Brianne Ledda
Brianne Ledda covers affordability and personal finance on the business desk at Newsday, focusing on how economic decisions shape everyday life in the communities she reports on. Her work ties policy, local programs and market shifts to concrete changes in housing, work and household budgets. She treats finance as something residents feel through rent, wages and prices, not just in charts and indicators.
Affordability, housing and everyday costs
Ledda’s core business coverage centers on the cost of living, especially housing access and how residents manage household expenses.
In the lottery story for 80 affordable apartments at the One Carleton Green project in Central Islip, she explains who qualifies, how the lottery works and what the new units could mean for renters who are priced out of existing options. She follows local decisions to use federal COVID relief funds for small business grants, detailing how much money is available, how it is allocated and which types of firms stand to benefit.
When leases for Party City stores go to auction, including multiple locations in her coverage area, she breaks down the process and the implications for jobs, storefront vacancies and seasonal shopping. Across these pieces, she focuses on eligibility rules, timelines, dollar amounts and tradeoffs residents face when trying to secure stable housing and keep up with rising costs.
Local government, policy and financial impact
Ledda previously reported on town government, and that background continues to shape her finance coverage. She tracks how boards deploy relief funds, weigh development projects and respond to infrastructure needs, linking decisions to budget pressures and economic outcomes for residents and businesses. In coverage of grants for Long Island Sound conservation, she reports the total funding, the specific restoration projects and how environmental investment interacts with tourism, property values and municipal finances.
Stories on historic preservation and redevelopment, such as the delayed demolition decision for a Brentwood home, show how officials balance fiscal responsibility with cultural heritage and community concerns.
Her reporting on street renamings honoring police officers who have died in the line of duty documents both ceremonial aspects and the administrative and financial steps required to carry them out. The through-line is a close look at how government actions translate into financial realities on the ground.
Work, business conditions and protest economics
Ledda’s beat also covers the intersection of employment, business operations and political action. In reporting on plans to hire federal workers dismissed by a federal agency, she focuses on job pathways, compensation and the fiscal implications of bringing displaced employees into state systems.
Her story on an economic boycott, framed as an “economic blackout,” examines how residents use their purchasing power as a form of resistance, exploring motivations, organizing efforts and possible effects on local businesses.
When national corporate decisions affect local chains, such as the Party City lease auction, she lays out how corporate restructuring connects to store closures, potential new operators and the prospects for workers and customers in specific communities. These pieces apply a financial lens to politics and protest, highlighting the ripple effects of decisions made far from the neighborhoods where they are felt.
Community organizations and social services
Alongside her finance and policy reporting, Ledda regularly profiles community organizations that provide social services and support residents through economic and personal transitions.
Her story on the Nicholas Center in Port Washington, which helps autistic people who have aged out of school, details how the organization is funded, the services it offers and the gaps it fills in existing systems. Coverage of arts venues, marathons and public events, such as the Suffolk County Marathon and plans to reopen a performing arts center in Bay Shore, notes sponsorships, fundraising and the economic role these institutions play for nearby businesses and residents.
She treats these subjects as part of the broader affordability picture, showing how nonprofits, cultural institutions and civic events contribute to economic resilience and quality of life.
Across beats and formats, Ledda works in straightforward news pieces and longer enterprise stories on affordability and personal finance. Her reporting stays close to specific numbers, policies and local examples, making complex economic issues clear through the people, places and programs directly affected.
4 more finance journalists.
Abigail Summerville
Abigail Summerville brings a leveraged finance background to her work covering consumer and retail mergers and acquisitions for Reuters. She reports on deal-making and capital markets across food, beverages, spirits, personal care, skincare, bath products and pet food. Her stories focus on transaction terms, ownership stakes, valuation, debt structures and funding sources. She often breaks news on potential sales and strategic reviews before formal announcements. Notable coverage includes Sazerac’s acquisition of Au Vodka, Blackstone’s exploration of a ZO Skin Health sale, CVC’s efforts to sell the parent of Dr Teal’s, and Colgate-Palmolive’s planned divestitures. She also covers consumer IPOs, including Jersey Mike’s and Black Rock Coffee, and co-writes Wall Street market reports. She joined Reuters in 2022 after three years covering leveraged finance and primary debt markets.
Adekunle Agbetiloye
Adekunle Agbetiloye is a senior reporter who connects capital flows, hard numbers and energy transition to the wider African economy. He works at Business Insider Africa, covering how money, technology and energy reshape economic growth, jobs and living conditions. His beat spans the African economy, technology, energy transition, climate change, startups and critical minerals, with a focus on concrete deals and data-led stories. He reports on African startup funding cycles, sovereign wealth funds, billionaire investors, multilateral and private investment programs, energy and power markets, Bitcoin mining, and economic policy choices. His work follows how governments finance spending, manage debt and respond to social pressure, and how sector snapshots and health and development metrics reveal links between macro indicators, corporate strategy and everyday costs.
Aimee Picchi
Aimee Picchi connects Social Security, retirement programs and economic policy directly to the financial security of ordinary Americans, showing how macro decisions hit household budgets. She is associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch at CBS News, covering business and personal finance with clear, accessible explanations of complex money issues. Her core beat is Social Security and retirement, interest rates and inflation, and how policy, markets and company strategies affect workers, retirees, savers and investors. She reports on benefit adequacy, looming Social Security cuts, COLA changes, Federal Reserve rate decisions, fuel costs, trade tensions and labor’s share of income, always framing coverage around pocketbook impacts. Her background includes retirement reporting fellowships, prior staff reporting on technology, media and business, an Institutional Investor book on affluent investors, and freelance work for national outlets. She also writes science fiction and fantasy and is a Nebula Award finalist.
Alex Harring
Alex Harring turns fast-moving market, economic and corporate developments into clear pre-market briefings that show what will matter when U.S. trading opens. He is a markets and economics reporter for CNBC’s digital platforms and writes Morning Squawk, a flagship daily newsletter that gives readers five key things to know before the stock market opens. His beat spans financial markets, investing, consumer trends and the U.S. economy, with coverage of central bank decisions, inflation, corporate strategy, sector moves and geopolitical shocks. He focuses on how policy, data and earnings shape equities, interest rates, currencies and investor positioning, linking price action with underlying drivers in real time and in reported features. Harring’s background reporting on corporate news, business and the economy across print, digital, broadcast and streaming informs his habit of connecting markets, companies and geopolitics in one frame.