Chronicle named Pulitzer Prize finalist for a pair of investigations
The San Francisco Chronicle was named a finalist Monday for two Pulitzer Prizes for investigations it published into different aspects of law enforcement. The 160-year old publication has garnered five finalists over the past four years, the best performances by a newsroom its size in the country.
Journalism's most prestigious awards honored the Chronicle in 2025 for its reporting on the deadly toll of high-speed police pursuits and for uncovering the secret deals that allow police officers with records of misconduct to be rehired in law enforcement.
Reporters Jennifer Gollan and Susie Neilson were recognized in the National Reporting category for ' Fast and Fatal,' a series of stories that revealed the devastating consequences of police chases. The pursuits often begin with low-level offenses or traffic infractions and end with horrifying crashes that have killed thousands of people in recent years, many of them bystanders or passengers and a disproportionate number Black and Latino. The toll of high-speed chases has continued to rise, even as officials and agencies promise to curtail it.
The Chronicle was also honored as a finalist in the Local/State Reporting category for ' Right to Remain Secret ' by reporters Katey Rusch and Casey Smith. Published in collaboration with UC Berkeley's Investigative Reporting Program, the project exposed a system of hidden legal settlements that enables police officers with documented histories of misconduct to be rehired by new law enforcement agencies that have no knowledge of their past misdeeds. Rusch and Smith found that at least 163 California police agencies had used 'clean-record agreements' over a decade to bury misconduct allegations against 297 officers and deputies, 52 of whom went on to find new jobs in law enforcement.
'Our goal is to prove our value to subscribers every day by producing journalism that covers our community better than anyone,' said Editor in Chief Emilio Garcia-Ruiz. 'These awards show that we are among the very best in achieving that goal while competing against newsrooms much bigger than us.'
The Pulitzer Prize honors the best reporting, photography, commentary and criticism each year and is among the most revered awards given in journalism annually. The Chronicle was a finalist in 2023 for investigative reporting for its examination of the dire conditions and concentration of overdose deaths inside city-funded SROs and for feature photography for its coverage of the fentanyl crisis in San Francisco. The Chronicle was also a finalist in feature photography in 2022.
Reporters Gollan and Neilson worked on 'Fast and Fatal' for more than a year, compiling statistics from numerous sources into a first-of-its-kind national database that revealed the vast toll of police pursuits. They discovered 3,336 deaths from chases from 2017 through 2022, including 15 police officers and at least 551 bystanders. Thousands more people were injured by the pursuits, and the officers involved rarely faced consequences.
Following the report's publication, lawmakers and experts have called for better tracking of pursuit data and new national standards for chases.
A large team across the newsroom helped bring the story to fruition. Gollan and Neilson worked closely with Guy Wathen, who analyzed and edited hours of disturbing police video for the project, and with editors Jesse Marx, Dan Kopf, Bulwa and Lisa Gartner.
For 'Right to Remain Secret,' Rusch and Smith embarked on an immense public records effort. Under the California Public Records Act, they filed requests to 501 police agencies across the state, teasing out the existence and prevalence of the long-hidden 'clean-records agreements' over the course of five years. The deals not only often reversed an officer's firing and hid their misconduct from future employers, some officers with histories of brutality or dishonesty were also given cash payments or lifetime disability pensions.
The reporters uncovered 49 officers receiving disability pensions as part of the agreements who had collectively received nearly $24 million in payments.
'Right to Remain Secret' was co-edited by IRP's David Barstow and Bulwa with data editing by Kopf. Visuals were by Chris Kaufman and Laura McDermott and visuals editing by Ramin Rahimian and Frugé. Blanchard contributed illustrations with collages by D'Amato and graphics, design and development by Jenny Kwon. Graphics, design and development editing were by Erin Caughey, Fong and Alex Tatusian.
