Tyler Bridges is the Lima bureau chief for the Miami Herald. He has been at the paper since 1996. During that time, he has covered the state Legislature in Tallahassee, two governor's races, Miami city politics and the aborted presidential campaign of Sen. Bob Graham. Tyler has been a member of two Pulitzer-prize winning teams at the Herald, in 1999 and 2001 (for investigative reporting and deadline reporting, respectively).

From 1989-96, he was a reporter for The Times-Picayune of New Orleans. During that time, he broke the major stories on David Duke as the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard rose to political prominence. That coverage led to Tyler's first book, The Rise of David Duke, published in 1994 by the University Press of Mississippi.

Following Duke's demise in Louisiana, the next big story there was the legalization of gambling. Tyler spent three years covering that story, and that is the subject of his newest book, Bad Bet on the Bayou: The Rise of Gambling in Louisiana, and the Fall of Governor Edwin Edwards.

For the Duke and gambling coverage at The Times-Picayune, Tyler won the "best investigative reporter" from the New Orleans Press Club in 1991, 1992 and 1996. He finished runner­up in 1990, 1993 and 1995. (He also won deadline and feature story awards from the press club.)

For his work on the Tulane University scholarship scandal, he won the highest honor in 1996 from the press club, the Alex Waller Award, as well as the Joseph L. Brecher Freedom of Information Award in 1996 from the University of Florida and the Margaret Dixon Freedom of Information Award in 1995 from the Associated Press Managing Editors Association of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Tyler also has written for such magazines as George, The New Republic, the Washington Monthly, Casino Executive and Stanford.

From 1986-89, Tyler was a free-lance reporter in South America, writing from 10 countries for the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor and other newspapers.

From 1984-86, Tyler worked as a reporter for The Daily Journal, Caracas' English-language newspaper.

From 1982-84, Tyler was editor of People & Taxes, a monthly newspaper published by Ralph Nader's Public Citizen.

In 1982, he graduated with a degree in political science from Stanford University, where he was a member of the Leland Stanford Junior University marching band. Tyler grew up in Palo Alto.