Tamara Chuang
Tamara Chuang reports on Colorado’s economy for The Colorado Sun, using the prices of everyday essentials like food to explain how business decisions, public policy and labor trends affect household budgets. She cofounded the newsroom in 2018 and has built a beat that connects company moves, job numbers and technology shifts to what they mean for paychecks, grocery bills and the broader cost of living. She has examined why hamburgers cost more today, using food prices as an entry point into stories about inflation, wages and consumer pressure, and returns to similar themes in recurring work on holiday meals and grocery costs.
What’s Working: Food prices and the cost of living
Chuang’s signature “What’s Working” franchise is built around the question of how much life in Colorado costs and who absorbs those costs. In this series she dissects consumer-facing issues such as junk fees that persist despite new regulations, gas prices edging toward painful thresholds, and the changing price of staples like Thanksgiving dinner. The food angle is prominent: she uses the cost of a meal to anchor data on inflation, retailer strategies and wage growth, turning a hamburger or turkey into a clear marker of economic pressure on families.
Her columns often combine price breakdowns with short, reported segments on related business stories, such as recycling operations, office-to-apartment conversions and retail trends, giving readers a compact view of how different sectors intersect with the grocery bill. She leans on state data, industry reports and interviews with workers, shoppers and executives to quantify where money is going and to show how policies or corporate decisions travel all the way down to the menu and the checkout line.
Jobs, wages and layoffs
A second through-line in Chuang’s work is the labor market, from job creation schemes to layoffs and strikes. She has broken down the performance of the state’s official job board, noting how many people actually found work through thousands of applications and what that says about the efficiency of matching workers to openings.
She covers job cuts in detail, including reports on large-scale layoffs after mergers at regional banks and the ripple effects on employees and local communities. Her coverage of meatpacking union negotiations and walkouts links workplace disputes at food companies to broader questions about unfair labor practices and wage security.
Chuang tracks policy tools intended to stimulate employment, such as the governor’s designation of 91 regions for investment under federal opportunity zone rules, and explains how those decisions are expected to translate into job growth and business incentives. She looks at campaigns by business leaders to reshape perceptions of cities and attract talent, documenting efforts to highlight quality of life and “return on life” alongside traditional financial metrics.
Across these stories she pairs macro numbers on job counts, vacancy rates and investment with individual examples of workers, entrepreneurs and companies adjusting to the changing market.
Technology, AI and infrastructure
Technology and its economic consequences are a core part of Chuang’s beat, and she treats AI and digital infrastructure as workplace and consumer issues rather than abstract trends.
She has reported on Colorado’s first-in-the-nation artificial intelligence law, including attempts to amend it and the tensions among the tech industry, consumer advocates and lawmakers when consensus cannot be reached. Her coverage of AI extends to hiring, where she explores how job seekers, employers, scammers and even the state labor department use AI tools, and how automated generators collide with automated filters in modern recruitment.
Chuang follows large tech employers and startups closely, documenting the decision by Palantir to move its headquarters from Denver to Miami and detailing what that means for the local tech ecosystem and the region’s competitive edge. She covers infrastructure stories such as the cancellation of a $103 million broadband award after questions about fund misuse, explaining how back-end technology agencies affect services across multiple state departments. Her reporting on autonomous vehicles and moon rovers - from Waymo’s arrival in Denver to Lunar Outpost’s testing of a rover on Colorado ranchland - focuses on regulatory frameworks, safety rules and the longer-term business ambitions behind high-profile demonstrations.
Downtown Denver and the business climate
Chuang spends significant time on the health of downtown business districts, treating commercial real estate as a barometer for the broader economy. She has detailed how office vacancy rates climbed above 38% in the city’s core, using broker data to chart quarter-by-quarter changes and to explain how diminished sublease space and redevelopment plans might signal stabilization.
In parallel, she reports on business-led campaigns to revitalize urban centers, including efforts by hotel and restaurant executives to rebrand the city as offering the “best return on life” and to highlight its positive attributes in the wake of the pandemic.
