California Watch, the new unit of the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, launched its first project Sept. 11, and it’s being used in at least 26 newspapers across the state. Mark Katches is the editorial director for California Watch. The project focused on the use and misuse of $15 million in federal homeland security funds for California. The story, partially funded by a Knight Foundation grant, was offered to papers in customized lengths of 105 inches, 45 inches and 32 inches. California Watch, which officially began in June, gives new hope to investigative work and the future of the industry.

(Robert Rosenthal, a respected veteran newspaperman who was the editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer and a managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, is the executive director of the CIR.)