Nico Portuondo
Nico Portuondo covers the business side of energy for E&E News, concentrating on how major power users, utilities and policymakers negotiate the costs and risks of the energy transition. His coverage sits at the point where fast-growing industries like data centers collide with electricity markets, infrastructure limits and consumer protection. He writes with a focus on who pays, who benefits and how legislative and regulatory decisions reshape the economics of the grid.
Data centers, grid strain and consumer costs
Portuondo’s work on the political fight over data center growth and a proposed ratepayer protection bill shows how he uses individual bills to explain larger market pressures. He traces how surging electricity demand from computing infrastructure feeds into utility planning, new generation and transmission projects, and ultimately household and business power bills. In this coverage he treats data centers not just as a technology story but as a capital-intensive power customer whose contracts, incentives and siting choices have wide consequences for other users of the grid.
He pays close attention to the safeguards lawmakers design to prevent large industrial loads from shifting risk onto everyday ratepayers.
Where utilities, large power users and policy meet
Within the business beat, Portuondo focuses on the relationships among utilities, regulators and large energy users. He examines how corporate electricity buyers, including data center operators, interact with utility investment plans and cost-recovery structures. His reporting highlights the negotiations around who carries the financial exposure for new plants and lines built to serve big loads, and how that exposure is divided between shareholders and customers.
By grounding these stories in specific proposals and contracts, he shows how abstract debates over “reliability” and “affordability” translate into concrete decisions on infrastructure build-out and rate design.
Translating legislation into market impacts
Portuondo consistently treats bills and regulatory initiatives as business events as much as political ones. He follows how proposed protections for ratepayers, new requirements on utilities or incentives for large power users would alter cash flows, risk profiles and investment timelines across the sector. His pieces spell out which companies, industries and customer groups stand to gain or lose under different policy paths, and how those expectations drive lobbying, coalition-building and public arguments around energy projects. Throughout, he maintains a clear, factual style that keeps the focus on the mechanics of policy and markets rather than rhetoric, giving his coverage particular value to readers who need to understand the financial stakes of energy decisions.
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Aaron Karp
Aaron Karp is distinct for connecting airline networks, airport infrastructure, air cargo and policy. He is a senior editor at Air Transport World and has covered aviation since 1999. He has also worked as an editor for cargo-focused and daily aviation publications. His real beat is how airlines and airports respond to growth, regulation, trade conditions, sustainability pressures and technology changes. He covers route planning, network development, airport capacity, infrastructure, cargo flows, trade lanes, safety, air traffic control and future technology. He reports through news, features, opinion pieces, briefings and podcasts. He uses data, executive insight and industry conference reporting to explain market changes. His work links cargo metrics and trade policy to carrier strategy, and connects infrastructure and sustainability decisions to resilience, costs and long-term growth.
Adrienne Roberts
Adrienne Roberts is a business journalist at the Detroit Free Press who covers how policy, regulation and corporate decisions affect Michigan’s cannabis market, jobs, universities and health systems. She has a sustained focus on cannabis taxes, licensing, sales, product rules, consumer safety and local tax revenue. She also reports on unemployment, worker protections, corporate settlements, hiring, higher education, student safety, housing, data centers, health care access and economic forecasts. Roberts joined the Detroit Free Press in 2020 after covering automotive retail, dealers and labor issues for The Wall Street Journal. She explains complex business and regulatory changes with data, legal detail and on-the-ground voices. Her stories focus on practical effects for workers, students, consumers and communities, showing both the numbers and the people behind them.
Alex Bronzini-Vender
Alex Bronzini-Vender is a business reporter who focuses on how economic forces and corporate decisions shape specific communities and industries. He covers business for the Washington Monthly, writing reported pieces at the intersection of commerce and public life. His work reflects the magazine’s emphasis on linking markets and money to power, policy, and everyday experience. He treats business not as balance sheets and deals but as choices that affect local realities. In “Fear and Loathing in Palo Alto,” he uses a city tied to the tech sector to examine how a powerful industry influences a community. He grounds his business beat in on-the-ground consequences rather than treating corporate and financial developments in isolation.
Alex DeMarban
Alex DeMarban stands out for tracking major energy projects over time while showing how economic shifts affect local businesses. He reports for the Anchorage Daily News on business, oil and gas, and general assignments. His coverage focuses on Alaska LNG, long-haul energy projects, mining, ports, transportation infrastructure, and the everyday businesses that keep the state running. He examines financing, tax legislation, labor agreements, regulatory approvals, timelines and costs, and connects government and corporate decisions to workers, communities and consumers. He also reports on restaurant closures, grocery stores, breweries, meaderies, parking and trade disputes. His past coverage includes an open-pit mine near the proposed Ambler road, federal port grants and competitive elections. He reports through dollar figures, project details, public records, business owners and affected workers, showing how policy and resource development play out on the ground.