[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 68 (Thursday, April 26, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E862]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONGRATULATING BIRMINGHAM NEWS REPORTER BRETT BLACKLEDGE FOR WINNING 
                           THE PULITZER PRIZE

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 25, 2007

  Mr. BONNER. Madam Speaker, it is with both pride and pleasure that I 
rise this week to honor Brett Blackledge, a Birmingham News reporter, 
for receiving the Pulitzer Prize, the highest honor in American 
journalism.
  A native of Baton Rouge, Brett earned a journalism degree from 
Louisiana State University in 1986. Brett's prestigious career began in 
New Orleans with the Associated Press. From there, he went to work for 
the AP bureaus in Jackson, MS, and Tulsa, OK. He also wrote for the The 
Journal Newspapers and Education Daily.
  In 1993, Brett moved to Mobile, AL, and for the next 5 years, he was 
a reporter at the Press-Register, where he covered local schools, 
government, and politics. Since 1998, he has been a general assignment 
and special projects reporter with the Birmingham News. Brett's 14-
month series into Alabama's 2-year college system won him the 2007 
Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.
  Madam Speaker, Brett Blackledge's career has already been filled with 
much achievement, and I rise today to honor yet another of these 
achievements--the 2007 Pulitzer Prize. May he continue to inform and 
inspire the people of Alabama. I know his colleagues, his family, and 
his many friends join with me in praising his significant 
accomplishments and a job well done.

                          ____________________