'Fast and Fatal' was copy edited by Michael Mayer. Visuals were by Stephen Lam, Jon Cherry and Liz Sanders. Chronicle Deputy Director of Visuals Emily Jan commissioned photographers across the country, and Visual Director Nicole Frugé edited the visuals, with video production and annotations by Daymond Gascon and icons by John Blanchard. Alex K. Fong and Sophie D'Amato provided design and development, with additional development from Hearst DevHub's Danielle Rindler and Janie Haseman. Danielle Mollette-Parks, the Chronicle's former creative director who passed away in December 2023, contributed to the project's design.
The San Francisco Chronicle (www.sfchronicle.com) is the largest newspaper in Northern California and the second largest on the West Coast. Acquired by Hearst in 2000, the San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 by Charles and Michael de Young and has been awarded six Pulitzer Prizes for journalistic excellence. Follow us on Twitter at @SFChronicle.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
More arrests made in Flower St double homicide
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Sheriff's officials say two more people have been arrested in connection with a shooting that killed two men inside a marijuana dispensary on Flower Street. There are now five suspects in custody. Terrance Thompson, 18, was arrested at a relative's home in Las Vegas and will be transported back to Kern County, officials said, and a juvenile suspect whose name was not released was arrested in Kern County. Three other suspects — Ramahs Darnell Turner, 17, Darwin Young Jr., 20, and Nancy Ruiz, 20 — were also arrested in Kern County and have previously been identified. The shooting happened at about 9:40 p.m. May 27 at a dispensary in the 1600 block of Flower Street. 2 Wasco men convicted of assault after demanding gang taxes According to sheriff's officials, four Black males entered the dispensary followed by Damien Joseph Bullard, 26, and Anthony Victor Ochoa, 37. There was an argument, officials said, and Bullard and Ochoa were fatally shot. The others fled in a gold sedan driven by a female. The suspects are each facing charges of murder and robbery with the exception of Ruiz, who is only charged with robbery. A hearing for Young and Ruiz is scheduled next week. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
New York's Ritchie Torres donates to Andry Hernández Romero fund demanding freedom for gay asylum-seeker
Gay Afro-Latino U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres isn't ambiguous about his support for an innocent gay man sent to a modern-day gulag in El Salvador. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. In a stark video released Wednesday, the New York Democrat condemned the Trump administration for deporting Andry José Hernández Romero — a 31-year-old gay asylum-seeker from Venezuela — to El Salvador's notorious CECOT mega-prison. 'These aren't gang signs,' Torres said, referring to the tattooed crowns on Hernández Romero's arms that immigration authorities used to justify the deportation. 'These are symbols of love, faith, and family.' Related: Hundreds rallying at Supreme Court demand Trump return disappeared gay asylum-seeker Andry Hernández Romero Torres explained that Hernández Romero comes from Capacho Nuevo, a Venezuelan village where Día de los Reyes, or Three Kings Day, is a treasured tradition. As a child, Hernández Romero designed costumes and performed in pageants, discovering a calling in creative work. 'Those crowns are a tribute to that festival and his parents,' Torres said. 'They're marked with the words 'Mom' and 'Dad.'' He said ICE's interpretation of the tattoos was both 'false and bigoted,' a projection of criminality onto cultural expression. Related: Gay Venezuelan asylum-seeker 'disappeared' to Salvadoran mega-prison under Trump order, Maddow reveals Hernández Romero's story is not merely a tale of bureaucratic overreach. It is, according to Torres and a growing coalition in Congress, the embodiment of a deeper erosion: of due process, of humane immigration policy, and of the basic protections once presumed to be guaranteed under the Constitution. 'What happened to Andry could happen to anyone,' Torres said in an interview with The Advocate. 'an attack on the due process rights of anyone is an attack on the rights of all of us.' Torres added, 'Without due process, what is to stop the Trump administration from labeling anyone a gang member and abducting them in the dead of night?' Related: Coalition of 52 Democrats push for proof of life for deported gay asylum-seeker Andry Hernández Romero He continued: 'Of all the abuses of the Trump presidency, none has been more egregious than his assaults on due process — on habeas corpus, which predates the American Republic itself.' The administration has offered no evidence that Hernández Romero was ever involved in criminal activity. He entered the United States legally through the CBP One app, passed a credible fear interview, and was awaiting his asylum hearing when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained and removed him in March. His attorney was never notified. No judge issued a deportation order. He was last seen in chains, his head forcibly and roughly shaved, sobbing and shouting, 'I'm gay! I'm a stylist!' Since then, there has been no proof of life. Related: Kristi Noem won't say if gay asylum-seeker deported to El Salvador's 'hellhole' prison is still alive On Monday, Torres joined Rep. Robert Garcia, a fellow gay congressman from California, and 50 other Democratic lawmakers in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding a welfare check, legal access, and Hernández Romero's immediate release. 