Ann Hardie is a Roanoke, Va., native who graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in English. She worked at Savvy and California magazines before joining The Atlanta Journal-Constitution as a staff writer in 1987. She and fellow staff writer Ken Foskett won the 2002 Georgia Associated Press public service and Georgia Press Association investigative first places for their series “Dying in darkness,” about Georgians with mental retardation who died under the state’s supervision.