I’m a journalist whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, Daily Beast, Los Angeles Daily News and other outlets. While working at the Torrance Daily Breeze, I won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting alongside co-writer Rebecca Kimitch and editor Frank Suraci for uncovering a web of corruption in a small high school district serving low-income students in Los Angeles County. I grew up in Grand Forks, ND, where I landed my first-ever newspaper job: trudging through the snow as a delivery boy. I later attended and graduated from the University of Minnesota.
AWARDS
* 2015 Pulitzer Prize, local reporting, Investigation of the Centinela Valley School District
* California Newspaper Publishers Association, 2015; first place, investigative reporting; first place, education coverage; Investigation of the Centinela Valley Union High School District
* 2015 National Headliner, first place, investigative journalism, Centinela Valley Investigation
* Scripps Howard, 2014 national winner for community journalism, “Centinela: Manipulation, Intimidation and Corruption”
* Editor & Publisher EPPY 2014 Awards, Finalist, Best Investigative/Enterprise Feature for series on School Superintendent’s Excessive Pay
* California Newspaper Publishers Association – First place Coverage of Lennox school district dysfunction, 2014 (The Daily Breeze) Local government reporting, large-circulation category
* East Bay Press Club, light feature, 3rd place, 2002 “Power of love: A will with no limit finds its reward”
* Oregon Newspaper Association, spot news, 3rd place, 2001 “Vet’s hunch on hitchhiker proves costly”
