Mason Edwards
Mason Edwards tracks how the criminal justice system, local schools and public institutions respond when incidents escalate into charges, courtroom hearings and policy decisions. He is a criminal justice reporter with a focus on the courts at the Chattanooga Times Free Press, after starting there as an intern and later covering breaking news before moving onto the courts beat. His recent work centers on specific cases, hearings and agency actions, with repeated attention to how they affect students, families and public safety.
School safety, misconduct and education initiatives
Edwards covers school environments most often when safety, misconduct or new programs bring them into contact with law enforcement and the courts. In a report on a former janitor at Daisy Elementary School, he lays out allegations that the staff member altered images of students and a colleague with artificial intelligence to create child sexual abuse material, and follows the case through conditions that bar the defendant from unsupervised contact with minors. He also compiles coverage of a loaded AR-15 found in a student’s vehicle at Tyner Middle High Academy, documenting how the sheriff’s office characterizes the incident and the steps taken once a weapon is discovered on campus.
Beyond crisis moments, he reports on Hamilton County Schools’ launch of a new career exploration center, detailing the opening and the district’s effort to expand career-focused opportunities for students. Across these pieces, his education coverage reflects the intersection of school life with criminal charges, campus security and district-level programming.
Courtroom hearings, sentencing and defendants’ conduct
A defining strand of Edwards’ work is close coverage of courtroom proceedings, from juvenile defendants to high-profile adult cases. In Collegedale, he reports on a teen who confessed on video to killing the nearest registered sex offender, building the story around footage played in court and the way it shapes the case.
He follows sentencing hearings such as the case of Randy Vega, convicted in connection with pedestrian deaths on Frazier Avenue, where his coverage centers on the sentence imposed and the circumstances of the crash. His reporting on Jamal Adams documents how a defendant facing existing charges accrued five new counts after flipping a table and being removed from the courtroom, showing how in-court behavior itself becomes part of a criminal file. In another piece, he covers a Hamilton County defendant sentenced to life without parole after a dramatic reaction to conviction, again using the moment in court as a focal point for explaining the outcome of a trial. He also reports on a Chattanooga singer with an “America’s Got Talent” appearance who is charged with murder after the death of a 4-year-old, highlighting the contrast between public profile and the gravity of the allegations.
These stories share a format that foregrounds specific hearings and reactions inside the courtroom, rather than broader commentary.
Law enforcement technology, records and institutional decisions
Edwards regularly covers how law enforcement agencies and related institutions deploy technology, manage records and make staffing and infrastructure decisions. His piece on the Hamilton County sheriff’s decision to pause about 70 Flock and Motorola license plate readers focuses on the number of devices affected and what the pause means for surveillance and investigations. He reports when twenty-one Chattanooga cadets graduate the police academy, emphasizing counts and milestones as new officers enter service.
In coverage of a lawsuit by the owner of Local 3 News against the FBI and Department of Justice, he tracks a records dispute over access to information tied to the 2015 Chattanooga terror attack, underscoring transparency and federal-public tensions. He follows ongoing trials such as a case involving a 2023 vehicle shooting, keeping attention on the progress of proceedings and the charges at issue.
His reporting on the Hamilton County Criminal Court Clerk’s office, including comments from Vince Dean, points to administrative challenges and debates around the clerk’s operations. In Walker County, he covers a committee weighing a potential data center, treating the proposal as another example of a public body evaluating major infrastructure with legal and governance implications.
Together these stories show him returning to the theme of how agencies make decisions that affect records, surveillance and public-facing services.
Beat evolution and formats
Within the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Edwards advances from intern to breaking news reporter and then to a dedicated criminal justice role focused on the courts, which shapes the urgency and specificity of his coverage. Many of his stories are structured around discrete events - a hearing, a sentencing, a technology pause, a facility opening - rather than long-range policy features.
Several pieces incorporate video elements, particularly those tied to courtroom footage or key moments in criminal cases, and his headlines reflect that emphasis. He also produces compiled items, such as the brief on the loaded AR-15 at Tyner Middle High Academy, which distill official statements into concise updates while retaining clear details of what law enforcement reports. Across formats, he consistently anchors his reporting in exact charges, numbers of devices or graduates, dates of incidents and formal actions by judges, sheriffs, clerks and school officials, making his work useful for understanding how institutions respond under legal and public pressure.
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Abdul Latif Jameel
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Abril Preciado
Abril Preciado is an Emmy award-winning bilingual television journalist at FOX6 News Milwaukee who focuses on education, school crises and policy decisions affecting students, families and staff. She follows school communities over months, from emergency response through investigations, relocation plans and the first day back in class. Her reporting on the Lincoln Avenue School fire covers displacement, safety changes, rebuilding and the move to temporary space. She also uses public records to examine local officials, test official claims and connect government conduct to public trust. Before joining FOX6, she reported for Univision in Sacramento, covering the Farm Workers March, wildfires, politics and the Latino community, and contributed border reporting for a national radio network. She centers families, explains complex decisions clearly and focuses on the human effects of policy.
Adria Iraheta
Adria Iraheta is a community-focused reporter at Denver7, distinct for centering students, families and residents in every story about schools, neighborhoods and public services. She covers how decisions by school districts, local agencies and public institutions land in daily life, with a particular focus on Aurora and Arapahoe County. Her beat sits at the intersection of education, community issues, public services, safety, infrastructure, health and climate, from job cuts in a school district to a new transit safety app, DMV outages, street changes and record heat waves. With a decade of local television reporting experience, she reports on the ground in specific local scenes, using plain language, direct questions to officials and clear explanations to show how policies, programs and changes affect the people who live, study and work in Colorado communities.
Alan J. Borsuk
Alan J. Borsuk stands out for connecting what happens in schools to the policy and political decisions behind them. He writes in-depth K-12 education analysis for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and serves as a senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette University Law School. His work focuses on Milwaukee Public Schools, school choice, literacy, teacher pipelines, and school accountability. He uses long-range perspective, detailed reporting, and structured analysis to explain how reforms unfold, why they stall, and what they mean for students and leaders. He has also written on vouchers, Teach for America, discipline, and teacher evaluation, drawing on decades as a reporter and editor on education and public policy.