Chicago Sun-Times expands team with two new hires

Elvia Malagón and Brett Chase will be joining the Chicago Sun-Times within the next week as part of the Chicago Community Trust grant.

Currently, Malagón is a general assignment reporter at the Chicago Tribune. Previously, she was a staff writer for The Times of Northwest Indiana. She also worked as a crime reporter at The Ledger and also served as an intern at Scripps Howard Foundation Wire and The Courier-Journal.

She has also worked at The New York Times Student Journalism Institute and Demotix.

Malagón holds a degree in journalism from Indiana University.

Brett Chase will be joining the publication from Better Government Association where he holds the post of senior investigative reporter. Before that, he was a U.S. companies editor at Informa. He has also worked at Crain’s as an assistant managing editor and served as a deputy business editor at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Chase has also worked at other outlets, including Bloomberg and American Banker.

Chase is a B.A. in journalism from Drake University School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

“Brett and Elvia are exactly the kind of journalists we envisioned taking on these roles when we began discussing the idea of these grant-funded positions with the Community Trust last year,” Sun-Times executive editor Chris Fusco said. “As our region emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, it will be more important than ever for our newspaper to continue shining a light on economic and health inequities, keep watch over education and immigration policies, and make sure our elected leaders are doing everything they can to safeguard the environment and stop widespread flooding.”

Malagón and Chase also will participate in community forums in which they will directly interact with readers on the subjects they cover.

The grant will have two, one-year renewal options, after which time the Sun-Times will fully fund the positions.