Ryan Chatelain

Ryan Chatelain is an experienced, versatile and digitally minded communications professional. He currently leads Spectrum News' national digital team. He has previously covered news and sports for CBS, WFAN, Newsday, The New Orleans Times-Picayune and amNewYork.

Sybil Ludington is called the ‘female Paul Revere.’ Did her ride really happen?

The story goes something like this: On the night of April 26, 1777, a messenger arrived at the Putnam County, New York, home of Col. Henry Ludington, a militia leader aligned with the patriot cause, to warn that the British were raiding and burning an American military depot in nearby Danbury, Connecticut. Ludington’s 16-year-old daughter, Sybil, then mounted a horse and made a 40-mile trek through rain and darkness to rally 400 soldiers from her father’s regiment, who fought in the Battle of Ri...

AI boom brings misinformation concerns for 2024 elections

In recent months, generative artificial intelligence has exploded in the mainstream, allowing people to create images, audio, and essays or other text using nothing more than an idea and a command.
But with the groundbreaking technology comes concerns that it could be exploited to push disinformation that might influence elections, including in the 2024 presidential race. 
“People should be concerned about AI in the upcoming election because it's going to blur the line between fake and real,” sa...

Companies set sights on removing troublesome CO2 from air

Climate change, along with the growing problems it’s creating around the globe, is being fueled by greenhouse gases trapped in the atmosphere. But what if those gases could be erased? 

Emerging technologies that essentially vacuum carbon dioxide out of the air are being heralded by some as a game-changing weapon in the fight against climate change. But the industry still has a long way to go, and it has its share of detractors.

While decades old, direct air capture, or DAC, is very much still...

Climate change getting few mentions in midterm campaign ads

In a recent campaign ad, Morgan McGarvey, Kentucky’s Senate minority leader who is running for a U.S. House seat, vows to “take real action on climate change” if elected.
But despite constant reminders about the worsening impacts of climate change, the Kentucky Democrat appears to be a rarity in this year’s congressional midterm elections.
A review by Spectrum News of 126 television and online video ads found just eight, or 6.3%, that referenced climate change. All but one mention came from Demo...

Facebook whistleblower calls for new regulations in Capitol Hill testimony

Calling Facebook’s past decisions “disastrous,” a former product manager for the company who leaked internal research showing the harm its platforms can cause urged lawmakers Tuesday to take action to regulate the social media giant.
Frances Haugen, who worked in Facebook’s civic integrity unit, testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security in a hearing that was largely focused on protecting children online but veered into other areas, includin...

Lawsuit: Doctors who delayed emergency abortion to blame for woman's death

The family of a Georgia woman who died after allegedly being denied an emergency abortion for 20 hours is planning to sue the hospital, their lawyer announced Tuesday.
High-profile civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump held a news conference accusing doctors at Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge, Georgia, of not acting quickly enough to save Amber Thurman’s life in 2022.
According to Thurman’s family and a report last month by ProPublica, Thurman — a 28-year-old mother of one —...

Researchers pinpoint reason common cold spreads more in winter

A team of researchers say they’ve discovered the reason why people tend to catch the common cold more in winter months. 
Colds are the results of ever-present germs invading our bodies, and it’s long been believed that the illnesses are more likely to occur when colder weather drives people indoors, where viruses can spread more easily.
But in a study published Tuesday in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, researchers say the answer is actually in our noses because their innate immu...

Afghanistan, long wait for justice hang over 9/11 20th anniversary

Every year around this time, Sujo John remembers, even more than usual, the heroes from 9/11, including the ones who helped usher him out of the ash and soot raining down from the crumbling twin towers.
There were the firefighters he passed in the stairwell of the north tower as he raced down from his office on the 81st floor, which one of the wings from American Airlines Flight 11 sliced through. 
There was also the FBI agent who led him out of the blinding fog just after the south tower, where...

Johnny Cash becomes first musician honored with statue at U.S. Capitol

Johnny Cash walked the line all the way to the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall.
The Capitol unveiled a statue Tuesday of the “Man in Black,” making Cash the first professional musician ever to be depicted among the 100 monuments there.
“Johnny Cash is the perfect person to be honored in that way,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “He was a man who embodied the American spirit in a way that few could. He was an everyday man.
“Americans related to Johnny Cash, so families across the co...