Chase Hunter
Senior reporter
Senior reporter
My name is Chase Hunter and I'm the senior reporter for the Sonoma Index-Tribune. I cover city council, wildfires and housing in Sonoma Valley, in addition to breaking news, crime, and enterprise investigations. I accepted the job in Sonoma shortly after completing a project investigating the inequalities of the COVID-19 pandemic for News 21, a student reporting project from the Carnegie-Knight Foundation based at Arizona State University. Fun fact, the hiring was so quick, I started the job living in a motel room in Rohnert Park. I graduated from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2021 where I reported on the 2020 presidential election in Washington, D.C., the Black Lives Matter movement on the streets of Phoenix, youth suicide in Arizona for a documentary with the Cronkite School and community reporting as an intern for the Arizona Republic. I also served as senior reporter and managing editor of the award-winning student media outlet The State Press Magazine.
Uncover how natural disasters in Sonoma County, California, have amplified health disparities. Explore data-driven insights on the impact of climate, class, and health on vulnerable communities.
As the tide of the virus and COVID regulations has faded over the past year, residents have been left to grapple with its enduring trials — some more than others.
Extreme heat in Sonoma County reveals stark disparities in access to air conditioning, impacting low-income residents, outdoor workers, and the elderly during heatwaves.
For undocumented and Spanish-speaking residents like Daysi Carreño, the destructive wildfires of recent years have burned into their memories and pushed some families to the edge.
Disasters in the form of wildfires, heatwaves and smoke days have exacerbated Sonoma's disparities of wealth, health and education.