Cheryl Corley
Cheryl Corley is a Chicago-based NPR correspondent who works for the National Desk. She primarily covers criminal justice issues as well as breaking news in the Midwest and across the country.
In her role as a criminal justice correspondent, Corley works as part of a collaborative team and has a particular interest on issues and reform efforts that affect women, girls, and juveniles. She's reported on programs that help incarcerated mothers raise babies in prison, on pre-apprenticeships in prison designed to help cut recidivism of women, on the efforts by Illinois officials to rethink the state's juvenile justice system and on the push to revamp the use of solitary confinement in North Dakota prisons.
For more than two decades with NPR, Corley has covered some of the country's most important news stories. She's reported on the political turmoil in Virginia over the governor's office and a blackface photo, the infamous Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida, on mass shootings in Orlando, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Chicago; and other locations. She's also reported on the election of Chicago's first black female and lesbian mayor, on the campaign and re-election of President Barack Obama, on the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and oil spills along the Gulf Coast, as well as numerous other disasters, and on the funeral of the "queen of soul," Aretha Franklin.
Corley also has served as a fill-in host for NPR shows, including Weekend All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and defunct shows Tell Me More and News and Notes.
Prior to joining NPR, Corley was the news director at Chicago's public radio station, WBEZ, where she supervised an award-winning team of reporters. She also worked as the City Hall reporter covering the administration of the city's first black mayor, Harold Washington, and others that followed. She also has been a frequent panelist on television news-affairs programs in Chicago.
Corley has received awards for her work from a number of organizations including the National Association of Black Journalists, the Associated Press, the Public Radio News Directors Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists. She earned the Community Media Workshop's Studs Terkel Award for excellence in reporting on Chicago's diverse communities and a Herman Kogan Award for reporting on immigration issues.
A Chicago native, Corley graduated cum laude from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and is a former Bradley University trustee. While in Peoria, Corley worked as a reporter and news director for public radio station WCBU and as a television director for the NBC affiliate, WEEK-TV. She is a past President of the Association for Women Journalists in Chicago (AWJ-Chicago).
She is also the co-creator of the Cindy Bandle Young Critics Program. The critics/journalism training program for female high school students was originally collaboration between AWJ-Chicago and the Goodman Theatre. Corley has also served as a board member and president of Community Television Network, an organization that trains Chicago youth in video and multimedia production.
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Nicknamed "the General," Knight spent nearly three decades at Indiana University and several seasons at Texas Tech. His teams racked up wins, but he was controversial on and off the court. -
Hundreds of women aged 40 and older gathered in Chicago recently to jump rope and play other games from their youth. It was the 3rd national playdate held by the Double Dutch Club. -
Departments across the country have pledged to recruit more women in order to diversify their staffs and potentially reduce use of force by police. It's called the 30x30 initiative. -
"It'd be great if you had some help — but I can assure you those kids need help more than you need help," says Steve Ijames, who trains police agencies on active-shooter situations. -
It's been a difficult and emotional week in Buffalo, N.Y., following last week's shootings at a local supermarket. The racist attack has jarred the community as the first funerals begin. -
Payton Gendron is accused in a racist supermarket attack that killed 10 people. On Thursday, a judge delayed the hearing that will decide if there's enough evidence to proceed to trial until June 9. -
Thousands of reproductive rights supporters are gathering Saturday at rallies across the country in protest of the Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. -
Several states surrounding Illinois plan on limiting or banning access to abortions, which could push people to cross the state line for services if the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade -
Many states have no minimum age, but there's a push to raise it to a common international standard of 14. Experts say diversion programs should be provided without the criminalization of children. -
Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke earned early release from prison. Activists now seek federal charges for violating McDonald's civil rights. He was 17 when he was killed in 2014.
