Chris Dunker Email & Phone Number

Beatrice, Nebraska

Focusing on crime, criminal and civil courts and county government, Chris covers a wide variety of issues in Gage County and four other counties in southeast Nebraska, including the criminal trials of several former Beatrice State Development Center employees convicted of abusing individuals with developmental disabilities, the civil trials of six people wrongfully convicted of murdering a Beatrice woman in 1985 seeking compensation under a new Nebraska law, the Gage County Board of Supervisors' bimonthly meetings and other general assignments.Chris also writes a weekly column published on Saturdays examining issues in greater depth in the community.In April 2013, Chris was named Nebraska's Outstanding Young Journalist for his work in fighting to improve access to public records in Gage County and across the state and helping keep public officials accountable. The Nebraska State Legislature approved a state law improving access to records in May. For its efforts, the Daily Sun won the Nebraska Press Association's 2013 Freedom of Information Act award.Chris was also part of the Daily Sun's General Excellence Award given to the staff at the Nebraska Press Association's Better Newspapers Contest in 2013. The Daily Sun, with a daily circulation of over 5,000, won first place in the daily division over newspapers with larger staffs and significantly more resources.

Beatrice, Nebraska

Chris was responsible for covering 14 school districts across five counties in southeast Nebraska, including Beatrice Public Schools and Norris Public Schools, both of which have enrollments of more than 2,200 students, as well as schools with less than 100 students in K-12. During this time, Chris touched on a wide variety of topics including declining enrollment at area schools, state test scores, poverty rates and school finances.In April 2011, Chris was named first place in the In-Depth Reporting category of the Nebraska Press Association Better Newspapers contest in the daily division for a series of stories he wrote about a bacterial meningitis outbreak at a local school. The outbreak claimed the life of one preschool student and affected a third-grader who later recovered.