Staff

James A. Cutie

James A. Cutie, Connecticut News Project chief operating officer. Jim's primary responsibility is to assure the long-term sustainability of the Project and identifying other potential partners and opportunities for growth. He has 35 years of general management, marketing, communications and fundraising experience in traditional and online media, including The New York Times. Jim founded a media consulting firm in Connecticut in 1997 and was a partner in Plum Holdings, L.P., an early stage media venture fund.

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Michael Regan

Michael Regan, editor of The Connecticut Mirror. Mike is a former editor for the Hartford Courant, where he supervised coverage of topics including politics, education, health care, the courts, and the City of Hartford for more than 20 years. He oversaw major stories including the award-winning investigative work that led to the resignation of Governor John G. Rowland in 2004. A Connecticut native, he attended Syracuse University.

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Mark Pazniokas

Mark Pazniokas, Capitol bureau chief. Mark is the former state politics writer for the Hartford Courant and a former contributing writer for The New York Times. In the course of more than 25 years as a reporter, he covered some of the most compelling stories in the state, including the impeachment inquiry and resignation of Governor John G. Rowland in 2004 and the nationally watched Senate race won by Senator Joseph I. Lieberman as an independent in 2006. He is a graduate of Boston University.

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Robert A. Frahm

Robert A. Frahm, senior education writer. Bob covered education for newspapers in Wisconsin and Connecticut for 36 years before retiring from the Hartford Courant. As the Courant's chief education writer, he covered topics such as testing, teacher quality, school reform, and school desegregation, including the Sheff vs. O'Neill lawsuit. He is a former board member and past president of the national Education Writers Association. Bob is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.

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Jacqueline Rabe

Jacqueline Rabe, education reporter. Jacqueline has been a reporter, online editor and web site developer for The Washington Post Company's Maryland newspaper chains. She also has worked for Congressional Quarterly and the the Toledo Free Press. She is a graduate of Bowling Green State University.

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Keith M. Phaneuf

Keith M. Phaneuf, state Capitol reporter. Keith is the former state Capitol bureau chief for The Journal Inquirer of Manchester. He has spent most of 21 years as a reporter specializing in state government finances, analyzing such topics as income tax equity, waste in government and the complex funding systems behind Connecticut’s transportation and social services networks. A former contributing writer for The New York Times, Keith is a graduate of and a former journalism instructor at the University of Connecticut.

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Deirdre Shesgreen

Deirdre Shesgreen, Washington reporter. Deirdre is the former congressional correspondent for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where she spent a decade writing about the Missouri and Illinois delegations. She has covered campaign finance, health care, and lobbying, and she is a two-time winner of the David Lynch Memorial Reporting Award for regional coverage of Congress. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Missouri-Columbia.

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Arielle Levin Becker

Arielle Levin Becker, health reporter. Arielle previously worked for The Hartford Courant, most recently as its health reporter. She also has covered education and municipal beats for the Courant and for the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick, N.J. In 2009 she was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and a recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship. She is a 2004 graduate of Yale University.

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Uma Ramiah

Uma Ramiah, fellow. Uma is the first participant in a fellowship program established in partnership with Connecticut Public Broadcasting and the New Haven Independent. Uma is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and expects to receive the degree of master of arts in religion with a concentration in African studies from Yale after completing her thesis. She also attended the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal. She worked in Dakar as a research intern for Human Rights Watch in 2005-2006 and as a reporting intern for the United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network in 2007. She was a freelance journalist in West and Central Africa in 2007 and 2008.

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Christine Woodside

Christine Woodside, environment writer. Christine covers the environment, energy policy, land use and related issues for The Mirror. A journalist for The Day of New London from 1987 to 2000, Christine has been a freelance writer, editor and author on environmental subjects for the last 10 years. She has written for newspapers including the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Hartford Courant and is the editor of Connecticut Woodlands and Appalachia magazines. She also is author of the book Energy Independence (The Lyons Press, 2008). She is a 1981 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.