ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network began in January 2018 after our staff thought about how we could help to remedy the lack of investigative reporting at the local level. Many local news organizations are facing enormous financial strain and cutbacks; they want to do deeper accountability coverage but simply don’t have the resources. That issue is exacerbated by the fact that the strongest accountability reporting these days often relies on a mix of specialized skills that can be scarce in local newsrooms, including data, research, design and social media.
Our partners’ stories have made a real difference in their communities, and their work has been recognized nationally with prestigious journalism awards. One of our partners, the Anchorage Daily News, won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for public service for our collaboration that examined sexual violence in Alaska.
We now partner with more than 20 newsrooms across the country, and we will be accepting new applications in the coming months. You can learn more about our previous work below. Sign up here to get updates.
Here’s information on how to apply.
Projects Underway
Anchorage Daily News
Anchorage, Alaska
Reporter: Kyle Hopkins
Capital & Main
Los Angeles, California
Reporter: Robin Urevich
The Chicago Tribune
Chicago, Illinois
Reporter: Jennifer Smith Richards
The City
New York, New York
Reporter: Abigail Kramer
The Current
Savannah, Georgia
Reporter: Margaret Coker
Documented
New York, New York
Reporter: Marcus Baram
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Honolulu, Hawaii
Reporter: Rob Perez
Idaho Statesman
Boise, Idaho
Reporter: Becca Savransky
The Kansas City Beacon
Kansas City, Missouri
Reporter: Madison Hopkins
Lee Enterprises Midwest
Carbondale, Illinois
Reporter: Molly Parker
The Maine Monitor
Hallowell, Maine
Reporter: Rose Lundy
Mississippi Free Press
Jackson, Mississippi
Reporter: Nick Judin
Mississippi Today
Jackson, Mississippi
Reporter: Isabelle Taft
Mountain State Spotlight
West Virginia
Reporter: Ken Ward
Nashville Public Radio
Nashville, Tennessee
Reporter: Meribah Knight
The New Bedford Light
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Reporter: Will Sennott
New Mexico in Depth
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Reporter: Bryant Furlow
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
Tupelo, Mississippi
Reporter: Caleb Bedillion
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Portland, Oregon
Reporter: Tony Schick
Rocky Mountain PBS
Denver, Colorado
Reporter: Brittany Freeman
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake City, Utah
Reporter: Jessica Miller
Searchlight New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Reporter: Ed Williams
Source New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Reporter: Patrick Lohmann
Sun Herald
Biloxi, Mississippi
Reporter: Anita Lee
Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO
Norfolk, Virginia
Reporter: Brandi Kellam
WVUE-TV
New Orleans, Louisiana
Reporter: Samantha Sunne
Previous Partners and Projects
2022
Disaster After Disaster: Growing Storms, Faltering Aid
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
New Orleans, Louisiana
Reporter: Richard A. Webster
Casinos Pled Poverty to Get a Huge Tax Break. Atlantic City Is Paying the Price.
The Press of Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Reporter: Alison Burdo
2021
In San Francisco, Hundreds of Homes for the Homeless Sit Vacant
San Francisco Public Press
San Francisco, California
Reporter: Nuala Bishari
Schoolyard Sheriffs: Policing Kids in Antelope Valley Schools
KPCC/LAist
Los Angeles, California
Reporter: Emily Elena Dugdale
In Alaska, Commercial Aviation Is a Lifeline. The State Is Also Home to a Growing Share of the Country’s Deadly Crashes.
