The Seattle Times staff was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist Monday for its breaking news coverage of the catastrophic, historic flooding that rocked Western Washington in December. The Pulitzer Prizes credited The Times for its “work that in real time warned residents, relayed the stories of affected communities and explained how weather and geography combined to cause the devastation.” “This recognition is so meaningful because our coverage involved weeks of work by our entire staff,” Seattle Times Executive Editor Michele Matassa Flores said. The Minnesota Star Tribune won the breaking news award for its coverage of a shooting during Mass at a Catholic school in August that killed two children and wounded 17.  A series of atmospheric rivers slammed Western Washington in December — a natural phenomenon made worse and more common by climate change — and unleashed record flooding across the region.…