Today is Pulitzer day*

The 2011 Pulitzer Prizes winners will be announced at 3 p.m. Eastern today. Names will be posted here.

*Update: The Los Angeles Times won in the public service category for its reports on the City of Bell salary scandal. The investigative award went to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and the Chicago Sun-Times won for local reporting. In the latter category, the Pulitzer board mentioned that Marshall Allen, formerly of the Pasadena Star-News and now with ProPublica, was a finalist, along with his coauthor Alex Richards.

Allen wins national investigative reporting prize

Two Las Vegas Sun reporter have won the 2011 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting for a series on substandard medical care in Las Vegas. Splitting the $25,000 prize are Alex Richards and Marshall Allen, a former Pasadena Star-News reporter, who has just taken a job with ProPublica.

(Allen is pictured at far right.)

Allen and Richards took top honors over the highly celebrated duo of Ruben Vives and Jeff Gottlieb, who helped break the story of the salary scandal in the city of Bell, as well as an intensive investigation into massive buildup of America's homeland security apparatus after 9/11 done by the Washington Post. A link to the Sun series is here.

The Sun, which was revitalized by an infusion of money from Brian Greenspun and the leadership of editor Drex Heikes, who helped win the paper a Pulitzer before heading to the LA Weekly, has certainly proven that a newsroom with a free hand to do good work will do good work. Let's hope Heikes can repeat the magic at the Weekly - and that the Weekly owners are paying attention.

Allen goes to ProPublica*

Former Pasadena Star-News reporter Marshall Allen, whose work at the Las Vegas Sun has made him a finalist for the 2011 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, has taken a job with ProPublica. Allen will start at the nonprofit news outfit next week. He'll continue covering health care to start.

*In addition: Former Pasadena Star-News reporter Cindy Chang was promoted to special projects writer at the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Previously, she worked on the paper's city desk. In her new position, Chang "will be the lead author and coordinator" of the paper's investigative projects.

Post-LANG success story

Marshall Allen, who worked at the Pasadena Star-News for several years before heading to the Las Vegas Sun, is up for a Goldsmith Prize in Investigative Journalism, which comes with a $25,000 prize. Allen co-wrote a series called "Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas". Here's a description of the series:

After a two-year investigation, including the review of 2.9 million records, the Sun’s five-part series identifies the preventable infections and injuries taking place in Las Vegas hospitals. Allen and Richards set out to impose transparency on Las Vegas hospitals so they will be held accountable. Their findings resulted in consumers having access to quality-of-care data that will help them make smart decisions.

Also on the finalists' list is the city of Bell series done by the Los Angeles Times.

Sun on the Sun

The Las Vegas Sun recounts the day that it won the Pulitzer Prize. The story is by Marshall Allen, formerly of the Pasadena Star-News.