Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. The IRE Journal: MEMBER NEWS

Lex Alexander has been named enterprise/ investigative team leader at the (Greensboro, N.C.) News & Record. he was the assistant features editor and previously worked as an investigative projects reporter and computer-assisted reporting specialist at the newspaper. * Brad Branan, formerly a regional affairs reporter at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, joins the Iucson Citizen as a news projects reporter. * Brian Covert has returned to Japan where he is an independent print journalist. A former newspaper reporter and UPI stringer based in Japan, he was most recently the co-producer of a live radio talk show on KHSU-FM (Arcata,Calif). * Aaron Deslatte has moved to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Northwest bureau where he is general assignment reporter/ assistant city editor for Sundays. he was the Jefferson City bureau chief attbe Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader. * Randy Diamond has moved to The Tampa Tribune where he will cover the tourism industry as a member of the business news staff. He was a reporter at The (Bergen, NJ.) Record's Trenton bureau. * Elisabeth Donovan, research editor at The Miami Herald, won the Agnes Henebry Roll of Honor from the Special Libraries Association News Division. The award honors her service to the organization's programs and projects. * Sewell Chan and Scott Higham of The Washington Posf won a Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association Award in Local Government (dailies over 75,000 circulation) for "Homes of Last Resort." * Mariana De Maio has been named editor of NuestraComunidad,a new Spanish language weekly and sister newspaper to the Daily Journal (Vineland, N.J.). She previously worked at the IRE Resource Center and was a graduate student at the Missouri School of Journalism. * Courtney Dentch has been named the 2003 Suburban Journalist of the Year for non-dailies by the Suburban Newspapers of America.She is a reporterfortheTimesLedgerNewspapers,a chain of weeklies covering the borough of Queens in NewYorkCity.* Jim Donovan hasjoined KYW-Philadelphia where he is leading"3 On Your Side," the CBS station's consumer franchise. he was a consumer reporter at WBNS-Columbus, Ohio. * John Fairhall will lead The (Baltimore) Sun's new investigations unit as assistant managing editor for projects. he was city editor at the newspaper. * Mary Pat Flaherty and Gilbert Gaul of The Washington Post won a Maryland-Delaware-D.CPress Association Award in Investigative Reporting (dailies over 75,000 circulation) for"Pharmaceutical Roulette." * Sandra Oshiro has been promoted from business editorto assistant managing editor at The Honolulu Advertiser. * Steve Power has moved from The Wallstreet Journal's Washington bureau where he covered the Department of Transportation to the newspaper's Frankfurt,Germany,bureau where he will report on the European auto industry. * Bob Rose has joined The Philadelphia Inquirer as assistant managing editor for business news. he was The Wall Street Journal's, Atlanta bureau chief. * Eileen Waldron has moved to WTXF-Philadelphia where she is the executive producer for Fox9 29 Undercover. She was the investigative producer for WISH-lndianapolis and the managing editor for The Indianapolis Eye. * Matt Weiser of The Bakersfield Californian received the American Planning Association's 2003 Journalism Award for medium-sized newspapers. The winning series, "Smog: A Growing Concern,"examined how sprawl development contributes to air pollution. * David Wethe has moved from the Dallas Business Journal to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram where he is a business reporter covering tourism and the sports business. * Michael Weber, co-author of the IRE beat book "Unstacking the Deck: A Reporter's Guide to Campaign Finance," will lead the investigations team at the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Free Press. he was head of the Center for Media Initiatives. * David Willman of the Los Angeles Times won the 2003 Worth Bingham Prize for "Stealth Merger: Drug Companies and Government Medical Research."The result of a five-year investigation, the series revealed the routine practice of National Institutes of Health senior scientists receiving stock options and consulting fees from drug companies.