Brakkton Booker
Brakkton Booker is a National Desk reporter based in Washington, DC.
He covers a wide range of topics including issues related to federal social safety net programs and news around the mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
His reporting takes him across the country covering natural disasters, like hurricanes and flooding, as well as tracking trends in regional politics and in state governments, particularly on issues of race.
Following the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, Booker's reporting broadened to include a focus on young activists pushing for changes to federal and state gun laws, including the March For Our Lives rally and national school walkouts.
Prior to joining NPR's national desk, Booker spent five years as a producer/reporter for NPR's political unit. He spent most to the 2016 presidential campaign cycle covering the contest for the GOP nomination and was the lead producer from the Trump campaign headquarters on election night. Booker served in a similar capacity from the Louisville campaign headquarters of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2014. During the 2012 presidential campaign, he produced pieces and filed dispatches from the Republican and Democratic National conventions, as well as from President Obama's reelection site in Chicago.
In the summer of 2014, Booker took a break from politics to report on the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.
Booker started his career as a show producer working on nearly all of NPR's magazine programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and former news and talk show Tell Me More, where he produced the program's signature Barbershop segment.
He earned a bachelor's degree from Howard University and was a 2015 Kiplinger Fellow. When he's not on the road, Booker enjoys discovering new brands of whiskey and working on his golf game.
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While some details remain, the new season will start on Dec. 22. It will be a 72-game season that will allow for the league's traditional slate of games on Christmas Day.
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A spike in cases recently led El Paso's county judge to impose a shelter-in-place order closing many nonessential businesses. The Texas attorney general has sued to block that order.
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The judge's order calls for the closure of hair salons, gyms and restaurant dine-in services. The Texas attorney general says the judge has "no authority" to impose the shutdown.
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The judge said he was "left with no choice" but to impose a countywide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. He noted El Paso County has seen a 160% increase in its positivity rate in the last three weeks.
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The public health order does not apply to varsity sports such as the football team, which plays University of Minnesota on the road Saturday. The two-week order was prompted by surging virus cases.
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Video of the country singer partying without a mask last weekend has surfaced on social media. "I respect the show's decision, because I know that I put them in jeopardy," Wallen says in a video.
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Nearly half the people who attended the reception have tested positive for the virus. Maine authorities say it has spread to others who did not attend the wedding, including a woman who has died.
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said elections would be delayed from Sept. 19 to Oct. 17. After 102 days without community spread, a new COVID-19 cluster in Auckland has grown to 58 cases.
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Officials said one of golf's premier tournaments will be played without fans. The Masters was postponed until November because of the pandemic.
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The Big Ten, which includes Michigan and Ohio State, and the Pac-12, which includes Stanford and USC, put off playing college sports this fall as confirmed virus cases in the U.S. rise.