Meet The Sacramento Bee Capitol Bureau’s newest politics reporter, Lara Korte

The Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Bureau welcomes reporter Lara Korte, who will be covering California politics and the Golden State’s influence on the nation. Korte comes to The Sacramento Bee from The Austin American-Statesman, where she covered higher education.

In Texas, Korte worked to shed light on the pitfalls and challenges faced by college students. She reported on sexual assault, food insecurity, and the sweeping policy changes introduced by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Over the course of the pandemic, she has documented how the coronavirus outbreak exacerbated existing inequities in higher education and how universities have struggled to address them.

Prior to the Statesman, Korte was a fellow for The Texas Tribune, where she covered access to women’s healthcare and the aftermath of the El Paso shooting in 2019.

Korte interned at The Kansas City Star, The Wall Street Journal, The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Wichita Eagle. In 2017, she completed a journalism program abroad where she wrote about the tightening restrictions on Morocco’s press corps for the Middle East Eye. Born and raised in Kansas, Korte has degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Kansas.

Korte is excited to move to California and live close to the ocean for the first time in her life, but for now will be staying in Austin to weather out the rest of the pandemic. She is looking forward to getting to know the California political scene through phone calls, emails and long Zoom meetings.

Please connect with her at lkorte@sacbee.com or on Twitter @Lara_Korte.