Mark Puente
@markpuente.bsky.social
Investigative reporter @themarshallproject.org. Once: @tampabay.com.web.brid.gy; Los Angeles Times; @baltimoresun.bsky.social; The Plain Dealer; former 15-year trucker/Teamster. Twice a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Tar Heel. Owner of Puente's Tijuana Tacos.
Sunshine Week in Ohio: Public Records Power Accountability — if We Can Get Them Sunshine Week highlights the power of public records & the growing barriers that limit transparency & weaken public oversight. By: @markpuente.bsky.social www.themarshallproject.org/2026/03/12/o...
Sunshine Week in Ohio: Why Public Records Matter
Our reporting shows how public records drive impact, and what may be missed when governments delay or deny access.
themarshallproject.org
“We have long recognized that judges are held to the highest possible standard of ethical conduct,” Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy wrote in the high court’s decision. “Celebrezze failed to live up to that high standard.” via @dgambino.bsky.social www.cleveland.com/court-justic...
Celebrezze ‘failed to live up to high standard’; law license suspended
Leslie Celebrezze bypassed random case assignment rules and appointed a love interest as receiver in multiple lucrative divorce cases without disclosing their relationship, the Ohio Supreme Court foun...
cleveland.com
Our latest TMP-C newsletter takes you behind the indictment of former Judge Leslie Celebrezze. "Those court aides who had stonewalled me for months were now going out of their way to respond. Emails now ended with cheerful best wishes for a good weekend." www.themarshallproject.org/2026/01/14/b...
Behind the Celebrezze Indictment
How an FBI subpoena changed attitudes.
themarshallproject.org
“What followed wasn’t just a clash over access, but a moment that reveals why blue-collar grit still matters in American journalism.”
Mark Puente@markpuente.bsky.social · 8mo ago“There’s not enough blue collar people who can talk to frontline workers, and that’s where they’re missing their mark at,” he said. “I focus on them people, those individuals, every day.” www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/from...
“There’s not enough blue collar people who can talk to frontline workers, and that’s where they’re missing their mark at,” he said. “I focus on them people, those individuals, every day.” www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/from...
From hauling freight to holding judges accountable: Mark Puente’s fight for courtroom access - Editor and Publisher
Mark Puente didn’t go to j-school — he drove trucks for 15 years before stepping into a newsroom. But when a judge tried to block him from observing a public court hearing, Puente didn’t flinch. Armed...
editorandpublisher.com
“People have a right to report, even if they’re critical” — Investigative reporter @markpuente.bsky.social, who was briefly blocked from an Ohio county courtroom by security while documenting arraignments Oct. 29.
Reporter temporarily blocked from Ohio courtroom proceedings
Investigative reporter Mark Puente was blocked from observing court proceedings and briefly ordered out of a Lorain, Ohio, municipal courtroom …
pressfreedomtracker.us
The lastest from The Marshall Project-Cleveland www.themarshallproject.org/2025/10/23/c...
Cleveland Hires Firm to Track Claims of Police Bias
The move follows a Marshall Project - Cleveland analysis that found police searched Black people more often than White people in stops in 2023.
themarshallproject.org
@markpuente.bsky.social, @douglivingston.bsky.social & I reviewed the footage of the last moments of Ms. Grant’s life. However, some of the footage is missing. Cuyahoga County declined to comment on why 30 seconds of footage appears to be missing when Ms. Grant was discovered by a county deputy.
Cuyahoga County Sheriff Harold Pretel is refusing to seek independent investigation into the death of Tasha Grant, a double amputee who died after being restrained by officers. With @markpuente.bsky.social and @douglivingston.bsky.social www.themarshallproject.org/2025/10/07/c...
Family Attorney, Advocates Demand Outside Probe of Tasha Grant’s Killing
Community advocates and surviving family members also want the sheriff to step aside in two other death investigations involving deputies.
themarshallproject.org
Cuyahoga County officials never disclosed that Ms. Grant died as a result of being physically restrained by a deputy. The Marshall Project-Cleveland team broke the news last night. w/ @brittanyhailer.bsky.social & Doug Livingston. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/09/25/c...
Cuyahoga County Jail Transfer Ends With Death at MetroHealth
A special prosecutor is reviewing the actions of hospital workers and a sheriff’s deputy after the medical examiner ruled Tasha Grant’s death a homicide.
themarshallproject.org
Latest on Cuyahoga County's Downtown Safety Patrol. “I definitely thought these (deputies) were fishing,” Ray told The Marshall Project - Cleveland and News 5 Cleveland. W/ Doug Livingston & @taramorgantv.bsky.social www.themarshallproject.org/2025/09/15/c...
