from our friends at Placeblogger:

Placeblogger, the largest searchable index of local weblogs, will be funding an investigative reporting project at Oakland Local. Along with partners New America Media, Spot.Us and KALW/Crosscurrents, Oakland Local has hired journalist Thandisizwe Chimurenga to cover the trial of Johannes Mehserle, a former transit police officer. Mehserle is on trial for the shooting of Oscar Grant, a 22 year old Oakland resident.

Oakland Local founder Susan Mernit says, "People in Oakland are very concerned about whether this is going to be an unbiased trial. It seemed really important to provide thorough, independent coverage of this story on an ongoing basis."

Placeblogger founder Lisa Williams says, "Placeblogs are not just growing in number -- they're growing in journalistic ambition, scale, and scope. Oakland Local's coverage of this trial is a perfect example. I'd worked with Susan before, and when she told me about it, I felt it was an excellent starting point for Placeblogger to begin supporting and encouraging excellence in grassroots, local online news and community sites."

Placeblogger is providing matching funds to hire a journalist to cover the trial, which is set to open in June, with pretrial hearings beginning in only a few weeks. Other funding for the story was raised through Spot.us, a site which matches reporters' story pitches with online donors.

(Susan says: This is an exciting moment, because Oakland Local staff believes the future of journalism is all about collaboration; bringing in a national partner committed to local media extends our local partnerships further (and suggests Placeblogger will fund other efforts around the country. If you are a Bay area local site and you'd like be become involved in creating and/or distributing this content, please get in touch.)