'The United States government, alone, is responsible for Mr. Hernández Romero's imprisonment,' the letter stated. 'It's been over 80 days since we've had any confirmation that he's alive,' Garcia told The Advocate. 'His story has particularly galvanized the LGBTQ+ community.' The administration deported Hernández Romero under a 2025 executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act, a centuries-old law last used to imprison Japanese Americans during World War II. Human rights groups say the CECOT prison he was sent to is functionally a black site — cut off from outside contact and designed to break prisoners. On Friday, about 300 people rallied on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, demanding Hernández Romero's return and condemning the policy that led to his disappearance. 'He would have loved to be here at WorldPride with all of us,' Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, which represents Hernández Romero', told the crowd. 'Instead, he is suffering in a prison that officials have bragged people only leave in a coffin.' Related: Gay asylum-seeker's lawyer worries for the makeup artist's safety in Salvadoran 'hellhole' prison At the rally, gay Crooked Media cofounder Jon Lovett told supporters, 'They can bring Andry back any time they fucking want.' Human Rights Campaign senior vice president Jonathan Lovitz declared, 'Our Constitution does not say due process only for citizens. It says that all people — all people — deserve justice.' Writer and podcaster at The Bulwark Tim Miller, who is gay, added, 'We did this to Andry — not some crooked cop or some foreign government. We did it.' Gay California U.S. Rep. Mark Takano invoked his own family's internment during World War II to denounce the deportation. 'Let's be crystal clear,' he said. 'We must repeal the Alien Enemies Act. None of us gets to sit this out.' Later that evening, at a live show taping and fundraiser hosted by Crooked Media and The Bulwark at the Lincoln Theatre, Garcia described the stakes in personal terms. 'Regardless of your opinion on immigration, this is about due process. This is about the Constitution of the United States,' he said. He recounted a face-to-face exchange with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador William Duncan, who told him that Hernández Romero's case was 'the first I've heard of this,' despite weeks of public advocacy. 'That day, he promised to do an inquiry,' Garcia said. 'We never got a wellness check.' Longwell, a former Republican strategist, pressed the moral argument of another wrongly deported person, Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the administration returned to the U.S. to face what some call dubious criminal charges. 'I don't care if [Kilmar] Abrego Garcia is a bad guy. He still deserves due process,' she said. 'How do Republican college kids justify disappearing people to foreign countries without a trial?' Related: Jon Lovett and Tim Miller team up to 'raise hell' over gay asylum-seeker vanished to El Salvador by Trump Garcia responded sharply. 'They can't,' he said. 'The Constitution means nothing to them anymore. Most of them were born into this incredible honor and privilege of being in the United States — and they forget where their parents or grandparents came from.' The California congressman said immigrants like Hernández Romero — and like himself — often have a deeper connection to American values. 'I fought for the thing most folks were born with,' Garcia said. 'I believe in the Constitution. And it affords all persons the right to due process, not just citizens.' Torres, who could not attend the event in person, donated $1,000 in campaign funds to support legal efforts to free Hernández Romero, a spokesperson confirmed. 'It's now Pride Month when we celebrate the right to live freely and love openly,' Torres said in the video. 'The very reason Andry came to America. Instead of celebrating Pride like the rest of us, Andry is suffering as we speak in a torture chamber. We cannot remain silent.' Torres was also among the 75 House Democrats who joined Republicans on Monday in passing a resolution that expressed 'gratitude' to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The vote came amid widespread protests in Los Angeles after ICE raids swept up more than 50 people, including some legally present in the United States. As tensions escalated, President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard, and on Tuesday, the U.S. Marine Corps over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and local officials, who warned of 'an unprecedented power grab.' The resolution also condemned antisemitism in the wake of a recent attack by an Egyptian man who threw fire bombs at members of the Jewish community in Colorado. Editor's note: This article was updated to include additional reporting.
