Hello hello! I’m Hanna Holthaus, the new accountability reporter covering the Reading and Berks County governments.
Originally from a small town in Southern Illinois, I’m moving to Spotlight PA’s new Berks bureau from Houston where I covered all things City Hall for Houston Landing. Before that, I was in Jacksonville, Florida, as a watchdog reporter covering the city-county consolidated government for The Florida Times-Union.
I’m particularly passionate about reporting on local government because of its often overlooked impact on my neighbors: what may seem like an episode of the television show “Parks and Recreation” actually affects the quality of your downtown; the placement of grocery stores; the blights in a neighborhood.
For me, this means covering what government officials are not doing as much as what they are. In Houston, a data reporter and I found that city employees spent millions using city credit cards without documenting what they purchased. I also explored how low-income residents could be unfairly impacted by a city trash collection fee if Houston did not first stop offering subsidies for higher-income neighborhoods who paid for more frequent, reliable services.
In Jacksonville, I used public records to dig into how a former mayor’s administration decided to put the county’s new medical examiner’s office and 300-body morgue in a historically Black neighborhood — and discovered officials knew they needed to notify the public of the zoning change but waited until after the site’s groundbreaking.
I’m excited to bring this type of accountability reporting to Berks. The people I’ve met so far here are warm, friendly and care about their community. I want to hear about what you think deserves more coverage.
You can reach me at hanna@spotlightpa.org with any questions or tips — I will also happily accept any coffee, restaurant or local business recommendations.