The Washington Post announces new staff assignments in Local coverage

Hau Chu (LinkedIn)

Announcement from Executive Local Editor Jamie Stockwell and Deputy Local Editors Maria Glod and Matt Zapotosky:

It’s been an intense summer of relentless news cycles. We’ve had high-stakes campaigns and political conventions, scoops about Jan. 6 defendants and double-dippers, accountability coverage about the unregulated world of tourism operators and traffic fatalities, in-depth and what-it-all-means reporting about a council member charged with bribery, nuanced portraits of tension in various neighborhoods because of bagels, loud parties and former convicted felons, and only-in-Washington features, like a melting statue of Abe Lincoln and the hubbub among Del Ray residents over their neighbor J.D. Vance’s vice-presidential ambitions.

With each story, this mighty staff has met the moment and driven local — and national — conversations, in part because of reassignments that have better positioned us to dominate our coverage of the Washington region.

While we’re constantly assessing beats and topic areas, we’re excited to announce the following moves:

Hau Chu, who served admirably as the anchor of the now-sunsetted DMV7 newsletter beginning with its launch in 2022, transitioned this summer to a night breaking news reporter. So far, he has jumped on a number of major public safety stories, plus written fascinating tales about life in the D.C. region, such as a sit-in by avid pickleballers to protect a beloved court and a curfew enacted by a local grocer to keep out minors from its stores in the evening.

A Northern Virginia native who graduated from George Mason University, Hau’s job with the DMV7 gave him a bird’s eye view into some of the most successful and buzzy local journalism being produced across desks. His wide-ranging experience, including stints on KidsPost, Weekend and Pop Culture, makes him perfect for this new assignment. Starting as a copy aide in 2016, Hau has written about everything from people's willingness to wait in (or skip) lines, workers guarding a vintage car on the Mall overnight to D.C.’s professional wrestlers. He even famously put together a comprehensive ranking of The Fast and Furious franchise (and we’ve forgiven him for some of his errant choices). He reports to Lisa Lednicer.

Clarence Williams, who spent almost two decades running to crime scenes, riding in police cars and waking up officials in the middle of the night about breaking public safety news, has moved to a day shift. He, too, remains on a breaking news beat, with a focus on stories that get people talking. We’re excited for Clarence to have the chance to demonstrate his ability to tell readers about joy, like he did in his recent story about a prom at Children’s National, and to execute on powerful enterprise, like his oral history of the March on Washington. He reports to Alisa Tang.

These reassignments have already helped us jump more quickly on the daily talkers. And have also helped us forge deeper connections with the communities we cover.

They also complement our recent moves of Joe Heim and Kyle Swenson to quick-turn enterprise roles under editor Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn. That team has produced some of our buzziest, most-read and most-important stories this year, including Kyle’s extremely well-read story on a TikToker who raised $400K for a homeless man and Joe’s penetrating look at the Baltimore community most impacted by the collapse of the Key Bridge, not to mention his stellar run of lighthearted, digitally savvy features on the melting Lincoln and what people in Washington are listening to. Kyle and Joe are both veterans of The Post and the Local staff, with Joe focused most recently on social issues, race and politics and Kyle covering homelessness and poverty.

Rachel Weiner — who covered courts on the Local desk for the past 10 years, along with several Virginia legislative sessions and a few congressional campaigns — has embarked on a new beat covering local transportation, including the Metro rail and bus system and major issues on city roadways. Bringing the same speed and precision she brought to coverage of Jan. 6 prosecutions and other high-profile legal matters, Rachel has already produced incisive accountability stories about transportation systems and polices in the region, including her deep dive into how Mayor Bowser has failed to live up to her promise to reduce traffic deaths to zero by 2024, her memorable look at D.C. Metro trains with exhausted or drunk drivers and her deep reporting on the city’s plan to overhaul the bus system.

Finally, Aaron Wiener, who has edited our very popular and widely read Retropolis coverage, launched this week on a new role covering local housing and development, exploring trends in housing and real estate that shape this vibrant region. The reassignment represents a homecoming of sorts for Aaron, who won several national awards for his reporting on housing and development for Washington City Paper from 2012 to 2015.

Aaron joined The Post as an assignment editor in 2021, after working as an editor for several years at Mother Jones magazine. He was principally in charge of Retropolis – work that culminated this spring with recognition as a Pulitzer Prize finalist for “The Collection” series he helped lead.

He officially returns to reporting on Sept. 3.

Stay tuned for more staff updates soon. Until then, please join us in congratulating Hau, Clarence, Joe, Kyle, Rachel and Aaron on their new assignments.