Beau Yarbrough Email & Phone Number

San Bernardino County, California, United States

Originally hired as an education reporter for the Southern California News Group, I currently work as a watchdog reporter covering the Inland Empire region of California, home to about 4 million residents and dozens of government agencies.I made international headlines in 2014 when I reported that Rialto Unified teachers gave Holocaust denial literature labeled a "credible source" to the district's 8th graders and asked them to write an essay on whether or not the Holocaust actually occurred. My coverage of the district's dysfunction -- which went far beyond the essay assignment -- led to the turnover of most of the district's senior management.I was also part of the team that reported on Redlands Unified's failure to follow state law and report suspected sexual abuse by teachers, leading to more than $45 million in settlements to victims. After some residents shrugged the abuse off, saying that it wasn't their kids who were being abused, I reported on how much the district's higher insurance premiums were costing taxpayers -- and how many teacher salaries it would have paid for. Shortly thereafter, without admitting wrongdoing, the district introduced sweeping changes to policies and training.I was a key part of our coverage of the San Bernardino and Las Vegas mass shootings, as well as a school shooting in San Bernardino.I’ve also written data-driven solutions journalism stories about teen suicide and written extensively about bullying, by students, teachers and coaches.I have also been a USC Center for Health Journalism fellow twice. In 2020, I worked on a project looking at the impact of COVID-19 on Southern California nursing homes. And in 2022, I used self-reported anonymous student surveys from students across California to identify California public school districts with the lowest levels of reported bullying and examined the ways they had achieved that. Both projects received statewide awards.

Victorville, California

For eight years, I was the primary journalist covering the High Desert city of Hesperia, doing watchdog, enterprise and community journalism.Among the highlights of this time was my coverage a more than $74 million dollar contract to build a comprehensive high school to the bidder whom the district staff's blind evaluation declared the least-qualified, slowest and most expensive possible builder. My coverage helped reverse that decision and get the school open earlier and cheaper.I also covered the $23 million California Charter Academy scandal, an attempt to bring a tribal casino to the city, and Hesperia Unified police officers selling used department guns to board members without public notice and possibly in violation of state law.In addition to writing for the Victorville Daily Press and the weekly Hesperia Star, I handled the Star's Web and social media presence, and helped create and host the Hesperia Star weekly podcast.

North Hollywood, California

I was CBR's first employee, hired to bring professional journalism to the online comics news space. We established a standard of quality and a reputation for professionalism that eventually won the site three Eisner Awards, as well as giving me the geek culture bonafides to land interviews with many of today's top creators.

Irvine, California

I worked for the United States' top videogame development house, representing them at trade shows, interacting with the press and even doing some in-house testing. My name appears in the credits for Warcraft III, World of Warcraft and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, which is pretty darn cool.

Los Angeles, California

In the still-early days on the World Wide Web, I helped the Los Angeles Times Syndicate create mini-sites of content that could be installed on newspaper websites, giving them high-quality syndicated content from Sydney Omarr, Golf Digest, relationship expert John Gray and more, all with a polish that was unusual for the time. In addition to my editorial skills -- I chose and edited content -- I was also involved on the technical end, designing the mini-sites and building them, as well as delivering the content to our customers each week.

Woodbridge, Virginia

I worked as a features reporter for a suburban daily in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.A highlight of my time at the Potomac News was the 11 days a photographer and I spent in Bosnia in 1997, covering the service of local troops in the American-controlled portions of the country.

Cairo, Egypt

I spent 19 months covering news, features, business and sports for English-language publications in Cairo, including Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt Today, International Trade Reporter, The Middle East Times, Sports & Fitness Egypt and the American University in Cairo alumni magazine.

Mclean, Virginia

I covered business, health, arts and entertainment and education news stories for three weekly suburban newspapers -- the Arlington Courier, the Great Falls Current and the McLean Providence Journal -- in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. Highlights included profiling former presidential candidate-turned-television-pundit Pat Buchanan and chronicling a day in the life of Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va.

Christiansburg, Virginia

I learned journalism on the job under the tutelage of the great Debbie Haerr. I covered the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg, covering everything from local government to state politics to crime and features.