ProPublica has selected five new partner newsrooms and local journalists for its Local Reporting Network. The reporters are Luis Valentín of Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, Jenna Carlesso of The Connecticut Mirror, Jacob Margolis of LAist, Paige Pfleger of WPLN and Willoughby Mariano of WBUR. These reporting projects are supported by a generous grant from the Abrams Foundation. This group will begin their investigative collaborations on April 1.
“It is a privilege to be working with these fabulous reporters and their newsrooms,” said Sarah Blustain, assistant managing editor for ProPublica. “They have identified some important topics and we’re excited to begin the collaboration.”
Luis Valentín — Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (Puerto Rico)
Valentín is an investigative journalist at Puerto Rico’s Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, where he covers fiscal policy, economic issues and government accountability. He studied economics at Pennsylvania State University and earned a law degree from the University of Puerto Rico. He began his career at Caribbean Business, a weekly publication, before joining CPI in 2018, and has focused on Puerto Rico’s public finances. His work has exposed how hundreds of millions in taxpayer money flows to lawyers and consultants in the debt restructuring process; unpacked how the Obama administration and Congress crafted the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act; and revealed the role of little-known international banks in offshore schemes as part of the Pandora Papers. In 2019, Valentín was part of the CPI team whose reporting on leaked Telegram chat messages led to the resignation of then-Gov. Ricardo Rosselló amid massive protests. His work has earned multiple honors, including the 2016 Laura Rivera Young Journalist of the Year award.
Jenna Carlesso — Connecticut Mirror (Connecticut)
Jenna Carlesso is an investigative reporter at The Connecticut Mirror. Her series on gaps in Connecticut’s elder care system prompted sweeping changes in nursing home and home care policy. Carlesso has also covered lapses in long-term care facilities, investigated the impact of cyberattacks on hospitals, reported on the troubled long-term care insurance industry and uncovered the questionable dealings of health ministry groups that masquerade as insurance. Her reporting sparked reform in health care and government oversight, helped erase medical debt for Connecticut residents and led to the indictments of developers in a major state project. Her work has been recognized by the National Press Foundation and the Association of Health Care Journalists. Before joining CT Mirror, Carlesso was a reporter at the Hartford Courant, where she covered government in the capital city with a focus on corruption, theft of taxpayer funds and ethical violations.
Jacob Margolis — LAist (California)
Jacob Margolis has worked as a science reporter at LAist for a decade, publishing breaking news, podcasts and long-form investigative stories. While he has covered everything from climate change to earthquakes, recently he’s been focused on wildfires — specifically those that devastated Southern California in 2025. He discovered the presence of heavy metals in Phos-Chek, the bright red fire retardant that’s dropped by planes around the world, which may help explain why heavy metals are often found in wildfire runoff. Margolis spent the better part of a year investigating one of Southern California’s largest waste haulers, which he discovered was sending large amounts of construction and demolition debris to remote desert plots for dumping. He has created and hosted two podcasts, including “The Big One” and “The Big Burn,” and was part of a team that won an Investigative Reporters and Editors audio journalism award for investigating heat deaths across the United States.
Paige Pfleger — Nashville Public Radio/WPLN (Tennessee)
Pfleger is a senior criminal justice reporter at WPLN News, Nashville Public Radio. She investigated gun violence and juvenile justice as a fellow with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in 2023, and her investigation into domestic violence and firearms dispossession won an Edward R. Murrow Award and was a finalist for the Livingston Award and an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. Her story about a rural domestic violence court was featured by Theater of War and sparked changes for victims in courtrooms across Tennessee. Pfleger also partnered with ProPublica’s Aliyya Swaby to help report stories about children being expelled and arrested in Tennessee schools, which was recognized by the Education Writers Association and the National Association of Black Journalists. One family they reported on later won a settlement with their school. She and Swaby will continue reporting about Tennessee’s treatment of vulnerable children in private facilities through this fellowship.
Willoughby Mariano — WBUR (Massachusetts)
Willoughby Mariano is an investigative reporter for 90.9 WBUR Boston, where her team’s work with ProPublica helped spur Gov. Maura Healey’s recent proposal to change Massachusetts’ law on sexual assault. She was previously at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where her reporting led to changes in housing and criminal justice law. In 2021, she studied concepts of housing, home and identity as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Other honors include two National Headline Awards in investigative journalism, an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award, the Atlanta Press Club’s award for civil and human rights reporting, and finalist recognition for the Gerald Loeb Award. Mariano has been active in the Asian American Journalists Association and won its Chapter President of the Year award.
ProPublica launched the Local Reporting Network at the beginning of 2018 to boost investigative journalism in local newsrooms. It has since worked with more than 93 news organizations. The network is part of ProPublica’s local initiative, which includes offices in the Midwest, Northwest, South and Southwest, plus an investigative unit in partnership with The Texas Tribune.
