New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at a news conference Jan. 9 in Trenton. (Matt Rourke/Associated Press)

Here’s a big shout-out to the (Bergen, N.J.) Record for its dogged coverage of the involvement of N.J. Gov. Chris Christie’s office in the George Washington Bridge lane closures in September. The Record was on this story from the git-go, not letting the governor’s inner circle and top officials at the Port Authority steer it away from getting to the truth: namely, that the lane closings were punishment meted out to the mayor of Fort Lee, a Democrat, who didn’t endorse Christie, a Republican, for reelection.

This was not drive-by reporting: No quick hits, snarky blog postings or quick switching to other trending topics.

The Record did what good local reporting calls for: digging, more digging and not taking “no” for an answer. At least 13 stories have been published since the closures — bang, bang, bang — until the governor read for himself the e-mails that incriminated his top confidants — all courtesy of the Record.

The Record bills itself as No.1 in breaking local news. It did that and more. The Record did journalism proud.