Her work tracks corporate relocations in and out of Colorado and the perception among tech and business leaders that the state risks losing its competitive edge. She follows companies and sectors across manufacturing, hospitality and food processing, drawing lines between plant closures, new facilities in other states and local economic strain.
Throughout, she returns to a consistent question: how shifting corporate strategies, demographic changes and public incentives will affect everyday experiences, from finding an office tenant to affording a night out or a simple meal.
Background and approach
Chuang reports on business, technology and the local economy for The Colorado Sun and helped launch the outlet with a focus on sustainable local journalism.
She previously covered technology news for The Denver Post and The Orange County Register, bringing that experience with both established and emerging tech companies into her current coverage. Her pieces are explanatory and data-rich, often structured around a central question - what is working in Colorado’s economy, and for whom - and answered through a mix of statistics, regulatory context and voices from workers, business owners and policymakers.
The recurring attention to food prices and related industries makes her especially relevant for stories that sit where the business of food, labor dynamics and consumer costs meet.
4 more food journalists.
Aaron Guerrero
Aaron Guerrero is head of the digital department at Miami’s Community Newspapers, where he pairs restaurant coverage with community-facing content. He focuses on how Miami-area restaurants evolve, celebrate, and experiment through new concepts, menus, and neighborhood-focused dining experiences. He reports on restaurant openings, such as an Italian food hall at Plaza Coral Gables, new executive lunch menus, and wood-fired Latin steakhouse brunches, explaining what sets each venue apart. He also covers awards, like a Wine Spectator honor for an Italian chophouse, and events that turn dining rooms into social hubs. His bylines extend to features on sports-themed gatherings, civic renamings, local visits to restaurant programs, sponsored community pieces, and official notices. His work is straightforward and descriptive, helping readers and local businesses connect around specific openings, promotions, and dining experiences.
Aarron Fleming
Aarron Fleming reports on how courts, jails and public safety systems work over time. He is a reporter at The Daily Memphian covering public safety, the local court system, suburban news and business developments in North Mississippi. His work follows trials, sentencing, appeals, plea deals and judicial decisions, including major cases tied to Tyre Nichols and rapper Young Dolph. He also covers jail conditions, inmate deaths, crime data, prosecution units, trafficking, shootings and public-order incidents. His suburban reporting examines cannabis businesses, restaurant openings and how commercial growth affects communities such as Olive Branch. Fleming previously covered education in the same newsroom. He uses clear, unadorned prose to explain legal steps, deadlines, institutional problems and the political, commercial and community effects of public-safety decisions.
Alana Al-Hatlani
Alana Al-Hatlani is a food writer and editor who treats recipes, restaurants, and food features as ways to explore culture, community, and the business of eating. She works on the food team at Southern Living, overseeing and contributing to print recipes and reported features. Her pastry-focused, restaurant-tested perspective comes from time in restaurant and bakery kitchens. She helps plan and write monthly food packages, including “The South’s Most Treasured Desserts,” and wrote “8 Summer Recipes Our Editors Make Every Year.” She also writes recipe tips, ingredient explainers, restaurant guides, and reported stories about workers, owners, and communities. Her subjects include regional specialties, dining scenes, kitchen basics, and food industries. Her work has appeared with OpenTable and Yahoo. She reports on the ground, explains techniques clearly, and connects specific dishes and places to larger stories about food and livelihood.
Alana Edgin
Alana Edgin is a business reporter whose strongest focus is food, restaurants and consumer-facing businesses. She works at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and has also had work syndicated across AOL and Yahoo News. She covers new openings, closings, expansions and franchise growth, along with retail, health, services, corporate news, data incidents, business support programs and sponsorships. Her reporting includes detailed roundups of new restaurants and businesses, coverage of El Pollo Loco’s opening, and stories on burger trucks, dessert shops, Vietnamese sandwich restaurants and gourmet markets. She also contributes to food and drink reviews, including fall coffee and jerky comparisons. Edgin reports with practical “what, when, where” details, structured comparisons and clear explanations of how offers, partnerships and business changes affect consumers and the local economy.