VETERAN STATE HOUSE REPORTER Shira Schoenberg is joining the staff of CommonWealth magazine later this month.

She will be replacing Andy Metzger, who moved to Philadelphia at the end of 2019. I hope she will be the first of several hires as the magazine looks to expand its reach and coverage and develop innovative ways to boost the struggling local news ecosystem in Massachusetts.

Schoenberg brings a wealth of experience to the coverage of politics and policy on Beacon Hill and across the state. She spent the last seven years as the state politics reporter for the Springfield Republican and MassLive. She covered the elections of Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Gov. Charlie Baker and has written numerous in-depth policy stories on topics ranging from health care to criminal justice reform to marijuana legalization.

She won the Massachusetts Bar Association’s 2018 award for Excellence in Legal Journalism, and several stories have won awards from the New England Newspaper and Press Association.

She previously worked at the Boston Globe and the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire, and holds a master’s degree in newspaper journalism from Columbia University.

Schoenberg said she is eager to take an in-depth look at the politics and policies on Beacon Hill that affect people’s lives throughout the state. “I see my role as informing the public about the inner workings of government, while amplifying the voices of those in our state who may not always have a seat on Beacon Hill,” she said.