AKRON, OHIO -- Gayle S. Putrich has joined Plastics News as its new Washington-based staff reporter.

Putrich will work out of a home office in Washington and cover beats including legislative and regulatory news, trade associations, the medical end market and executive pay.

Putrich is a Cleveland-area native who went to high school in Indiana, then came back to northeast Ohio: She received a bachelor's degree in news journalism from Kent State University in 2001.

After interning at CNN's Washington bureau, she worked for Congressional Quarterly and Army Times Publishing as a reporter and editor from 2003-09. She was a section editor for Flight International/Flightglobal.com from 2010-11, and since 2009 she has been freelancing for clients including the Council on Foreign Relations, Watchdog.org, the Washington Business Journal and Trails.com.

In addition to writing and editing, Putrich has video news reporting skills.

"I'm pleased to add Gayle Putrich to our reporting team. Her skills will be a welcome addition to our staff, which is already the largest and most-experienced in the global plastics industry," said Don Loepp, editor of Akron-based Plastics News.

Putrich can be reached at gputrich@crain.com and (202) 321-5034.