[2] Marcus Stern attended Woodrow Wilson High School (Washington, D.C.)[3] and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.
[10] His story, published in the San Diego Union-Tribune on June 12, 2005, did not involve any insider leaks or unnamed sources; it was all based on publicly available information such as real estate sales and company websites.
[12] The stories resulted in government investigations, which ultimately led to the exposure of sweetheart deals and outright bribery involving Cunningham and defense contractors whose interests he supported in Congress.
[14] Stern and Kammer were cited by name in the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting award given to the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Copley News Service.
[15][16] Stern and Kammer also shared the 2006 Edgar A. Poe Award[16] for excellence in news of national and regional importance, given by the White House Correspondents Association.