Karen Kasler
Bureau ChiefContact Karen at 614-578-6375 or at kkasler@statehousenews.org.
Karen Kasler grew up in Lancaster, attended Otterbein College in Westerville, and found her professional break at WCBE-FM in Columbus. Karen was selected as a Fellow in the Kiplinger Master's Degree Program for Mid-Career Journalists at Ohio State University in 1994. She worked at WTVN-AM and WBNS-TV, both in Columbus, then for eight years was the afternoon drive anchor and assignment editor for WTAM-AM, Cleveland.
Since returning to Columbus in 2004, Karen has covered major elections and the controversies surrounding them. She served as moderator for the Ohio Debate Commission's Republican US Senate debate in 2022, its Supreme Court debate in 2020 and its gubernatorial debate in 2018. She was also a moderator or panelist for US Senate debates for the last four Senatorial elections and for a gubernatorial debate in 2006. She's also led debates and discussions on statewide issues such as drug sentencing, marijuana legalization, redistricting and the collective bargaining law known as Senate Bill 5. Each year she anchors the Bureau's live coverage of the Governor's State of the State, and has led coverage of the inaugurations of the last three governors.
She's produced features for NPR and "Marketplace", and has been interviewed by NPR, the BBC, CBS, NBC and stations around the country. She's a regular panelist on ideastream's "The Sound of Ideas" and a frequent guest on WOSU-TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, WOSU-FM's "All Sides with Ann Fisher" and WVXU's "Cincinnati Edition".
Karen has been honored by the Cleveland Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Association of Capitol Editors and Reporters, and holds a National Headliner Award. She's won several awards from the Ohio AP, and is a four-time winner of the AP's Best Broadcast Writing award. She's a three-time Emmy nominee for "The State of Ohio". She's a past president of the Ohio Associated Press and has served on the Board of Directors for the Central Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. Karen is also a former adjunct professor at Capital University in Columbus.
Karen, her husband and their son Jack live on Columbus' northeast side.
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Former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio chair Sam Randazzo, accused of heavy involvement in the state's largest bribery scheme, died by suicide Tuesday morning.
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The six new rules came after a survey of Ohio pharmacists in 2020 revealed concerns about short staffing, long hours and lack of rest breaks.
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The office of Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose has notified the Ohio Democratic Party that its nominating convention falls after the state’s presidential candidate certification deadline.
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More than 60 names are on the potential witness list for the state in the trial of former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio chair Sam Randazzo and former FirstEnergy executives Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling.
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Ohio’s attorney general says the state’s death penalty is “unworkable” as is, and he’s backing a plan to make a major change to it.
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The outcome of some of Tuesday's Ohio House primary races raises questions about the re-election of Rep. Jason Stephens (Kitts Hill) as speaker next year, as Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) is being more open about his plans when he’s in the House.
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The group that’s tried eight times to get Ohio attorney general Dave Yost to approve language for a constitutional amendment to eliminate qualified immunity for police officers and other government employees is pushing back on the AG’s latest rejection.
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The former luxury car dealer from Cleveland won the three-man race against a state senator and Ohio's secretary of state.
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Though there’s a bitter and expensive three-way race for the Republican nomination for US Senate on this March ballot, early absentee voting numbers for the month before election day are down from the last two non-presidential primaries in Ohio.
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The race among three men fighting for the Republican nomination to run against Ohio’s incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown this fall got increasingly nasty over the last few days.