Dave Newbart

Dave Newbart is a journalist with more than three decades of experience as a reporter, editor and newsroom leader.

He is currently a Senior Editor at Block Club Chicago.

Previously, he was Managing Editor for News at the Chicago Sun-Times, leading the newsroom through its merger with Chicago Public Radio and during its coverage of the Midway Blitz. He oversaw daily coverage for the 150-person combined newsroom. He was also in charge of the front page six days a week. He was previously Deputy Managing Editor overseeing education, courts, marijuana legalization and other coverage.

Prior to that, he was a Senior Editor for DNAinfo.com Chicago. Dave joined the website a month before its launch in November 2012 and helped build it into one of the most trusted news sources in Chicago. Dave worked closely with reporters doing extensive daily and in-depth stories on all aspects of the neighborhoods, including development issues in the booming West Loop; gentrification in Pilsen; public housing on the Near West Side; crime in Rogers Park and education on the South Side.

Before joining DNAinfo, Dave was an assistant city editor at the Sun-Times, helping run breaking news coverage of City Hall, Chicago Public Schools and crime. He also edited longer form stories for the daily and weekend papers.

Before becoming an editor he was a reporter covering higher education in Chicago, winning a Peter Lisagor Award for Best Education Story for an investigation of a university official who plagiarized her dissertation and punished a student who tried to expose her. A story he wrote on crushing student debt was entered into the Congressional Record by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. He wrote stories on the dramatic rise in merit aid and wealthy students at the state’s public institutions; how need-based financial aid was shrinking; and on the impact of the University of Illinois' decision to welcome more foreign students than any other public institution in U.S. history at the time.

He also covered the dot com boom and bust as well as general news for the paper. He got his start at the Sun-Times working as an assistant to columnist Michael Sneed.

For the Chicago Tribune, Dave broke stories on a controversy at the city’s most prestigious Catholic school that led to the removal of a top administrator.

Dave previously covered state government and the University of Wisconsin for The Capital Times in Madison. His investigation of special interest influence on the state Legislature led to an examination of the public funding of campaigns.

At the New Times, an alternative paper in Phoenix, Dave did investigations of former Gov. Ed Mecham, a suicide at a psychiatric hospital and discrimination at Dillard’s, an upscale department store chain.

Dave grew up in west suburban Oak Park and is a graduate of Oak Park-River Forest High School. He has a degree in political science from Knox College and studied journalism at the University of Missouri.