Brett Sholtis

I'm an investigative reporter at LNP | LancasterOnline focused on the local impact of national politics. Recent work has focused on refugees and immigrants living in Lancaster affected by presidential executive orders.

I'm also currently reporting on a $500 million business scheme that has impacted thousands of locals.

My stories often connect fringe figures, dark money groups, political funders and elected officials.

I revealed that a group called PA Fair Elections had met with two of the architects behind the 2020 effort to overturn election results. My work showed that PA Fair Elections members were behind many of the efforts to disenfranchise voters in 2024.

I’m an occasional contributor to NPR and public radio stations.

Prior to working at LNP, I was a health reporter at WITF for more than five years. My work often focused on the intersections between mental health services, law enforcement and the legal system. In 2021 I was selected for the prestigious Benjamin von Sternenfels Rosenthal investigative mental health fellowship, a collaboration between Reveal and the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. My fellowship project, a 10-month investigation into Pennsylvania county jails, found that prison staff frequently respond with violent force to people having a mental health crisis.

One of my stories helped a woman with schizophrenia get out of jail and receive mental health care. Another revealed that dozens of police officers had joined the Oath Keepers militia. I held powerful health systems and state authorities accountable during the chaotic first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. I earned six regional Edward R. Murrow awards while at WITF. My Carter fellowship work was recognized nationally by the Association of Health Care Journalists and Military Veterans in Journalism.

Prior to working at WITF, I was a business reporter at York Daily Record, where I was recognized for investigations into food safety and nuclear waste.