KUCB and CoastAlaska
Unalaska, Alaska
Reporter: Zoë Sobel
Black Snow: Big Sugar’s Burning Problem
Palm Beach Post
Palm Beach, Florida
Reporter: Lulu Ramadan
Bittersweet: How America’s Richest School Spends Its Wealth
The Philadelphia Inquirer and Spotlight PA
Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Reporter: Bob Fernandez
The Way Prisoners Flag Guard Abuse, Inadequate Health Care and Unsanitary Conditions Is Broken
WBEZ
Chicago, Illinois
Reporter: Shannon Heffernan
Unwatched: A Louisiana Law Department That Polices Itself
WRKF and WWNO
Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana
Reporter: Richard Webster
The City Where Investigations of Police Take So Long, Officers Kill Again Before Reviews Are Done
Open Vallejo
Vallejo, California
Reporter: Laurence Du Sault
Lights Out: Profitable Utility Company Shut Off Electricity to Homes Hundreds of Thousands of Times
Outlier Media
Detroit, Michigan
Reporter: Sarah Alvarez
2020
State of Denial: Inside Arizona’s Division of Developmental Disabilities
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona
Reporter: Amy Silverman
Gilded Badges: How New Jersey Cops Profit From Police Unions and Avoid Accountability
Asbury Park Press
Neptune, New Jersey
Reporter: Andrew Ford
Pollution Profiteers: Inside California’s Toxic Hauling Industry
Bay City News Foundation
Oakland, California
Reporter: Scott Morris
Oil Companies Are Profiting From Illegal Spills. And California Lets Them.
The Desert Sun
Palm Springs, California
Reporter: Janet Wilson
Sunken Costs: Coal Ash in Georgia
Georgia Health News
Atlanta, Georgia
Reporter: Max Blau
Paradise Lost: Hawaii’s Disappearing Beaches
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Honolulu, Hawaii
Reporter: Sophie Cocke
Defenseless: Investigating the Only State Without Public Defenders
The Maine Monitor
Hallowell, Maine
Reporter: Samantha Hogan
Birth Rights: Investigating Florida’s NICA Program
Miami Herald
Miami, Florida
Reporter: Carol Marbin Miller
Profiting From the Poor: Inside Memphis’ Debt Machine
MLK50: Justice Through Journalism
Memphis, Tennessee
Reporter: Wendi C. Thomas
The Two Hospitals Have Similar Infant Death Rates — Until You Look at Extremely Premature Babies
New Mexico In Depth
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Reporter: Bryant Furlow
In a Small Town, a Battle for Racial Justice Confronts a Bloody Past and an Uncertain Future
The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun
Raleigh, North Carolina
Reporter: Carli Brosseau
Power Play: The Influence of Virginia’s Biggest Utility
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond, Virginia
Reporter: Patrick Wilson
2019
Lessons Lost: How Federal Schools Are Failing Native American Students
Arizona Republic
Phoenix, Arizona
Reporter: Alden Woods
Desperation Town: How Youngstown Gave Itself Away for the Promise of Jobs
The Business Journal
Youngstown, Ohio
Reporter: Dan O’Brien
She Was Sued Over Rent She Didn’t Owe. It Took Seven Court Dates to Prove She Was Right.
Capital Gazette
Annapolis, Maryland
Reporter: Danielle Ohl
At a Great Price: The True Cost of the Sears Headquarters Deal
The Daily Herald
Arlington Heights, Illinois
Reporter: David Bernstein
Critical Condition: Investigating the Business of Oklahoma’s Rural Hospitals
The Frontier
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Reporter: Brianna Bailey
The Elk, the Tourists and the Missing Coal Country Jobs
Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting
Louisville, Kentucky
Reporter: R.G. Dunlop
Unchecked Power: The Extraordinary Power of Alabama Sheriffs
Reckon by AL.com
Birmingham, Alabama
Reporter: Connor Sheets
Invisible Walls: Connecticut’s Separate and Unequal Housing
Connecticut Mirror
Hartford, Connecticut
Reporter: Jacqueline Rabe Thomas
The Real Bosses of New Jersey: How Unelected Officials Run Your Government
WNYC
New York, New York
Reporter: Nancy Solomon
The Untouchables: Investigating South Carolina’s Judges
The Post and Courier
Charleston, South Carolina
Reporter: Joseph Cranney
Overcorrection: Crisis in California Jails
The Sacramento Bee
Sacramento, California
Reporter: Jason Pohl
Locked Down: An Investigation of Mississippi’s Prisons
Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting
Jackson, Mississippi
Reporter: Jerry Mitchell
A 911 Emergency: Rhode Island’s Deadly 911 Flaws
The Public’s Radio
Providence, Rhode Island
Reporter: Lynn Arditi
Lawless: Sexual Violence in Alaska
Anchorage Daily News
Anchorage, Alaska
Reporter: Kyle Hopkins
Profiting From the Poor: Inside Memphis’ Debt Machine
MLK50
Memphis, Tennessee
Reporter: Wendi C. Thomas
Miswired: How Kentucky Missed the Technology Revolution
Louisville Courier-Journal
Louisville, Kentucky
Reporter: Alfred Miller
Big Jim: West Virginia’s Conflicted Governor
Charleston Gazette-Mail
Charleston, West Virginia
Reporter: Ken Ward Jr.
