Eleanor Bennett
Morning Edition Anchor and ReporterEleanor is an award-winning journalist who currently serves as “the voice” of Aspen Public Radio during "Morning Edition." She has reported on a wide range of topics in her community, including the impacts of federal immigration policies on local DACA recipients, creative efforts to solve the valley's affordable housing crisis, and hungry goats fighting climate change across the West through targeted grazing. Connecting with people from all walks of life and creating empathic spaces for them to tell their stories fuels her work.
Her reporting has been featured on NPR and The World, and she has received several statewide, regional and national awards including a 2023 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for her feature on an immigrant family who cut down their first Christmas tree together. She earned “Best News Feature” three years in a row from the Colorado Broadcasters Association, including for her stories about an education initiative to bring more Ute history and cross-cultural conversations to local schools and a citizen-science project to help understand how climate change is impacting birds. She also contributed to the award-winning series, "In The Woods: Trees and Climate Change in the Roaring Fork Valley.”
As a Morning Edition anchor, Eleanor pioneered the station’s award-winning "Outdoor Report," which highlights local flora and fauna, recreation opportunities and environmental causes in the Valley, and hosts the "Aspen Public Radio Newscast," a podcast for locals on-the-go.
Growing up in the Valley listening to KAJX in her parents’ car on the way to school, Eleanor learned the power and urgency of community storytelling. She was further captivated by the medium while interning at Aspen Public Radio after graduating from Middlebury College in 2015. From there, she covered issues of climate justice and women's empowerment for SiriusXM Radio in New York City. Eleanor also had the opportunity to work with French photographer and muralist JR to record the dreams, hopes and fears of 1,500 New Yorkers for an interactive audio-visual exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.
In 2019, Eleanor returned home to serve as producer of Aspen Public Radio’s teen-focused podcast, "Gen Z Tea." She started working full-time for the station in August 2020. Eleanor is delighted to be home in the Rocky Mountains working to shine a light on the critical issues and community voices that shape our Valley.
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New immigrants staying in shelters set up by the town of Carbondale and Recovery Resources will need to leave by Monday morning. Some have found temporary housing, but for others, the future remains uncertain.
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Local schools from Aspen to Glenwood Springs have teamed up with national organization Best Buddies to make prom more accessible and fun for all.
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A sense of belonging is crucial to the success of any community, but for many longtime locals in Aspen, it seems to be slipping away. Journalist Paul Andersen talks about his latest series for Aspen Journalism about how a sense of place has evolved in Aspen and the valley, and the importance of regionalism as a cohesive force.
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A coalition in Colorado is racing to gather enough signatures to put Proposition 89 on the November ballot ahead of an April deadline. Several Denver-based groups were in Aspen this month collecting signatures.
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Democrats running for Colorado’s Congressional District 3, State Senate District 5, State House District 57 and CU Regent participated in their first candidate forum at the Basalt library on Monday, Feb. 12.
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A new community dinner on Thursdays at the Snowmass Chapel aims to build community, especially with young seasonal workers who might not feel a sense of belonging in the valley yet.
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Al igual que muchas personas de nuestra comunidad, a los inmigrantes llegados al valle en los últimos meses les ha resultado difícil encontrar una vivienda estable. Este fue el tema de debate en un panel celebrado esta semana y dirigido por Valley Alliance to End Homelessness.
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Like many people in our community, immigrants arriving in the valley over the last few months have had a difficult time finding stable housing. This was the topic of discussion at a panel this week led by the Valley Alliance to End Homelessness.
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Todos los días durante los dos últimos meses, Irene Wittrock, residente de Rifle, ha estado trabajando con la organización local sin fines de lucro Voces Unidas en el Third Street Center de Carbondale, atendiendo las necesidades de los recién llegados al refugio temporal para refugiados de la ciudad.
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Every day for the last two months, Rifle resident Irene Wittrock has been working with local nonprofit Voces Unidas at the Third Street Center in Carbondale, seeing to the needs of new arrivals in the town’s only temporary shelter.