Rachel Heimann Mercader will join Mercury News as a reporter to cover local news in Contra Costa County. Mercader begins in September.

Recently, she served a government watchdog and breaking news reporter at the Naples Daily News. She previously contributed to Her Campus,an online women’s magazine at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn.

Mercader has a B.A. in history from Rhodes College.

You can congratulate Mercader on Twitter.