Politics. Energy. Climate change. Business. Law. Housing. Health. Crime. Education. For the last 11 years, I’ve broken news in all of these and more. My award-winning enterprise work has helped drive community reforms that protect tenants’ rights, launched state inquiries into sexual harassment and negligence by educators, and exposed inequity and ethics breaches in small towns, state governments and the White House.

Since March of 2023 I’ve been part of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s news & investigations team as a Washington, D.C. correspondent. I’ve broken stories out of Capitol Hill, Gov. Shapiro’s office and Pennsylvania’s rural communities. I’ve covered presidential and congressional elections, energy and climate, the opioid crisis, healthcare, immigration, foreign affairs, state and federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court, the economy and political violence. My reporting on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler contributed to breaking news coverage recognized by the National Press Club.

Previously, I covered the Law & Money beat for the Boston Business Journal, and from October 2019 to March 2022, I covered national and state politics and breaking news for MassLive/The Republican in Massachusetts.

I was the police and breaking news reporter-editor for The Day in New London, Connecticut, after covering the Day’s energy and environment beat for nearly two years. And from 2014 to 2017, I was the senior reporter and assistant editor for The Palladium-Times in Oswego, New York. My investigative reporting in 2016 and 2017 helped expose a landlord accused of sexual harassment over decades.

Columbia University selected me for its Energy Journalism fellowship in 2019, where I gained insight and sources in climate research, geopolitics and energy policy. I earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northeastern University in Boston.

I’ve led or collaborated on investigative projects, audience-driven series, newsletters, social media, video and audio, including podcasts and radio. My shoe leather reporting has often been bolstered by public records and data, and I enjoy working with visual and graphics teams to help strengthen storytelling. I’ve also been a photographer for several years, and all the outlets I’ve worked with have occasionally featured my photos.

My journalism career follows a decade of award-winning team leadership and coaching in sales and retail management, where I led staffs from five to 30 people in a deadline-intensive environment. Since then I’ve been a tireless fighter for local news, freedom of the press, freedom of information and open meeting laws, reporter safety, newsroom and source diversity, and shield laws protecting reporters’ privilege.

If you have a news tip or question, please reach out at bkail@post-gazette.com or bkailreporter@gmail.com.