Jackie Bensen is a general assignment reporter for News4. She specializes in reporting breaking news, mostly for News4 at 11.
Bensen joined News4 in 1999 after spending 12 years at WTTG-TV in a variety of roles including news writer, special projects producer and, for the last few years, general assignment reporter. She has also worked for Media General's cable channel and in the Washington Bureau of Outlet Communications.
Bensen is frequently called upon to speak at community and public safety events. She has been a guest lecturer at the FBI's National Training Academy in Quantico. She has also served as grand marshal of the Montgomery County Humane Society's Walk in the Park and the City of Rockville Memorial Day Parade.
A Philadelphia native, Bensen came to Washington to attend American University where she earned a Master's Degree in Journalism and Public Affairs. She has an undergraduate degree in English Literature from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.
Bensen and her family live in Montgomery County.
The Latest
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Kennedy Center contractor fired after naked protest of Trump takeover
A now former Kennedy Center contract worker used nudity to express outrage at President Donald Trump’s takeover. “I may be out of a job, but I’m not out of hope,” Tavish Forsythe said. Forsythe is artistic director of Bird City Improv, which teaches improvisation for social change. Until Thursday, he was also a program director — a contract employee...
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Sen. Warner seeks answers on why ICE detained a US citizen in Manassas
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner asked officials at the Department of Homeland Security and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to explain how a U.S. citizen came to be detained and handcuffed in Manassas, Virginia, earlier this month. Jensy Machado, who says he voted for President Donald Trump, told Telemundo 44 that on March 5, ICE agents blocked in his pickup truck not…
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US Institute of Peace says DOGE broke into its building
Employees of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have entered the U.S. Institute of Peace despite protests from the nonprofit that it is not part of the executive branch and is instead an independent agency. The organization’s CEO, George Moose, said, “DOGE has broken into our building.” The DOGE workers gained access to the building after several unsuccessful attempts Monday...
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Judges order reinstatement of fired federal probationary employees. Now what?
The firings of thousands of federal probationary employees have been declared illegal by federal judges in Maryland and California, but questions remain about what happens next. “The latest is that we’re waiting to hear,” said former IRS IT specialist George Johnston, one of those probationary workers (generally, those with less than a year on the job, but, in some...
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2 PGCPS students died from flu
Two Prince George’s County Public School students died from the flu, the school district superintendent confirmed to News4. The students attended CMIT North Elementary School in Laurel and John Bayne Elementary School in Capitol Heights. A third student also died recently, but it’s unclear if it was from the flu. “It’s disheartening to lose any family member, but we’re...
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‘Just following Hispanic people': Citizen detained by ICE questions vote for Trump
A naturalized Hispanic man says he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who were looking for another person on a deportation order, and now the man is questioning his vote for President Donald Trump. Jensy Machado said he is a U.S. citizen and provided News4 documentation of his legal status. Machado said he was driving to work...
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DC mayor to remove Black Lives Matter Plaza amid pressure from White House
A spokesperson for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser confirmed to NBC Washington that the Black Lives Matter Plaza will be rennamed. There’s no timeline yet for the change.
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‘He took the best part of my life away': Mother grieves son's murder at White Oak carryout
“It was the hardest thing of my life.” Sheila Caldwell spoke about days spent sitting through the trial of Markus Dowdy, 34, of Silver Spring, listening as prosecutors described a previous dispute between Dowdy and her late son Marvin Jefferson, also 34. They got into a fistfight where Jefferson allegedly got the better of Dowdy, and video of the fight…
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MCPS rallies for fully funded schools amid Maryland budget deficit
At a rally in Rockville Thursday night, public school teachers, administrators and the head of the Montgomery County School Board advocated for full funding of next year’s school budget after the governor called for a slowdown of spending for Fiscal Year 2026. “Montgomery County has long believed in the promise of public education and in the promise of our students,”…
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Rockville man charged with raping 9-year-old girl
A Rockville man was arrested on charges that accuse him of raping a 9-year-old girl after she took trash to a bin outside her home. Charging documents in the arrest of 37-year-old Wilmer Alvarado Gomez accuse him of approaching the girl at about 7 p.m. last Thursday. She was playing outside a home on Parkland Drive in Rockville’s Wheaton...
