@BCunninghamN profile picture
Blake Nelson @BCunninghamN

Reporter | Former: @sdut @njdotcom @starledger @AP | Writing video, comics, podcasts, animation, data

Joined November 2014
  • Tweets 1,714
  • Following 423
  • Followers 1,209
63 Photos and videos
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Blake Nelson@BCunninghamN
12 Oct 2024
I wrote a millisecond-by-millisecond account of everything happening on a molecular level when naloxone tries to bring somebody back to life. "8 minutes, 19 seconds: Inside one man’s dying body as Narcan molecules rush to reverse an overdose" sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

8 minutes, 19 seconds: Inside one man’s dying body as Narcan molecules rush to reverse an overdose

A battle fought in silence and darkness plays out about every day in San Diego County.

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Blake Nelson retweeted
Patricia Lopez@patricialopez_4
30 Dec 2025
For all those claiming zero stories on MN fraud by media, Star Tribune alone has written 300 stories in the last four years.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
@StarTribune
29 Dec 2025
For more than a decade, Minnesota has grappled with a fraud crisis in its Medicaid programs. In the last four years alone, the Star Tribune has written nearly 300 stories on the massive scandal and broken major developments. Here’s a guide to our coverage. startribune.com/heres-what-t…
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Laura Wingard@laura_wingard
14 Sep 2025
A deeply disturbing story about how a 69-year-old man’s efforts to save a woman failed when San Diego County sheriff’s deputies apparently dismissed the incident because she was only a “transient.” Via ⁦@BCunninghamN⁩ and ⁦@lunettacaleb⁩ sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

A woman was in a ditch. Could the sheriff’s office have saved her life?

Investigators are exploring whether a deputy blew off a neighbor’s call for help.

sandiegouniontribune.com
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Lisa Halverstadt@LisaHalverstadt
28 Sep 2025
Via @BCunninghamN and @Kristen_Taketa: Last year, @CityofSanDiego cleared more than 6,400 homeless camps. They preserved and catalogued personal belongings just 36 times. sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

Homeless people’s belongings are rarely stored after encampment sweeps, records show

The city of San Diego is spending millions of dollars a year to clear thousands of tent camps.

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Blake Nelson retweeted
Hannah Elsmore@hannah_elsmore
1 Oct 2025
Hi everyone! I’m so proud to announce that I joined the @sdut as the East County reporter! It’s surreal to report for the paper I grew up reading. My DMs are open for tips, story ideas and anything else! 😊
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This is big: San Diego County recently cancelled a multimillion-dollar contract to distribute naloxone, an overdose-reversing nasal spray that's commonly known as Narcan. Naloxone vending machines are already being pulled from local jails. sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

San Diego County cancels naloxone contract. The DA’s now investigating.

Vending machines carrying the overdose-reversing substance, often known as Narcan, are already being pulled from jails.

sandiegouniontribune.com
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I spent @Comic_Con following a collector and a creator as they searched for someone who could help realize their long-held dreams. sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

One comic’s a classic. The other doesn’t exist yet. Here’s the hunt for both at Comic-Con.

A collector and a creator walked into this year’s convention in San Diego looking to realize long-held dreams

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Come work with me! The Union-Tribune is hiring a reporter to cover East San Diego County. This used to be my beat and I already have phone numbers for you. myworkdaycenter.wd5.myworkda…
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Here are 2 key perspectives about homelessness in San Diego: First, I spent time with a mother and daughter who make enough to pay rent but lack the savings for an apartment deposit. They mostly sleep in parking lots. sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

San Diego’s invisible homeless: They’ve got a job and a car but no bed.

One mother and daughter sleeping in a Mission Bay parking lot don’t make enough to cover an apartment deposit.

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Second, I was with this man when he decided he wanted to go to rehab. But the region has long had a shortage of detox beds. Here's how officers responded. sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

A man living in a riverbed was angry at San Diego police. Then he asked them for help.

