Louis Hansen
Senior Editor, Investigative JournalismLouis Hansen is co-founder and senior editor of The Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO. He’s been a journalist for more than 20 years in New York, Philadelphia, Hampton Roads and Silicon Valley. He was an enterprise and investigative reporter for The Virginian-Pilot for more than a decade, covering state government, military affairs and criminal justice. He served as a combat correspondent in Iraq and the Persian Gulf, covered the Virginia legislature and state and federal elections. Hansen has won national and state awards for his work. His profile of a teenage gang member, “The Girl Who Took Down the Gang,” was published in a collection of the ten best newspaper narratives of 2012. Louis can be reached be reached at louis.hansen@vcij.org.
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After graduating from the Naval Academy and serving 12 years as a helicopter pilot and instructor, Julie Hendricks has taken on a new commission — poll worker. -
Nonprofit newsroom claims state Department of Criminal Justice Services improperly withheld names and records of law enforcement officers, preventing the public from tracking wayward cops. -
Ken Mallory reviewed ballots in a historically close Newport News election. One vote made all the difference. -
The state budget approved May 13 creates a panel to probe the displacement of Black families by public college and university developments and consider possible redress -
Sixty-plus years ago, the white leaders of Newport News, Virginia, seized the core of a thriving Black community to build a college. The school has been gobbling up the remaining houses ever since. -
Black enrollment at Virginia’s Christopher Newport University fell by more than half under longtime president Paul Trible, a former Republican senator who wanted to “offer a private school experience.” By 2021, only 2.4% of full-time professors were Black. -
In response to our reporting, state Delegate Delores McQuinn said a task force could shed light on the impact of college expansion in Virginia. Officials are also calling for displaced families to receive redress, from scholarships to reparations. -
Schools, including Old Dominion and the flagship University of Virginia, have expanded by dislodging Black families, sometimes by a city’s threat or use of eminent domain. -
Relatives caring for children in Virginia are far less likely than caregivers in other states to have help from the foster care system for child care, counseling, grocery bills and other needs. -
With maternal deaths highest among Black women, some are shunning traditional care during their pregnancies.
