“Look at this. Vacant. Vacant. Vacant. Vacant. Vacant.” That was the city editor of a small Southern California newspaper called the Daily Breeze as he gave a tour of the desks in his newsroom. The last empty desk belonged to the lead reporter on the story that just won the paper its first Pulitzer prize. Rob Kuznia had to leave the paper after taking a pay cut. This story is about both the power of local journalism, and the difficulty of keeping it alive.

+ Longreads has a linked list of the 2015 Pulitzer winners.