Shelley Kofler
News Director/Managing Editor/ReporterFormer KERA staffer Shelley Kofler was news director, managing editor and senior reporter. She is an award-winning reporter and television producer who previously served as the Austin bureau chief and legislative reporter for North Texas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV.
Her expertise on legislative policy issues includes school finance, foster care and transportation; and her stories on the overmedication of foster children captured the attention of state officials who strengthened laws for the use of psychotropic drugs.
Shelley also covered government issues for North Texas NBC affiliate KXAS-TV and worked with KERA on numerous public affairs projects including nationally broadcast programs. She has reported on statewide elections and presidential primaries since the late 1980s. She also founded and operated her own communications firm, Kofler Communications, in Dallas and Austin. She served as a communications strategist and media trainer for various companies, agencies and public officials.
Shelley and the KERA news team received numerous journalism awards for their public radio and television work. In addition to all-staff honors she was individually singled out with a first place Edward R. Murrow award for a series of reports on the Trinity toll road decision; first place honors for political reporting from the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Association and the Houston Press Club.
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Today KERA, The Dallas Morning News and KXAS-TV (NBC 5) begin a series of coordinated reports we’re calling Five Days in October. Each day we’ll look at…
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Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins says he’s considering whether to prosecute the Liberian man who brought the Ebola virus to Dallas.Watkins…
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A leading epidemiologist with UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas told KERA that North Texas should expect more than the one case of Ebola already…
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A statewide poll says Republican Greg Abbott went into Tuesday night’s governor’s debate at KERA leading Democrat Wendy Davis by nine points.That’s less…
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A new controversy has flared up as the candidates for governor prepare for their last televised debate on Tuesday at KERA. It involves the Texas…
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The leading candidates for governor presented their visions for improving public education to one of the toughest audiences in the state -- several…
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Democrat Wendy Davis appealed to women voters Tuesday by highlighting differences between herself and Republican opponent Greg Abbott on the issue that…
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The candidates for governor are back on the campaign trail after mixing it up in their first debate Friday night. On Saturday Democrat Wendy Davis sat for…
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Republicans have won every statewide office in Texas for 20 years, but the growing Hispanic population tends to vote Democrat, and the GOP's survival may depend on recruiting Hispanic supporters.
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Tonight, the eyes of the Texas will be on the Rio Grande Valley when gubernatorial candidates Wendy Davis and Greg Abbott meet in Edinburg for their first…
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The Democrat challenging Republican John Cornyn for his U.S. Senate seat knows he has an uphill battle against a better funded, established candidate. So…
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A flood of legal briefs supporting and opposing same-sex marriage in Texas have been pouring into the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.…