• She has covered crime, tourism and cannabis, among other topics.
• Her 18-year-old daughter is headed to Ohio State University in the fall on a full caddie scholarship.
• As a child, she had no plans to be a crusading journalist. She wanted to be a crusading attorney to help the poor.
Pledger, 55, began her journalism career at the Las Vegas Review-Journal as a crime reporter. She worked at the Plain Dealer for 23 years before taking a buyout during a round of layoffs in 2019. She has spent the last two years as a freelance writer. Newspapers continue to change drastically in a challenging media environment … so after a 30-year newspaper career I was ready for a change, she said. I’m thrilled about the opportunity to play an entirely different role in Jacksonville at a time when papers are rethinking editorial pages and seeking new ways to engage with the community, guest columnists, letters to the editor and younger audiences in order to increase digital subs