Megan Verlee is an editor with Colorado Public Radio. She joined CPR in 2008 and has worked as a general assignment reporter and legislative reporter.

Professional background:
Megan Verlee joined Colorado Public Radio in the spring of 2008, just in time to report on Colorado’s important role in the presidential election. As the station’s general assignment reporter she covered everything from conservation programs on the eastern plains to natural gas development on the Western Slope.

Before coming to CPR, Megan spent several years reporting for public radio station WHQR in Wilmington, North Carolina. She got her professional start at NPR, editing and producing for “Morning Edition” and “Talk of the Nation.” Her work has appeared on numerous national radio programs and in several magazines.

Education:
Bachelor’s degree in sociology, Columbia University.

Awards:
Since joining CPR, Megan has won a number of awards, including first place from the Colorado Broadcasters Association for the “Biography of a Bill” series and a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Use of Sound in the 2012 “Getting Hands on at Colorado Gators.” She also received an award from the Associated Press for use of sound in a story about people raising livestock in urban areas.

In 2013, Megan’s story about Fairplay’s world championship pack burro racing took home a PRNDI Award for Best Nationally Edited Soft Feature, and she also participated in the State Integrity Investigation, which won a 2013 national Edward R. Murrow Award for Network Radio Investigative Reporting.

Prior to joining CPR, Megan received six regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for her work at WHQR in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Q & A

Why did you become a journalist?
I took my first radio class freshman year of high school and was hooked. For one assignment I had to interview other students about their experiences with the school. We had just been through Rodney King and O.J. Simpson, and in my angry, highly divided urban school, students of different races did not talk to each other. But when I had a microphone in my hand, everyone would talk to me. In two weeks of interviews I learned things about life in my school I never would have otherwise. I knew then I always wanted to have that power to ask questions, and the privilege to hear people’s answers.

How did you get into radio?
It’s always been radio for me. I’ve done some magazine work in recent years for the fun of it, but really, I’m crazy about sound; it engages your imagination in ways I don’t think either print or video can.

How did you end up at CPR?
Both my parents are from Colorado and so even though I was raised in California, I’ve long thought of the state as home. Reporting’s what I’ve always wanted to do and Colorado’s where I’ve always wanted to live. It just took a while for the job and the geography to align.

  • With as much as a 50% cut in state aid looming, colleges and universities are pressing the state for more authority to raise tuition and allocate financial aid.  The Senate Education committee voted unanimously Thursday to support that plan, as long as schools can show that they’re stil serving lower and middle-income students.  But student

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  • Are payday lending companies preying on low-income borrowers, or providing themwith a needed source of credit? That’s a question the Colorado Senate takes up when it votes on a billthat could be the end of the industry in the state. CPR’sMegan Verlee reports.
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  • Needle exchanges are illegal in Colorado. A bill in the legislature would change that. Megan Verlee reports on two programs that operate anyway. And Ryan Warner talks to addiction expert Michael Kidorf, of Johns Hopkins University.
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  • Marijuana was in the air at the state capitol Tuesday — literally and figuratively.  Inside, the House gave preliminary approval to a toughened-up version of a bill regulating medical marijuana dispensaries.  Across the street, in Civic Center Park, fans of all things cannabis celebrated both the legal and illegal aspects of the drug.
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  • In this season of holiday feasts, a growing number of Coloradans are turning to food stamps and charities just to put meals on the table. That has some agencies worried about keeping up with the need. KCFR’s Megan Verlee reports. Story images.
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  • Turn on the news or pick up a local paper and it’s hard to imagine anything but the DNC is happening in Denver this week. But just a few blocks away from the downtown action the picture looks very different. KCFR’s Megan Verlee went out to see what Denverites think of the event. View photo.
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  • Utilities say they need a new transmission line in southern Colorado to make renewable energy possible. Residents fear it will destroy the landscape they love. CPR’s Megan Verlee talks to Ryan Warner. Then Ryan talks to L.A. Times reporter Judith Lewis about moving power generation closer to population centers.
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  • DPS is reassessing its reform plan against the backdrop of a contentious school board race. Megan Verlee reports and Ryan Warner talks with Nancy Mitchell of Education News Colorado about the race.
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  • Staying on the family farm can take a lot of creativity these days. It may mean inviting the public to join you. We get a report from Megan Verlee. Then Ryan Warner talks to Wendy White of the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
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  • [This story originally aired August 15, 2008] The Colorado office of the Bureau of Land Management held its most expensive, and possibly most controversial, mineral lease auction ever on Thursday. On the block were more than 55,000 acres of the Roan Plateau on the Western Slope.
    <p>A gas well in Garfield county, north of the disputed leases in the White River National Forest.</p>
<p>A gas well in Garfield county, north of the disputed leases in the White River National Forest.</p>
  • KCFR’s Megan Verlee reports on a protester who received a ticket for trespassing at a recent McCain campaign event in Denver. The protester is challenging the citation in court, this week.
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