She came to SJN from the Seattle Times, where she covered K-12 education. From 2015 to 2018, Leah led SJN's work in the Intermountain West, including launching and overseeing collaborative journalism projects between dozens of news organizations in Montana and New Mexico. She has investigated and written about turmoil in Washington state's new charter school sector; efforts to improve disproportionately high absentee rates among Native American students in Wyoming; Colorado's attempts to divert mental health patients from overcrowded Emergency Rooms; and how residents of small towns across the West find and use local news. Leah moved to New Hampshire in fall 2018 to build SJN newsroom partnerships in New England, where she lives in the woods with her rescued blue heeler and a flock of wild turkeys.