Russell Lissau is a veteran reporter covering politics, education and other areas of interest for the Daily Herald. His beat includes: suburban congressional issues; communities including Des Plaines, Wheeling, Mundelein, Deer Park and parts of the Barrington area; school districts in the Des Plaines area; and park and library districts in the Des Plaines and Wheeling areas.
A New York native who spent much of his childhood in South Florida, Lissau has been writing for publication since middle school and first was paid to put words on a page as a staff writer and editor for the Daily Northwestern at Northwestern University.
Before joining the Daily Herald in 1993, he worked as a freelance writer for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and as an intern and freelance writer for the Miami Herald. An early career high came in 1992 when he contributed to the Miami Herald's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Hurricane Andrew.
Highlights at the Daily Herald include: a series of articles about a civilian effort to persuade the government to recover the body of a Navy airman who died during a Cold War mission in Antarctica; an investigation that revealed U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh lost a condominium to foreclosure but didn't make the setback public during his primary campaign; coverage of the Joe Gliniewicz police scandal; and coverage of a deadly fire in the suburbs.
Lissau's byline also has appeared in a variety of popular magazines, including Chicago magazine, North Shore magazine, Working Woman, The Advocate, Curve, Cinefantastique, Chicago Parent and Wizard: The Comics Magazine. In addition, he has written comic books for DC Comics, Ape Entertainment and other publishers since launching a second career in 2005. His credits include "The Batman Strikes," "Batman: War Games," "Old Wounds" and "Little Earthquakes: The Graphic Album."