The 2015 O’Brien Fellowship conference featured the work of our 2014-15 O’Brien Fellows: Brandon Loomis of The Arizona Republic, Raquel Rutledge of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Marjorie Valbrun, an independent journalist reporting for The Washington Post.

Loomis used his fellowship to focus on whether Arizona and the Southwest will continue to lead the nation in growth as the Colorado River dries. Rutledge investigated how lung-destroying chemicals are harming coffee industry workers and are present in e-cigarettes. Valbrun concentrated on welfare reform, particularly with respect to whether governmental policies of the 1990s helped to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and dependency.

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