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. In addition to other election-related debates, she's led forums on statewide issues including redistricting, tax policy, drug sentencing, marijuana legalization and the collective bargaining law known as Senate Bill 5.
She's produced features for NPR and "Marketplace", and has been interviewed by NPR, the BBC, CBS, NBC, Radio New Zealand 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 Anna Staver" 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.
-
The first step is over in the campaign by Ohio educators to overturn the bill that seeks to stop diversity efforts and faculty strikes at public universities. -
Advocates for kids and low-income Ohioans are urging state lawmakers to consider reinstating something from Gov. Mike DeWine’s original budget – a $1,000 tax credit for kids under seven. -
Ohio has a similar law to the one upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, and supporters and opponents have been watching for this ruling. -
Gov. Mike DeWine hasn’t proposed an income tax cut in any of his four budgets, and he's not a fan of the flat income tax idea in the budget passed by Republicans in the Ohio Senate. -
Opposition is swelling against a Republican state lawmaker’s bill that would cut property taxes by eliminating the 1% of property tax value that schools and local governments can levy without voter approval – known as inside millage. -
Six state lawmakers are now going over the differences between the budgets approved by the Ohio House and Senate, with the deadline of June 30 looming. -
Ohio could get $198 million over 15 years from a huge settlement struck between attorneys general from 49 states, the District of Columbia and five US territories and Purdue Pharma. -
As lawmakers consider state support for the Cleveland Browns' domed stadium development in Brook Park, Ohio’s other professional sports teams say they strongly support the idea. -
An analysis of a Republican-backed bill that seeks to help struggling homeowners by lowering the amount of property tax they pay shows it could be a devastating hit to Ohio’s public schools. -
Ohio's House and Senate will now hash out the differences between their versions behind closed doors, in what is called conference committee.
