M.L. Elrick (2009)

M.L. Elrick is an award-winning print and television investigative reporter. Elrick began his career in 1992 as a reporter for the Concord Monitor. In 1997, Elrick moved to Chicago, where he worked as the enterprise reporter at the Daily Southtown. More than two years later, Elrick joined the Detroit Free Press. In 2001, Elrick began covering Detroit city government. Shortly after Kwame Kilpatrick was elected Mayor, Elrick was asked to become Kilpatrick’s first press secretary. He turned the job down. Ironically, he and his reporting partner, Jim Schaefer, uncovered the perjury and other malfeasance in office that led to Kilpatrick’s felony convictions and resignation as well as that of his chief of staff. Elrick also spent two years working as an investigative reporter at WDIV-TV (Channel 4), the NBC affiliate in Detroit.