Laura Griffin, Patch Staff

Laura Griffin was a full-time newspaper writer for more than 20 years at The Dallas Morning News, The St. Petersburg Times and elsewhere before becoming a freelancer. Her freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, CNBC.com, Dallas Family Magazine and of course, Patch.com. She taught magazine writing and public affairs reporting as a adjunct professor at universities in Texas and after teaching remedial writing at Essex County College, she thought it was time to get back to doing what she likes best, writing. She moved to South Orange four years ago from Dallas, after visiting her inlaws in the area for the last 20 years. (Her husband graduated from Columbia High School. And she's bought her children shoes at Futters for 14 years -- long before she moved here.) She keeps busy with too much work and volunteer jobs  with her children's schools and sports teams, and loves how Patch helps her keep up with what's going on in our area.

She's covered everything from earthquakes and hurricanes to school boards, city hall, law enforcement, courts and social services. She is excited to get back to daily local journalism as the editor of the Millburn Patch because she thinks it's the news that matters most to people.