Enterprise reporter

Julia Prodis Sulek

Julia Prodis Sulek is a Bay Area News Group reporter specializing in breaking news and narrative storytelling at her hometown paper, the Mercury News, and the East Bay Times. She has covered everything from plane crashes to presidential campaigns, murder trials to NBA Finals and nearly every major wildfire in Northern California for the past decade. She was part of the team that won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for coverage of Oakland’s Ghost Ship fire and has been a Pulitzer finalist in feature writing. She wrote an award-winning six-part narrative series “Hanging: the mysterious case of the boy in the barn,” and narrated a companion podcast. Before joining the Mercury News, she worked for The Associated Press in Cheyenne, Detroit and Dallas. She is a graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, with BS degree in journalism.

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Language: French (Some)

Affiliation: Board member, Journalism Advisory Board, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

Affiliation Parent Organization: Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Journalism Department

Awards: Pulitzer Prize (2017 - Staff award for breaking news coverage of the fatal "Ghost Ship" fire in Oakland), Pulitzer Prize finalist (1997 - For a trio of vivid stories about three teenagers on a deadly journey, a photograph from the Oklahoma City bombing, and a vacuum cleaner that catches prairie dogs.), Sigma Delta Chi Award for feature writiing (2017 - For Hanging: The Mysterious Case of the Boy in the Barn), Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards (2007 - For a story that followed a blanket from the donor, who gave it to the Sacred Heart Community Service charity, to the recipient, who took it home to warm her children.)

Expertise: Breaking news, narrative writing, California's wildfires and drought and other natural disasters, state and national politics, crime and other trending topics

Head of child protection agency had said social worker and supervisor made fateful decision.

Crime and Public Safety |
Blame game erupts in San Jose baby’s fentanyl death: Social workers say lawyers blocked effort to remove infant from unsafe home

November 16, 2023 at 5:59 a.m.

Head of child protection agency had said social worker and supervisor made fateful decision.

Former female athletes sexually abused by Scott Shaw call him a "coward" during sentencing and find some measure of closure.

Crime and Public Safety |
At sentencing, female athletes call former SJSU athletic trainer a “coward” for sexual abuse

November 15, 2023 at 4:57 p.m.

Former female athletes sexually abused by Scott Shaw call him a "coward" during sentencing and find some measure of closure.

A Bay Area News Group investigation point to a number of glaring missteps and disturbing oversights that led to the death of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro.

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Crime and Public Safety |
Baby’s fentanyl death: Santa Clara County knew of parents’ drug use, neglect

November 13, 2023 at 6:25 a.m.

A Bay Area News Group investigation point to a number of glaring missteps and disturbing oversights that led to the death of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro.

Kristofer Ferreyra was 10 days shy of his second birthday when police say he somehow ingested fentanyl and became the Bay Area's latest child victim of the deadly opioid. Now his Fremont mom is charged in his death.

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Crime and Public Safety |
Another Bay Area child dead from fentanyl, another parent behind bars. ‘They don’t mean for their kid to die.’

November 9, 2023 at 9:31 a.m.

Kristofer Ferreyra was 10 days shy of his second birthday when police say he somehow ingested fentanyl and became the Bay Area's latest child victim of the deadly opioid. Now...

State report says Santa Clara County lawyers overrode social worker decisions to remove children from unsafe homes.

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Crime and Public Safety |
Santa Clara County top exec admits county ‘dropped the ball’ in San Jose baby’s fentanyl death

November 7, 2023 at 7:03 a.m.

State report says Santa Clara County lawyers overrode social worker decisions to remove children from unsafe homes.

Police said they found her baby bottle on the kitchen counter alongside broken glass pipes, aluminum foil and the powerful opioid that last year killed more than 6,000 Californians.

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Crime and Public Safety |
Baby Phoenix died of a fentanyl overdose in San Jose. Neighbors insist they tried to raise the alarm

October 30, 2023 at 2:22 a.m.

Police said they found her baby bottle on the kitchen counter alongside broken glass pipes, aluminum foil and the powerful opioid that last year killed more than 6,000 Californians.

County child protection workers had numerous encounters with the family of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro, whose father was arrested last week on child endangerment and illegal possession of a controlled substance charges.

Crime and Public Safety |
Exclusive: Santa Clara County to review its own role leading up to baby’s fentanyl death

October 27, 2023 at 4:30 a.m.

County child protection workers had numerous encounters with the family of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro, whose father was arrested last week on child endangerment and illegal possession of a controlled substance...

The governor's visit with no official diplomatic agenda is raising more questions about his long-speculated presidential ambitions.

California Politics |
Is Newsom’s Israel visit a risky political maneuver?

October 20, 2023 at 10:57 a.m.

The governor's visit with no official diplomatic agenda is raising more questions about his long-speculated presidential ambitions.

For Bay Area residents with friends and family on both sides of the conflict, there’s little room for understanding as some with roots in Israel have signed up to join the Israeli military and those with ties to Gaza have been protesting in front of SF’s Israeli consulate and are trying to mobilize aid within Gaza despite blockades.

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Politics |
As Palestinians flee, Bay Area residents with relatives in Gaza wake up to texts of death and loss

October 14, 2023 at 4:17 p.m.

For Bay Area residents with friends and family on both sides of the conflict, there’s little room for understanding as some with roots in Israel have signed up to join...

Colville insists his generation is bringing a new attitude and a new scope for impending breakthroughs in the world of aging research.

Business |
age1 VC Alex Colville says longevity field isn’t just for ‘rich old billionaires trying to live forever”

October 13, 2023 at 1:37 p.m.

Colville insists his generation is bringing a new attitude and a new scope for impending breakthroughs in the world of aging research.

Breaking News

Julia Prodis Sulek

All Stories

Crime and Public Safety |
At sentencing, female athletes call former SJSU athletic trainer a “coward” for sexual abuse

SUBSCRIBER ONLY

Crime and Public Safety |
Another Bay Area child dead from fentanyl, another parent behind bars. ‘They don’t mean for their kid to die.’

SUBSCRIBER ONLY

Crime and Public Safety |
Baby Phoenix died of a fentanyl overdose in San Jose. Neighbors insist they tried to raise the alarm

Crime and Public Safety |
Exclusive: Santa Clara County to review its own role leading up to baby’s fentanyl death

California Politics |
Is Newsom’s Israel visit a risky political maneuver?

SUBSCRIBER ONLY

Politics |
As Palestinians flee, Bay Area residents with relatives in Gaza wake up to texts of death and loss

Business |
age1 VC Alex Colville says longevity field isn’t just for ‘rich old billionaires trying to live forever”