St. Louis Public Radio welcomes new Metro East Reporter, Katie Grawitch

St. Louis Public Radio has hired Katie Grawitch as the newsroom's Metro East reporter.

Before joining the STLPR newsroom full time, Grawitch covered general assignment reporting as a newsroom intern for STLPR. They also served as a newsroom intern for the Belleville News-Democrat.

"Katie is a skilled journalist who is passionate about covering the Metro East," said Rob Edwards, Managing Editor of News. "Because Katie is from the area, they have a stake in the outcome of the region and will make sure to ask the questions and report the stories that matter the most to residents in southern Illinois."

Grawitch is a native of Waterloo, Illinois, and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2025. In college, they covered health, science and higher education at the Columbia Missourian, Vox Magazine and NPR network station KBIA. Grawitch also served as a general assignment editor for the magazine and as a graphics reporter across the Missouri News Network.

"It means the world to me to report on my home region for this newsroom," Grawitch said. "I look forward to many conversations with my neighbors about the issues that matter most to them."