Miami New Times' Isaiah Thompson was awarded a IRE certificate in the local circulation weeklies category for his stories on how residency restrictions forced sex offenders to live under a Miami bridge. In the same category, the AAN-commissioned "Who Killed Brad Will?" was a finalist, along with Peter Byrne's series on Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the North Bay Bohemian and Wayne Barrett's reporting on Rudy Giuliani in the Village Voice. The Texas Observer's reporting on sexual abuse at a state-run youth prison and the cover-up that followed it was also a finalist, in the Magazine/specialty publication category. The Chauncey Bailey Project, which the San Francisco Bay Guardian took part in, was awarded this year's Tom Renner Award, which honors "outstanding reporting covering organized crime or other criminal acts."
But the men aren't hiding from the law. Incredibly, they were ordered to sleep under that bridge by state authorities, New Times' Isaiah Thompson reported last month. Residency restrictions for sex offenders have complicated the task of finding suitable housing for some offenders, especially those who leave prison homeless. "Probation officers just don't know what to do with cases like this," a Florida Department of Corrections spokesperson tells New Times. The alt-weekly's report has kicked up a storm of follow-up coverage, including stories by CNN and the Associated Press. But as New Times Broward-Palm Beach reporter Bob Norman complains on his blog (referring specifically to CNN), it's "too bad they're too arrogant and unprofessional to say whose scoop it is."
