Media Coverage: WJW Cleveland's "School Bus Bloat" Wins -- Again

Congrats to Tom Merriman and the folks at WJW, CLEVELAND for winning one of Columbia University's awards for investigative journalism.

The series, entititle School Bus Bloat, revealed Cleveland's inflated roster of substitute school bus drivers and bogus ridership figures. Over a nine-month period, Merriman documented how the Cleveland school district retained more than 200 substitute bus drivers who did little more than shoot pool and play games while on the payroll. Merriman confronted school officials and the mayor and interviewed a whistle-blower who had been ordered to inflate statistics on school bus ridership in state funding reports.

This isn't the first recognition for the series, which was also highlighted by the folks at IRE.

Read all about it here (via Romenesko).