mountains won the 2004 National Newspaper Association's Better Newspaper Contest in the investigative reporting category. In addition to reporting, Stahl coordinates teams of reporters and photographers working on in-depth articles for the twice-weekly newspaper. Previously, his freelance articles ran in publications such as High Country News and Sun Valley Art magazine. He earned a bachelor's degree in English at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo. His professional project will examine water shortage issues and legislative action involving the Snake River and Snake Plain Aquifer.
  
  
  
• Andrea Welsh is a correspondent for Dow Jones Newswires in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She writes about trends in Brazil's beverage, auto, mining, and steel sectors. Welsh led the way in writing about Brazil's appeal as a global steel-making center and in covering the country's beer sector during the takeover of a local brewer by Belgium's Interbrew. She previously worked as Latin America reporter for Petroleum Argus, a Houston-based trade publication and covered the oil workers' strikes in Venezuela and the coup against President Hugo Chavez. Prior to that she served as correspondent for Dow Jones Newswires in Santiago, Chile and wrote about everything from capital market reforms to trade talks with the United States. Welsh holds a bachelor's degree in communications from Temple University in Philadelphia and a master's in Latin American studies and communications from the University of Texas at Austin. Her professional project will focus on small-scale sustainable economic projects in the Amazon.

Since 1997, the Scripps Howard Foundation has provided annual grants for its fellowships at CU-Boulder, named for Ted Scripps, grandson of the founder of the E.W. Scripps Co. Ted Scripps distinguished himself as a journalist who cared about First Amendment rights and the environment.