David E. Umhoefer (born 1961) is a faculty member at Marquette University where he directs the O'Brien Fellowship for Public Service Journalism. Prior, he was a reporter for the ''

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

''. He won the 2008

Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting is awarded to an example of "local reporting that illuminates significant issues or concerns." This Pulitzer Prize was first awarded in 1948. Like most Pulitzers the winner receives a $15,000 award. History ...

for a six-month investigation of

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous coun ...

's pension system, citing "his stories on the skirting of tax laws to pad pensions of county employees, prompting change and possible prosecution of key figures.""The 2008 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Local Reporting"
The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2013-11-09. With short biography and reprints of six works (''Journal Sentinel'' articles published July 29, 2007). The investigation exposed a corrupt, illegal scheme in which more than 350

employees had increased their pensions by a collective total of over $50 million. For example, "One employee qualified for a 25% pension increase because she worked a half-day at a county park in 1978." Umhoefer is from

La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census w ...

and he graduated from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication The School of Journalism & Mass Communication (UWSJMC) is the journalism school of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Located in Vilas Communication Hall, the School offers two undergraduate programs (BA Journalism and BS Journalism), two Ma ...

in 1983. He previously contributed to

PolitiFact PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (then the ''St. Petersburg Times'' ...

, rating the accuracy of statements by candidates for public office, elected officials, and political parties.

References

1961 births Living people Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting winners Journalists from Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication alumni Writers from La Crosse, Wisconsin Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American journalists American male journalists {{US-journalist-1960s-stub

See also

References