Cuyahoga County Deputy Unit Cites Blacks At Higher Rates, Records Show
A review of Downtown Safety Patrol traffic stops shows deputies rarely issue tickets or make arrests.
themarshallproject.org
The Ohio Disciplinary Counsel said Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze left a stain on the judicial system and arrogance likely led to her legal troubles. “There is simply no place in our justice system for dishonest judges,” he wrote. www.clevescene.com/news/discipl...
Disciplinary Counsel Recommends Suspending Judge Leslie Celebrezze From Practicing Law
Celebrezze and Mark Dottore remain at the center of an FBI investigation
clevescene.com
The Ohio Disciplinary Counsel has called Leslie Celebrezze a dishonest judge and says she has left a stain on the judiciary and is playing the victim. Filing is in response to the judge wanting only a public reprimand for her misconduct. Read the brief: www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
Relators Response to Respondents Post-Hearing Brief
documentcloud.org
"A Cuyahoga County sheriff's deputy [Isen Vajusi] involved in separate shootings of two teenagers while assigned to a controversial downtown patrol unit was once deemed unfit by a suburban police force." "He shop-hopped from agency to agency." #Ohio #USA #Policing
Deemed Unfit, a Cuyahoga Deputy Was Hired Anyway
Deputy Isen Vajusi struggled with confidence, stress and field training before being forced out of the suburbs. He’s now on the sheriff’s downtown safety patrol.
themarshallproject.org
For more from Mark Puente: @markpuente.bsky.social For more from Scott Noll: www.news5cleveland.com/scott-noll -------------------------------------- Find The Marshall Project here: @themarshallproject.org Subscribe to their newsletters: www.themarshallproject.org/newsletters?...
Impact journalism. An Ohio lawmaker wants a new law. “All babies should count, whether they're born in the system or whether they're born to a mother who's not incarcerated,” Upchurch said. “That's the kind of message that we need to be sending across Ohio.” www.news5cleveland.com/news/the-mar...
Ohio lawmaker wants to require jails to report pregnancy outcomes
An Ohio lawmaker plans to introduce legislation requiring county jails to report pregnancy outcomes. State Rep. Terrence Upchurch called it “problematic” that Ohio does not require jails to report.
news5cleveland.com
A new investigation from TMP-C and Scott Noll at WEWS. She went to jail pregnant. What happened next isn't even a statistic. Why didn't Cuyahoga County tell Ohio offcials about a pregancy loss? Because the fetus was not incarcerated. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/05/15/c...
How Sheriffs Fail to Report Miscarriages, Stillbirths In Ohio Jails
One woman’s pregnancy ended in the Cuyahoga County Jail amid ignored cries for help and an ‘egregious performance failure’ by medical staff.
themarshallproject.org
A new investigation from TMP-C and Scott Noll at WEWS. She went to jail pregnant. What happened next isn't even a statistic. Why didn't Cuyahoga County tell Ohio offcials about a pregancy loss? Because the fetus was not incarcerated. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/05/15/c...
How Sheriffs Fail to Report Miscarriages, Stillbirths In Ohio Jails
One woman’s pregnancy ended in the Cuyahoga County Jail amid ignored cries for help and an ‘egregious performance failure’ by medical staff.
themarshallproject.org
1/3 NEW Ohio Disciplinary Counsel on Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze's misconduct: "As stated previously, there is no case quite like respondent’s. But based on the cases cited herein, the appropriate sanction for respondent’s misconduct is a one-year suspension with six months
The appeals court ruling against Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
Semary v. Celebrezze Opinion 5.1.25
documentcloud.org
More trouble for embattled Judge Leslie Celebrezze. The lawsuit brought against her by a former employee for retaliation after firing her for providng me public records. The case got tossed by a visiting judge. Celebrezze lost her argument with the appeals court. Goes back to trial court.
It is time to give mowing lessons to the neighbors. You leave the mower where it runs out of gas. 😳😳😳
So many great memories with friends in this building. www.tampabay.com/news/busines...
Tampa Bay Times won’t return to its historic building damaged by hurricane
Hurricane Milton sent a crane crashing through the building, rendering it uninhabitable.
tampabay.com
Remember, the local news outlets are the most accurate in these situations. #localjournalism www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2...
Man in custody after shooting at FSU, at least 6 injured. What we know
Florida State University has sent alerts warning of an active shooter near the student union. Here's what we know.
tallahassee.com
How often does a judge take the Fifth Amendment to remain silent? www.clevescene.com/news/cuyahog...
Cuyahoga County Judge Leslie Celebrezze Invokes Right to Remain Silent in Hearing
Celebrezze admitted in court records to allegations by the Ohio Disciplinary Counsel of steering lucrative work to her longtime friend Mark Dottore
clevescene.com
