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.
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Local and state lawmakers are considering legislation to limit or even ban Flock cameras and other automated license plate readers, but Ohio’s attorney general is worried they may be overreactions. -
Eight million applications for mail-in ballots have been sent out to Ohio voters, with early voting beginning on Oct. 6. Military and overseas voting starts on Friday. -
Results for statewide English language arts and math proficiency are at five-year highs for Ohio's K-12 public schools, but officials said there’s still work to do. -
Two northeast Ohio lawmakers are teaming up on a bill that would require utility companies to reimburse ratepayers for food and medicine lost in long power outages. -
Faith leaders delivered a letter to Gov. Mike DeWine Friday, asking him to protect Haitians immigrants in Ohio who have lost temporary protected status. -
Two Republican state lawmakers have introduced a proposal for an amendment to the Ohio Constitution to cap homeowners' property tax increases at 3% a year. -
Gov. Mike DeWine announced a big federal grant at the annual gathering of higher education trustees, and once again spoke against a plan to dramatically change Ohio’s higher ed system. -
Rising property taxes and data centers are big issues in this fall campaign for Ohio governor, but Flock cameras and expanded gambling are also concerns. -
The incident at a campaign event near Youngstown and is being investigated. A 38-year-old man was arrested. -
Both major party candidates for governor have released their plans to cut property taxes and halt new data center projects, though both have also been somewhat vague on specifics.
