- Daniel Hennessy, a fellow from the state-funded California Local News Fellowship, will cover Yolo County for Abridged.
- Fellows are placed to help cover areas of the state that receive sparse news coverage.
- Hennessy is a 2025 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Journalist Daniel Hennessy has joined the staff at Abridged to cover Yolo County, a growing and complex community where many of California’s most pressing issues are playing out.
Hennessy is joining Abridged through the California Local News Fellowship program, a prestigious initiative based at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. The state-funded program matches journalists with news organizations across California, from small nonprofit organizations to large newspapers and television networks.
Fellows and newsrooms are chosen through a competitive process and then matched by the program.
The goal of the fellowship program is to “directly address the crisis in local news that is unfolding across the nation,” according to the program’s website. Many of the journalists working in the program cover communities and issues that receive sparse regular news coverage.
Yolo County is not only a rapidly growing and diverse community, but also is vastly underserved by local media.
Fewer than one-quarter of Yolo County residents can afford the median-priced home and thousands of new homes will needed there in the years ahead to accommodate the expected growth. At the same time, development will need to be strategic in Yolo County, where agriculture plays a vital role in the culture and economy.
“Yolo County is a fascinating place and I can’t wait to hear what kind of news is important to its residents,” Hennessy said. “I’ll be spending my days talking to people all over the county, from West Sacramento to Rumsey, and learning about issues that impact their lives. I can’t think of a place I would rather be.”
A study by the Information Futures Lab at Brown University found Yolo County had the lowest Civic Information Index score in the Sacramento region, with particularly low scores in civic participation, access to health and opportunity, and news and information. Abridged is seeking to help close information gaps in Yolo County by elevating stories on housing, local government, events and education.
“I’m so excited to be joining PBS KVIE through the California Local News Fellowship,” Hennessy said. “Working in local news has made me feel more engaged in my community and closer to my neighbors. I hope to write stories that do the same for people of Yolo County.”
Hennessy is a 2025 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. While at Berkeley, he reported on housing issues in San Francisco through the school’s Investigative Reporting Program and was a reporter covering housing, local politics, culture, the environment and public safety for the Oakland North and Richmond Confidential news sites.
Ryan Lillis is Associate General Manager, News, at PBS KVIE.