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Stephen Miller Explicitly Ordered ICE Raid Home Depots
Stephen Miller explicitly ordered ICE to target Home Depot parking lots to arrest undocumented day laborers, a report alleges. The White House deputy chief of staff gave the order in late May, gloating in a meeting that he could leave ICE's D.C. headquarters and arrest 30 people outside the nearest Home Depot, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Miller, 39, is also said to have reminded top immigration officials they are not just targeting the 'worst of the worst' criminals, but anybody who is in the country illegally—even if that is their only alleged wrongdoing. 'Just go out there and arrest illegal aliens,' he said, according to the Journal. ICE officials appear to have heeded the White House's call. The Journal reported that ICE conducted an immigration sweep at a Home Depot on Friday in a predominantly Latino neighborhood of Los Angeles. The raid was among those that spurred widespread anti-ICE demonstrations and occasional riots in the city, which escalated after President Donald Trump activated the National Guard and deployed Marines against the wishes of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Day laborers are known to use Home Depot parking lots to find work at locations across the country, often waving down contractors or homeowners as they exit the home improvement store. Home Depot has acknowledged the practice, but does not explicitly allow it. Some stores feature signage to make clear that soliciting work is illegal in their parking lots. MAGA influencers have seized on this practice by migrants and are now encouraging ICE to continue targeting Home Depot parking lots. 'I'd like to report the front entrance of @HomeDepot at 5 am,' said Laura Loomer on Wednesday, responding to a promotion for the Department of Homeland Security's tip line to report undocumented immigrants. 'Location: Every Home Depot in the U.S.' Recent Home Depot raids have occurred at a minimum of seven locations in California, according to the Journal, The Guardian, and NBC Los Angeles. This appears to have workers skiddish about finding work in their go-to spot. Martha Arévalo, the executive director of the Central American Resource Center of Los Angeles, told the Journal that Home Depot parking lots in Southern California, once filled with hundreds of willing workers, have dwindled down to a 'handful.' Home Depot spokeswoman Beth Marlowe told the Daily Beast that the Atlanta-based corporation is not working in conjunction with ICE and that it does not receive any advance notice of raids at or near its locations. 'We tell associates to report [raids] immediately and not to engage with the activity for their safety,' she said. 'If associates feel uncomfortable after witnessing ICE activity, we offer them the option to go home for the rest of the day, with pay.' ICE did not respond to emails from the Daily Beast. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Beast in a statement, 'If you are present in the United States illegally, you will be deported. This is the promise President Trump made to the American people, and the administration is committed to keeping it.' Miller has reportedly orchestrated the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. In the same meeting he reportedly ordered ICE to target Home Depot locations, he also allegedly threatened to terminate officials if their arrest numbers did not rise significantly. Miller told ICE it needed an arrest total at or near 3,000 migrants per day. A plan, dubbed 'Operation At Large,' was implemented shortly after. It saw thousands of federal law enforcement officers and special forces, who don't typically assist with immigration, being activated to help ICE round up migrants accused of being in the country illegally. This supercharging of arrests resulted in several notable mishaps. That included ICE briefly detaining a U.S. Marshal in Arizona by mistake last week.
