Raquel Rutledge

About

Award-winning investigative journalist with a long track record of producing work that impacts lives and effects positive change in the world. Driven largely by my curiosity and outrage at our broken systems, I spent nearly two decades at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, digging into all sorts of problems harming everyday people. One investigation — that resulted in more than 50 stories in one year — exposed widespread fraud in the "Wisconsin Shares" childcare system. The series revealed how $40 million in subsidies were going to phantom daycare providers. It resulted in a crackdown that led to criminal charges against hundreds of people, dozens with prison sentences, and five new laws were passed aimed at improving the system. The series, "Cashing in on Kids" was recognized with the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. It also won the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Reporting and a George Polk Award. Other investigations exposed dangers to workers in coffee roasting plants (prompting the CDC to launch an industry testing program), the unequal danger of electrical Fires in Milwaukee's most distressed neighborhood (2022 Pulitzer finalist in Public Service), the risk from tainted alcohol in Mexico, rogue federal gun-buying stings and how judicial and other systems favored a rich landlord over a poor tenant, ultimately ending in the death of three children. (ASME winner in Feature Writing).At The Examination, I have edited projects that have stretched across the globe, revealing how pollutants have sickened residents living near a dangerous lead battery plant in Africa as well as those living near leaky oil tanks in Texas. We've revealed how tobacco companies are pushing flavored cigarettes in Latin America and influencer dietitians are advancing unhealthy foods. The Examination has collaborated with The New York Times, The Washington Post,The Houston Chronicle, the Guardian, Der Spiegel, and more than a dozen other outlets across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. With only 18 months under our belts, our work at The Examination has been recognized by the Loebs and IRE.