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David Kidwell on Muck Rack

David Kidwell

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Plymouth
As seen in: Plymouth Independent, MSN, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Lake County News-Sun, Chicago Sun-Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Royal Society of Chemistry, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Tampa Bay Times, The Columbus Dispatch and
Investigations Editor, Injustice Watch

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David Kidwell’s Biography

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Award-winning investigative journalist, as both a reporter and editor, for nearly 40 years. Reported and edited projects which led to sweeping government reforms, convictions of more than a dozen public figures, exposure of the largest bribery conspiracy in Chicago history. Left the Chicago Tribune in 2017 to help run nonprofit journalism newsrooms in Chicago and Massachusetts.

David Kidwell’s Journalist Portfolio

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Failures Before the Fires

Failures Before the Fires

A three-part investigation into oversight failures leading to 61 deaths by fire throughout Chicago. The proje…

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The Graduates

The Graduates

An examination of the deceptive practices behind Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's "reinvention" of City Colleges …

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Flying Under the Radar

Flying Under the Radar

An investigation in to real and perceived conflicts of interest between the personal and public interests of …

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Cavacco’s previous tenure at times tumultuous

Cavacco’s previous tenure at times tumultuous

An examination of a candidate's record, including the alleged theft of a $5,000 check.

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Madigan Rules

Madigan Rules

A yearslong investigation of the conflicts between the public decisions and private interests of Illinois' lo…

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Redflex bribery

Redflex bribery

From 2012 through 2014, the Tribune unraveled a $2 million bribery scheme involving the globally traded Redfl…

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Articles

Flying under the radar

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By Andrea Estes Verified, David Kidwell Verified
| Plymouth Independent Verified
Airport Commissioner Karin Goulian showed up at a Select Board meeting earlier this month with an unusual request. Goulian, who along with her husband runs aviation businesses at the Plymouth Municipal Airport, was asking to be named a “special municipal employee” — a designation that would exempt her from key sections of the state’s conflict of interest law.
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Schools audit suggests oversight reforms in wake of Van Cott lunch program fraud

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By Emily Spatz, David Kidwell Verified
| Plymouth Independent Verified
The bizarre story of Plymouth Schools’ former food services director, who dragged heavy refrigerators out the back door and stole food from the kids’ lunch program as part of a decade long larceny scheme, has raised questions of failed oversight since his 2025 arrest. On Monday, the elected members of the town’s School Committee heard a presentation from district staff on the system failures involved and the long list of oversight reforms designed to help prevent it from happening again.
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Cavacco’s previous tenure at times tumultuous

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By David Kidwell Verified, Fred Thys Verified
| Plymouth Independent Verified
In this year’s contentious race for the Select Board, Betty Cavacco is trying to reclaim a spot atop town government by touting her experience, her efforts to save taxpayers money, and a return to what she describes as a more collegial relationship on the five-member board.
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Awards

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Pulitzer Prize

2022 - Local Reporting

Lead editor on a three-part series examining how the fire deaths of dozens of Chicago residents may have been prevented had city code enforcement taken the necessary actions.

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Education Writers Association

2017 - Investigative Reporting

Investigated the City College of Chicago’s much-touted increase in graduation rates for the Better Government Association, which is a non-profit news and civic engagement organization. Comments from the Judges “This is fantastic investigative, public service journalism.” “This excellent investigation of cynical manipulation of data and degree requirements to enhance a 2-year college system’s academic profile … is undergirded by records requests, extensive interviews and sophisticated data analysis.”

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Nieman Foundation Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Journalism

2014 - Investigative Reporting

The Chicago Tribune has won the Nieman Foundation’s 2014 Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Journalism with “Red Light Cameras” a comprehensive series that exposed the corruption and mismanagement of a traffic-monitoring program that has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from unsuspecting motorists in Chicago over the course of ten years.

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Pulitzer Prize

2001 - Breaking News

As a member of The Miami Herald Team, "for its balanced and gripping on-the-scene coverage of the pre-dawn raid by federal agents that took the Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives and reunited him with his Cuban father.

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