Cincy Enquirer gives $5K of Pulitzer Prize money to benefit child

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Enquirer is donating $5,000 of its 2018 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting to benefit a little girl featured in the newspaper’s winning report on heroin.

The Enquirer reports the money will be the first deposit in a fund to assist Elliana Russ. The then-8-month-old child and her mother, Stephanie Gaffney, were featured in the newspaper’s “Seven Days of Heroin” report last July.

Gaffney, 28, died of an overdose of a fentanyl combination 10 days after speaking with the newspaper for the story. Newspaper Editor Beryl Love said the news organization thought it “only right” to use a portion of its prize money to help her daughter.

A Hamilton County judge later granted custody of Elliana to Gaffney’s mother and her husband. They live in Bethel in Clermont County.