Cops recently converged on a local park amid a shift in how the department addresses homelessness

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Laura Castañeda@Presspasslc
13 Jun 2025
On the same day a team editorial at @sdutOpinion on the ICE protests was pulled, my position as deputy editor was suddenly eliminated. Thanks 🙏🏽 to the SD community for allowing me to lift your voices. My next chapter TBA. I won’t be silenced and neither should you. 💪🏽
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Lisa Halverstadt@LisaHalverstadt
29 May 2025
🧵Career highlight I hope will have many positive ripples: @Poynter just published a guide to homelesness reporting that I've spent months creating with an impressive group of journalists across the country with years of experience on the beat. poynter.org/ethics-trust/202…

When homelessness rises, so do the stakes of getting the story right - Poynter

This new guide helps journalists navigate the ethical and human challenges of reporting on homelessness

poynter.org
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Jay Posner@JayPosnerSD
23 Mar 2025
Have known for couple weeks this day was coming but that doesn’t make it any less sad. Bryce is gone way too soon and condolences to his lovely mom Bea, his brothers Bruce & Brian & the rest of his family & many friends who were lucky enough to know him. sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

Bryce Miller, Union-Tribune sports columnist and outdoorsman, dies at 56

Miller was diagnosed with muscle-invasive bladder cancer two years ago.

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ICYMI: I profiled San Diego’s first-ever cardinal, a prominent immigrants rights advocate headed to Washington D.C. We get into all of it: His work during the AIDS crisis, fallout from sexual abuse within Catholicism, 500 years of California history … sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

Historic or heretical? San Diego’s cardinal is one of the U.S.’s most consequential Catholic...

Robert McElroy heads to Washington, D.C., at a pivotal moment for the church and the nation.

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Amid all the coverage about Robert McElroy, San Diego’s first-ever cardinal, nobody had placed his ascent within California history. So I did. “Historic or heretical? San Diego‘s cardinal is one of the US’s most consequential Catholic leaders.” sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

Historic or heretical? San Diego’s cardinal is one of the U.S.’s most consequential Catholic...

Robert McElroy heads to Washington, D.C., at a pivotal moment for the church and the nation.

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We even got freelance writers Avery Bosco and Madelyn Walthall to follow him around in Rome.
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New photos by @NelCepeda and @anamariarphoto. Video by @TamayoMedia.
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Kelly Davis@kellylynndavis
20 Jan 2025
After being a freelance contributor for years, today I'm joining the San Diego Union-Tribune's Watchdog team as a full-time reporter. Special thanks to @schulzsam, @SDUTmcdonald and Lora Cicalo for their support. Tips: kelly.davis@sduniontribune.com
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Lisa Halverstadt@LisaHalverstadt
2 Jan 2025
San Diego's housing agency has decided it must shut off a key engine it has used to help deliver thousands of homes for homeless and low-income San Diegans. voiceofsandiego.org/2025/01/…

City’s Housing Agency Won’t Issue Vouchers for New Housing Projects

The San Diego Housing Commission has decided it no longer has the resources to dole out vouchers to specific low-income housing projects.

voiceofsandiego.org
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ICYMI: I got a copy of a not-yet-published assessment of homelessness spending in San Diego County that found gaps in how officials monitor dozens of initiatives. "County homelessness programs sometimes don’t track key information, report finds" sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

County homelessness programs sometimes don’t track key information, report finds

The analysis of dozens of contracts further found that money is being left on the table

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Thanks to everyone who helped with this story, we found lots of families celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah. sandiegouniontribune.com/202…

Christmas morning or Hanukkah night? These families do both.

A rare quirk of the calendar this year invites questions both logistical and theological

sandiegouniontribune.com
Blake Nelson@BCunninghamN
17 Dec 2024
Left-field request for a feature story. This year the 1st day of Hanukkah falls on Christmas, which hasn't happened for a while. I'm looking for a family with both Christians and Jews who'll be celebrating their respective holidays together. DM's are open!
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