for breaking the news that the state Health and Human Services director was being charged with manslaughter in a death attributed to the Flint lead-water crisis. http://trib.in/2t0F2b2
for scoring the first national interview with Montana’s incoming congressman, Republican Greg Gianforte, who had pleaded guilty to assaulting a reporter during the campaign. He called for civility in politics. http://bit.ly/2s1i3rB
for finding a vantage point that gave them a clear view of the damaged side of the destroyer USS Fitzgerald as it was being pulled into port after colliding with a freighter. http://apne.ws/2sHA3cE
for negotiating access to a snow-removal crew in California's High Sierra and producing a widely used video and photo package that beautifully illustrated the massive snow depths still blanketing the mountain range on the eve of summer. http://apne.ws/2tzT1ld
for being first to report the details of law enforcement's capture of fugitive polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs. http://abcn.ws/2tUISyS
When police reported that al-Shabab extremists had attacked a popular Mogadishu restaurant named Posh Treats in the volatile Horn of Africa country Somalia, many media rushed to tell the world. But Associated Press stringer Abdi Guled was not convinced the report was accurate. His quick calls, including one to an officer at the scene, quickly determined that a place called Pizza House was under assault, not Posh Treats across the street. So while other news organizations had the wrong restaurant, the AP had it right.
This was just the start of Guled’s extraordinary all-night reporting effort. Amid gunfire that left dozens dead, he would put together a riveting story. It’s the Beat of the Week.
When Officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted in the fatal shooting of black motorist Philando Castile, a question on the mind of every reporter in the courtroom was this: How did jurors reach their verdict?
One of those reporters, Minneapolis’ Amy Forliti, had been laying the groundwork to answer that question for two weeks. Her efforts paid off with The Associated Press getting the first interview with a juror – critical insight into a case that had generated global interest since millions of people saw the aftermath of Castile's death from his girlfriend's livestream on Facebook.
Meanwhile, colleague Steve Karnowski’s subsequent interview provided details in AP’s story that no one else had: The jury had been split 10-2 earlier in the week in favor of an acquittal, and neither of the two jurors who favored conviction was black.
For smart reporting and strong execution that put the AP ahead on a competitive aspect of a competitive story, Forliti and Karnowski win this week’s $300 Best of the States prize.
for an entertaining and visually appealing package marking the 50th anniversary of the "Summer of Love." https://apnews.com/tag/SummerofLove
for a multiformat package on the 50th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia decision by the Supreme Court that looked at life for today’s interracial couples. http://apne.ws/2reHxCh
for a story on how a leading journal of political philosophy took up the Black Lives Matter movement in its June issue without a single contribution from a black academic, triggering an outcry. http://bit.ly/2sxlg6y
for breaking the news via public records request that federal prosecutors don’t plan to charge anyone over the $1 billion cost overruns at the new VA hospital outside Denver. http://bit.ly/2rob4sz
for finding that most large police agencies don’t require body cameras for off-duty officers working in uniform, leaving a hole in policies designed to increase oversight and transparency. http://bit.ly/2ti9N7I
for revealing that the Gulf diplomatic crisis prompted FIFA to remove a Qatari referee from a 2018 World Cup qualifier following a request from the United Arab Emirates. http://trib.in/2sc40Dr
for coaxing the prosecutor handling the assault charge against Montana's new congressman into telling the AP the politician would plead guilty. http://wapo.st/2sp3Id1
for getting the artistic director of Shakespeare in the Park's production of “Julius Caesar” to explain his rationale for having a Donald Trump lookalike in the lead role knifed to death on stage. http://bit.ly/2sxxVpX
for breaking the news of the birth of the Clooney twins at least a couple of minutes before anybody else, a clear beat on one of the most anticipated celebrity baby births in years. http://apne.ws/2rejy6o
A video beat of 15 minutes on a terrorism story in the heart of a European capital? Footage showing militants in Asia actually plotting an attack? On two continents in the same week, Associated Press journalists obtained these exclusives through remarkable ingenuity and persistence.
Their efforts are rare co-winners of the Beat of the Week.
Des Moines News Editor Scott McFetridge was out on his daily run one morning when he discovered that a pedestrian bridge he often crossed was blocked off for reconstruction. He was mystified. Why did a fancy bridge that had been rehabilitated only recently need another overhaul?
The answer put him onto a fascinating story.
This Iowa bridge, and countless others far from the coasts, had to be raised because higher river levels expected from more rain caused by climate change might inundate them. New bridges and old bridges, major multi-lane spans and small rural ones, were in danger. And in not a few cases, this was happening in states where many in government question the validity of climate change.
For discovering something that was in plain sight but no one had noticed, McFetridge wins this week’s $300 Best of the States prize.
for two news breaks on the same day regarding special counsel Robert Mueller: He’s taken over a criminal probe involving Paul Manafort, and he may investigate the roles of the attorney general and deputy attorney general in the firing of FBI Director James Comey. http://strib.mn/2qX7XZb
for being first to report that three men who were working undercover investigating labor abuses in a factory that made shoes for the Ivanka Trump brand had vanished, and one was arrested. http://apne.ws/2sDWFu7