A group of fifteen adults pose indoors in a rustic room, with some sitting on chairs and others standing behind them, facing the camera.
The Public Source staff, Thursday, May 22, 2025, at the Museum Lab on the North Side. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/Public Source)

Leadership:

Newsroom:

Membership and operations:

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DS Fleegle

DS Fleegle is the audience growth and engagement producer at Pittsburgh’s Public Source, where he specializes in translating complex stories into accessible, impactful content across digital platforms. Originally from West Virginia, DS has worked in Pittsburgh for over ten years, creating content and audience engagement strategies across higher education, the arts and nonprofit sectors. Beyond the newsroom, DS can be found gardening, painting, writing poetry, riding the bus or devising strange adventures for Pittsburgh-inspired DnD campaigns. More by DS Fleegle

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Maddy Franklin

Maddy Franklin is the higher education reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source, in partnership with Open Campus, where she adds to, and broadens, understanding of the impact of universities. Originally from metro Atlanta, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a New Media Certificate from the University of Georgia in 2022. She most recently covered education and youth issues for Capital B Gary in Indiana. When not working, there’s a really good chance she’ll be on a walk or shamelessly watching reality TV. More by Maddy Franklin

Portrait shot of reporter Quinn Glabicki.

Quinn Glabicki

Quinn Glabicki is a writer and photographer covering climate and environment for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He is also a Report for America corps member. Quinn uses visual and written mediums to tell stories about how people in Western Pennsylvania interact with their environment and how climate change is impacting local communities. Previously, Quinn worked as a freelance photojournalist based in Pittsburgh. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Haverford College. More by Quinn Glabicki

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Simon Hebert

Simon is the business partnerships manager for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He builds mutually beneficial partnerships with local and regional organizations through sponsorships, advertising and events. Previously he worked in adult education. Simon spends his free time reading a wide range of books. He is a Pittsburgh native and holds a bachelor’s in English and a bachelor’s in history from Penn State.

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Alex Jurkuta

Alex is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh studying communications and English writing. He currently serves as the layout editor for The Pitt News and as a photographer for the University of Pittsburgh Athletic Department. Originally from Waunakee, Wisconsin, he first started learning photography in high school and found a passion for photojournalism during his freshman year as a photographer for The Pitt News. He is excited to continue learning more about communities around Pittsburgh and to document their stories. When he is not editing photos, Alex enjoys hiking, playing video games and watching sports.

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Jennie Ewing Liska

Jennie is co-executive director of revenue and operations. She oversees revenue generation and relationship development to support the growth of Public Source and manages internal business operations. Before joining Public Source, Jennie worked for Accenture in management and technology consulting. She also served on Public Source’s Board of Directors from 2016 to 2018. Jennie is a graduate of Penn State University. More by Jennie Ewing Liska

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Rich Lord

Rich is the managing editor of Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He joined the team in 2020, serving as a reporter focused on housing and economic development and an assistant editor. He reported for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from 2005 through early 2020, leading projects on child poverty, the opioid epidemic, communities with concentrations of people accessing mental health services, and the federal use of confidential informants. He has covered the federal court and city government beats, and was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting, for reporting on the Tree of Life massacre. Rich has also worked for the Pittsburgh City Paper and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He wrote a 2004 book about the subprime mortgage industry, called “American Nightmare: Predatory Lending and the Foreclosure of the American Dream.” His first journalistic foray was a column on the challenge of finding vegetarian food in Pittsburgh restaurants, published in 1994. Rich graduated from George Washington University, and he and his family can often be found on Western Pennsylvania bike trails. More by Rich Lord

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Lajja Mistry

Lajja is the K-12 education reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. Originally from India, she moved to the States in 2021 to pursue a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California. Before joining Public Source, she worked as a staff reporter and the photo-social Editor for Annenberg Media. Her work has been published in the Los Angeles Times, The Caravan and the Los Angeles Review of Books among others. She wants to use journalism as a means to follow her passion for storytelling through text and visually driven stories. When she isn’t working, Lajja likes to journal, sing and go bird-watching. More by Lajja Mistry

