Niki Dizon , The Associated Press Dizon is the Illinois news editor for the AP, based in Chicago. She joined the AP in 1996 in the Illinois Statehouse bureau, where she specialized in education and won reporting awards from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors and the Chicago Headline Club. She also worked in the AP’s St. Louis and Jefferson City, Mo. , bureaus before moving to Chicago in 1998, where she served as a supervisor and special projects reporter. mpinews.org