Pulitzers go to Washington Post, NY Times, Bloomberg and others

NEW YORK — The Washington Post won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service journalism for its reporting on the Trump administration’s overhaul of federal agencies that resulted in massive job cuts. The New York Times took home three awards, while Bloomberg News captured its third Pulitzer, winning the Illustrated Reporting and Commentary category for a graphic feature story on digital scams in India.

Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism announced the 110th annual Pulitzer Prizes Monday in New York. The awards honored the best journalism from 2025 in 15 categories, as well as eight arts categories focused on books, drama and music. Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown won a special citation for reporting in 2017 and 2018 that exposed disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of young women and the powerful network that protected him.

The New York Times led the awards haul with wins in the Investigative Reporting, Opinion Writing and Breaking News Photography categories. The investigative award was for stories that explored how President Donald Trump broke constraints around conflicts of interest to enrich his family and allies.

The recognition for the Washington Post comes after the newspaper went through a significant downsizing and restructuring under owner Jeff Bezos.

—Bloomberg News

Americans’ views on crime often diverge from actual crime trends, report says

Americans’ views on crime often don’t match reality — and a new report suggests those perceptions are shaped as much by personal experiences and economic conditions as by crime itself.

The analysis, released by the nonprofit think tank Council on Criminal Justice, draws on decades of Gallup survey data to examine how people perceive crime and what drives those beliefs. The report’s authors found that, since the 1960s, public perceptions of crime have frequently diverged from actual crime trends.

Even during periods when crime declined, most Americans continued to believe it was rising. From 2005 to 2024, about 69% of survey respondents on average said crime was higher than the year before, despite overall crime rates falling in most of those years, according to the report.

Fear of crime has remained relatively stable over time. In 2024, 35% of Americans said they were afraid to walk alone at night — the same share as in 1968. The researchers found that public concern tends to track major shifts in homicide rates more closely than broader crime trends. But overall, people’s views about crime and their fear of it have not matched shifts in crime rates for most years, according to the report.

—Stateline.org

Pro-Palestinian University of Michigan commencement comment draws ire from school leaders

The University of Michigan has denounced a comment made by a faculty leader about the student Israel-Hamas war protesters at Saturday's commencement ceremony after it drew ire from university regents and community members online.

During the ceremony, Faculty Senate Chair Derek Peterson said the student activists had "opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel's war in Gaza."

"At today’s U-M spring commencement ceremony, our outgoing Faculty Senate Chair made remarks regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict that were hurtful and insensitive to many members of our community," President Domenico Grasso said in a Saturday statement. "We regret the pain this has caused on a day devoted to celebration and accomplishment. For this, the university apologizes."

Peterson told The Detroit News on Monday morning that his comments weren't meant to be divisive or controversial. He said he wanted to celebrate the legacy of student activism at the university and felt it would only be right to mention the students who have called for an end to the war and the university's investments in Israel and weapons manufacturing.

—The Detroit News

Company behind proposed mine near the Boundary Waters has history of conflict with locals in Chile

The big winner in the successful push to allow mining in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest is a company from Chile, led by one of the country’s richest families, with a business empire that stretches across transportation, food and entertainment.

Antofagasta, which owns the Twin Metals project that would mine copper, nickel and other metals just outside the Boundary Waters, still faces a years-long path before it can break ground. But scrutiny on the project, and the Chilean company behind it, is only increasing now that the underground mine has gained a lifeline.

“Who’s the winner here? You’re going to come down on the side of a Chilean billionaire,” Sen. Tina Smith said on April 16, as she urged her colleagues to vote against a measure to open up mining on 225,000 acres of federal lands. Ultimately, the resolution passed 50 to 49.

The wealthy Luksic family controls Antofagasta, named after the most important city in Chile’s arid mining region, and the place where Andrónico Luksic Abaroa, the late founder of the family business empire, grew up. He died in 2005, but his children continue to hold important positions in the family companies. His son Jean-Paul Luksic Fontbona remains the chairman of Antofagasta.

—The Minnesota Star Tribune