N&O hires reporter Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi to cover state politics in NC

Continuing its long-standing dedication to state government coverage, The News & Observer has filled several jobs on its politics team in 2022.

The latest journalist to join the team is making a return to Raleigh. Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi, who is originally from Peru, graduated from N.C. State University before going on to journalism school at the University of Maryland College Park and a fellowship in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There, as a Roy W. Howard fellow at the nonprofit investigative news organization Searchlight New Mexico, Perez Uribe wrote about housing, state programs and migrant population rights.

“The News & Observer takes seriously its commitment to comprehensive coverage of state government,” said Bill Church, The N&O’s executive editor. “After evaluating many qualified candidates, it was clear that Luciana embodied the dogged determination, smarts and objectivity that we want in a politics reporter. We’re thrilled to have her join our team.”

Perez Uribe is now a state politics reporter at The N&O and Herald-Sun, where she will cover elections and North Carolina state government, including the General Assembly and assisting with the politics of higher education.

Earlier this year, The N&O hired Avi Bajpai, previously a breaking news reporter at the newspaper.

The N&O and Herald-Sun team has one other new member. NC Insider editor Lars Dolder started in that role in June after working as a business reporter covering retail, technology and real estate.

Perez Uribe, Bajpai and Dolder joined a team that also includes state politics reporters Will Doran and Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, Washington correspondent Danielle Battaglia and state government editor Jordan Schrader. They work with other N&O, Herald-Sun, Charlotte Observer and McClatchy journalists to inform voters, cover political issues important to North Carolina and hold the state’s leaders accountable.

Find their coverage at The N&O’s website or by following the Under the Dome Twitter account, listening to the Under the Dome podcast or subscribing to Under the Dome and other News & Observer newsletters.