Email: penny.riordan@patch.com
Phone: 410-507-9304
Hometown: Walkersville, MD
Birthday: March 1, 1981

Bio

A native of Frederick, Penny has been a journalist on some level since high school, when reporting for her high school newspaper earned her several high school journalism awards from the Frederick News-Post.

At the University of Maryland at College Park, she interned at various publications in Washington, D.C., including Congressional Quarterly, Stateline.org and the Washington Times.

Upon graduation, Penny decamped for New England and worked for a daily newspaper in 'hard-hittin' New Britain covering everything from policitical corruption to school news to police and fire.

Penny returned to Maryland in 2005, working for the Maryland Gazette in Glen Burnie before moving to the Carroll County Times. There she covered education and also oversaw several niche products for the company, including a glossy woman's magazine that she helped launch. Penny has received multiple awards from the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association.

After she was hired by Patch, Penny moved seven miles from Union Square in West Baltimore out Frederick Road to Catonsville. When she's not working from home for Patch, Penny is running, rock climbing, doing yoga and counting down to the start of ski season.

So far since moving to Catonsville, she has become a regular at Atwater's, Six Mile Coffee, both farmers markets and the Grilled Cheese & Co.

Your Beliefs
At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.

Politics
I'm one of those old-fashioned journalists who is registered as an Independent because I don't want to affiliate with either party.

Religion
How religious would you consider yourself? (casual, observant, devout, non religious)

I have a fascination with religion and read a lot of religious writers, from both Christian and Buddhist backgrounds. My beliefs are a little complex, but I'd love to talk to you more about them. I always value  the good things religious groups do to help care for communities, but also appreciate when good community springs up apart from religion.

Local Hot-Button Issues
What do you think are the most important issues facing the community?

Growth and development are going to be a big part of the future of Catonsville, whether it be UMBC or Spring Grove Hospital.

Maintaining a quality of life through low crime and quality schools are always part of the challenge for government.

Continuing to bring small businesses to Catonsville is also key to growing tax revenue for the community.