The San Diego Union-Tribune has hired Blake Nelson as East County reporter, for Santee, Lemon Grove, La Mesa, El Cajon and other communities.
He joins from The Star-Ledger and NJ.com, where he was a statehouse reporter. He also held the same post at The Associated Press and was a researcher at The Marshall Project. He was also a podcast and web contributor at Investigative Reporters and Editors in Columbia.
Nelson has also worked freelance and was a reporter and assistant editor at Columbia Missourian.
Nelson earned a bachelor’s degree in literature from Point Loma Nazarene University and a master’s in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.