Alyia Paulding

Alyia (they/she) is the Director of Membership and Development at PublicSource, working to establish and nurture relationships with donors and funders. Before joining PublicSource in 2020, Alyia worked to capture impact, convene support, and inspire action at nonprofits including the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, Youth Collaboratory, and the Student Conservation Association. They were selected by the Institute for Nonprofit News as a 2023 member of the Emerging Leaders Council. They received their GPC (Grant Professional Certified) credential in 2023. A native Pittsburgher, Alyia holds an associate’s degree in social science from the Community College of Allegheny County. Alyia enjoys crochet, sewing, gardening, horror movies, and unhurried hikes with their wife, and they’re a stalwart friend of the Oxford Comma (sorry, journalism colleagues). You can email Alyia by clicking the envelope logo below, or scrolling up to the list of staff email addresses.

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Venuri Siriwardane

Venuri Siriwardane is the health reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. Her reporting focuses on the health and wellbeing of the city’s most vulnerable populations, and how local government and the region’s health systems impact their lives. Venuri started her career as a business and tech journalist in the New York City area, but also held roles in research and communications across academia and the nonprofit sector. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in New York’s outer boroughs, she’s learning to love her adopted city. She holds a master’s degree in politics and communication from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Temple University. In her spare time, she plays tennis and reads about South Asian history and politics. More by Venuri Siriwardane

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Halle Stockton

Halle Stockton leads Pittsburgh’s Public Source as editor-in-chief and co-executive director, guiding the newsroom’s strategy to bring trusted, independent journalism closer to the communities it serves. She began her career as a reporter at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune before joining Public Source in 2012, where she has helped shape its growth from a startup into a nationally recognized newsroom honored for overall excellence and investigative and enterprise reporting. Halle’s own reporting has earned national recognition, including a Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists and finalist honors for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists. In 2017, the Institute for Nonprofit News named her one of 10 Emerging Leaders in nonprofit journalism. She is a graduate of the Leadership Development Initiative program in Pittsburgh and an alumna of the American Council on Germany’s Young Leaders program. An Erie, Pa., native, she is a Penn State graduate and proud alumna of The Daily Collegian. More by Halle Stockton

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Stephanie Strasburg

Stephanie Strasburg is a photojournalist and documentary filmmaker at Pittsburgh’s Public Source dedicated to community journalism and trauma-informed reporting. Her recent reporting for Public Source includes stories across all beats, with a special emphasis on housing instability and politics. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and Mid-Atlantic Emmy winner for reporting on child sexual abuse in Amish and Mennonite communities, she was also part of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette team that won the 2019 breaking news Pulitzer for coverage of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting. Stephanie believes in photography’s ability to connect community and brings photo education to classrooms and workshops. She is on a constant quest to pay it forward. More by Stephanie Strasburg

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Natasha Khan

Natasha is creative director at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. She runs the organization’s visuals team and audience team. She manages the website and works with Public Source’s team of reporters, editors, videographers, photographers and freelancers to make stories more engaging for readers. She previously worked as Public Source’s interactives editor, web developer and environment reporter. Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, she graduated with a master’s degree from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in Phoenix where she specialized in multimedia coverage of border issues and politics.

Jamie Wiggan, PublicSource deputy editor, on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, at the PublicSource newsroom in Uptown. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)

Jamie Wiggan

Jamie began his journalism career at a local news startup in McKees Rocks, where he learned the trade covering local school boards and municipalities, and left four years later as editor-in-chief. He comes to Pittsburgh’s Public Source after a stint as news editor for Pittsburgh City Paper. Originally from Manchester, England, Jamie studied music in college and enjoyed some brief success drumming in rock bands before realizing his incessant curiosity outshone his rhythmic skills – prompting a return to school, a transatlantic move and ultimately a career in journalism. More by Jamie Wiggan

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Charlie Wolfson

Charlie Wolfson is an enterprise reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source, focusing on local government accountability and politics in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. He was a Report for America corps member from 2021 to 2024. Previously, Charlie worked at the Boston Globe, first as a student co-op and then as a metro correspondent. Prior to joining as a full-time reporter, he contributed reporting to Public Source on issues surrounding election law and voting access throughout the 2020 election cycle. He graduated from Northeastern University in 2020. More by Charlie Wolfson