Friday Forum July 4 + Waco Bridge reporter Sam Shaw

<b>Molly-Jo_Tilton@Baylor.edu</b><br/><br/>Molly-Jo, or MJ as her friends know her, joined KWBU in 2024 as the station's Multimedia Reporter. Originally from San Antonio, Tx, she grew up on local TV journalism and knew that when she decided to pursue journalism as a career, she wanted to find a local beat. Molly-Jo graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in May 2024 with a Bachelor's in Journalism. While there she served as the Audio Editor for UT's student paper, The Daily Texan, and worked with The Drag Audio. She also interned for The Texas Standard, where her feature on a San Antonio nonprofit earned her a statewide award for health reporting (and becoming the first intern to do so). When she is not scoping out stories, MJ enjoys reading a good book, hiking or learning new crafts.

Before joining The Waco Bridge in February as editor-in-chief, J.B. Smith had 33 years of Texas journalism experience, most of it as local government reporter and managing editor at the Tribune-Herald. He has won numerous statewide awards for enterprise journalism, including a series on migrant deaths on the Mexico border. A Sulphur Springs native and Southwestern University graduate, he is grateful for the opportunity to build a nonprofit newsroom in his adopted hometown of Waco.