The Virginia Mercury is an independent, nonprofit online news organization covering state government and policy. From the push to remove Confederate statues to big shifts in health care and energy policy, the Old Dominion is changing. The Mercury aims to bring a fresh perspective to coverage of the state’s biggest issues.

The news outlet, which also features original and guest commentary on a range of topics, is staffed full-time by five veteran Virginia newspaper journalists.

The Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers. We retain full editorial independence and are a proud member of the Virginia Press Association.

The Virginia Mercury generally features progressive commentary, though we are open to considering serious submissions on policy issues. We generally do not accept submissions, however, from declared candidates for public office or sitting elected officials. Contact Editor-in-Chief Robert Zullo at [email protected] with submissions. Please include links and sourcing to expedite fact-checking.

View our ethics policy here; read our privacy policy here.

STAFF

Editor-in-Chief

Robert has spent 13 years as a reporter and editor at weekly and daily newspapers, beginning at Worrall Community Newspapers in Union, N.J., where he was a staff writer and managing editor. He spent five years in south Louisiana covering hurricanes, oil spills and Good Friday crawfish boils as a reporter and city editor for the The Courier and the Daily Comet newspapers in Houma and Thibodaux. He covered Richmond city hall for the Richmond Times-Dispatch from 2012 to 2013 and worked as a general assignment and city hall reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from 2013 to 2016. He returned to Richmond to cover energy, environment and transportation for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He grew up in Miami, Fla., and central New Jersey. A former armored car guard and a graduate of the College of William and Mary, he has received numerous first-place awards for editorial, feature and column writing as well as breaking news coverage and investigative reporting.

Reporter

Ned, a Lexington native, has a decade’s worth of experience in journalism, beginning at The News-Gazette in Lexington, and including stints at the Berkshire Eagle, in Berkshire County, Mass., and the Times-Dispatch and Style Weekly in Richmond. He also has the awards to show for it, including taking a pair of first-place honors at the Virginia Press Association awards earlier this year for investigative reporting and feature writing. He is a graduate of Bard College at Simon’s Rock, in Great Barrington, Mass.

Reporter

Sarah hails from McLean and has spent over a decade in the fields of journalism and academic publishing. Most recently she covered environmental issues in Central Virginia for Chesapeake Bay Journal; prior to that, she worked at the Progress-Index in Petersburg and the Caroline Progress in Caroline County, as well as writing for multiple regional publications. In 2017, she was honored as one of Gatehouse’s Feature Writers of the Year, and she has been the recipient of numerous awards from the Virginia Press Association. She is a graduate of the College of William & Mary.

Reporter

An award-winning reporter, Kate grew up in Northern Virginia before moving to the Midwest, earning her degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. She spent a year covering gun violence and public health for The Trace in Boston before joining The Frederick News-Post in Frederick County, Md. While at the News-Post, she won first place in feature writing and breaking news from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, and Best in Show for her coverage of the local opioid epidemic. Most recently, she covered state and county politics for the Bethesda Beat in Montgomery County, Md.

Virginia Mercury

STAFF

Robert Zullo

Editor-in-Chief

Ned Oliver

Reporter

Sarah Vogelsong

Reporter

Graham Moomaw

Reporter

Kate Masters

Reporter

COLUMNISTS

Roger Chesley

Columnist

Bob Lewis

Columnist

Ivy Main

Columnist