Polluter’s Paradise: Environmental Impact in Louisiana
The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune
New Orleans, Louisiana
Reporter: Joan Meiners
Campus Complicity: Faculty Sexual Misconduct in Illinois
NPR Illinois
Springfield, Illinois
Reporter: Rachel Otwell
2018
Accused in Elkhart: Justice in an Indiana County
South Bend Tribune
South Bend, Indiana
Reporter: Christian Sheckler
Louisiana’s Ethical Swamp: Lawmakers’ Conflicts of Interest
The New Orleans Advocate
New Orleans, Louisiana
Reporter: Rebekah Allen
A Sick System: Repeat Attacks After Pleading Insanity
The Malheur Enterprise
Malheur County, Oregon
Reporter: Jayme Fraser
The New Power Brokers: West Virginia’s Natural Gas Industry
Charleston Gazette-Mail
Charleston, West Virginia
Reporter: Ken Ward Jr.
Half Life: Nuke Lab Workers Getting Sick
Santa Fe New Mexican
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Reporter: Rebecca Moss
HUD’s House of Cards: Public Housing Failures
The Southern Illinoisan
Carbondale, Illinois
Reporter: Molly Parker
Trauma After Tragedy: PTSD in First Responders
WMFE
Orlando, Florida
Reporter: Abe Aboraya
Awards and Impact
The impact of our Local Reporting Network has been extraordinary.
The Anchorage Daily News, in a first-of-its-kind investigation, found that one in three communities in Alaska has no local law enforcement: no state troopers to stop an active shooter, no village police officers to break up family fights, not even untrained city or tribal cops to patrol the streets. Following that coverage, U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr visited Alaska and later declared a state of emergency, releasing millions in federal funds to devote to the problem.
MLK50, a nonprofit news organization in Memphis, Tennessee, reported on how the area’s largest hospital system sued and garnished the wages of thousands of poor patients, including its own employees, for unpaid medical debts. The hospital subsequently curtailed its lawsuits against patients for unpaid medical debts, dramatically expanded its financial assistance policy for hospital care and raised the minimum wage it pays employees.
In Indiana, the South Bend Tribune, working with ProPublica senior reporter Ken Armstrong, reported in 2018 on how police officers in Elkhart beat a handcuffed man and about how the police chief promoted officers despite records of discipline. As a result of those articles, the police chief was forced to resign, an independent investigation was launched and the officers involved in the beating were criminally charged. The mayor of Elkhart also abandoned his reelection effort.
In Rhode Island, The Public’s Radio reported how 911 call takers were not trained to provide CPR instructions by phone and about people who died after those call takers failed to give proper guidance. The state legislature added money for training to the state budget.
And WNYC reported on how a company in Camden, New Jersey, provided a false answer on an application for tax breaks, leading the state to freeze the tax break pending further investigation.
You can find more information on the impact section of our website
Our Local Reporting Network collaborations have received numerous national journalism honors, including the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for public service.
