TWN0613 - The Washington Newspaper June 2013

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THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER Vol. 98, No. 6 June 2013

Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington • www.wnpa.com

AP scandal renews push for shield law Service chief points to breadth of breach into phone records Newspaper Association of America

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he Associated Press learned May 10 that the Justice Department had obtained more than two months’ worth of telephone records from April and May 2012. The call logs covered more than 20 telephone lines assigned to AP journalists and offices. These

The Associated Press

AP CEO Gary Pruitt (left) and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder included both home and cell phones, as well as AP offices in the press gallery at the U.S.

House of Representatives and in New York City; Hartford, Conn.; and Washington, D.C. In a scathing response to Attorney General Eric Holder, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt estimated that more than 100 journalists could have been affected by the records seizure.

Pruitt wrote: “There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal com-

munications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.”

Deputy Attorney General James Cole immediately responded to Pruitt’s letter.

Pruitt and others have called into question whether the Justice Department followed its own

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regulations governing subpoenas to the news media and to service providers for telephone toll records of members of the news media. Those regulations require, among other things, notice and an opportunity to negotiate unless the notice would pose “a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation.”

Cole did not explain why notice was delayed, but simply stated that the investigation was related to the unauthorized disclosure of classified informaSee AP, page 3

SPJ honors reporters at P-I, TNT Connelly, Kamb speak at gala held in Seattle

Western Washington SPJ

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Damian Mulinix/Chinook Observer, Long Beach

With this high-summer photo, Damian Mulinix, 2012 Photographer of the Year, placed first in the General News Photography category for Circulation Groups I and II Combined for the Chinook Observer in Long Beach. Judges complimented Mulinix’s ability to capture just the right moment and strengthen the image by his choice of focus, creating a photograph that’s interesting at first glance and even more so on continued examination.

Shaw heads Mercer, Bellevue Promotion gives native Eastsider home-field edge

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illiam Shaw, a fourthgeneration Eastsider, has been named publisher of the Bellevue Reporter and Mercer Island Reporter, succeeding Janet Taylor, who retired.

He continues to serve as publisher ofthe Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter and the

Snoqualmie Valley Record.

Shaw’s longtime professional focus has been as a print media advertising consultant in the local retail, William major, national Shaw and real estate categories. Shaw started in 1998 as an advertising executive with the former Journal-American.

From 2002 to 2006 he was

Advertising Sales and Special Projects Manager for Horvitz Newspapers (the former Eastside Journal and later King County Journal) and for Sound Publishing, where in 2007, he was designated as Marketing Director for the newly formed Reporter Newspaper Group division of Sound Publishing, including the then newly established Bellevue Reporter.

In 2008, he was made publisher of the weekly Snoqualmie Valley Record, which will observe its 100th anniversary this

fall. In 2012, Shaw was named publisher of the Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter.

“Shaw is great community builder that brings a high level of experience and proven performance to the group publishing role,” said Josh O’Connor, Vice President of East Sound Newspaper Operations. “Bill’s connection to the community will benefit both the newspaper and the city of Bellevue.”

Shaw’s Eastside connection runs deep.

See SHAW, page 6

oel Connelly of seattlepi. com and the Seattle PostIntelligencer — where he has logged about 35 years — received the 2012 June Anderson Almquist Distinguished Service to Journalism Award last month from Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 10.

He and other SPJ winners were honored May 18 in ceremonies in Seattle and Portland.

Nominators noted “Local institution Joel Connelly is a walking encyclopedia of all things political and environmental in the Pacific Northwest,” and wrote that “…after four decades of reporting, writing and examining, Joel still uses his carefully chosen words to check those in power and to give documented reason for change.”

Almquist was a columnist and assistant managing editor for the Seattle Times who successfully championed reporting of contemporary women’s issues over the high-society news typically covered on the women’s page during her era.

She died in 2000.

Lewis Kamb, inaugural winner

SPJ Western Washington’s first Journalist of the Year collaborated on a five-part series on one of America’s largest immigration detention centers, challenged the Tacoma city council to be more transparent in its hiring process and covered — with characteristic thoroughness and persistence — the city’s budget crisis.

The award recognized Lewis Kamb, a reporter at the News Tribune in Tacoma.

“I was blown away by the See SPJ, page 2

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Obama uses right words for press; we await actions The News Tribune, Tacoma

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n his speech May 23 on national security, President Barack Obama said the right things about the media’s role as government watchdogs.

Now the question is whether his administration’s actions will connect to his words.

Obama said that a free press is essential for our democracy: “I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable. Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs.”

You’d never guess it from his detached tone, but he was referring to two abusive leak in-

vestigations undertaken by his own Department of Justice. The more egregious was the FBI’s scrutiny of Fox News reporter James Rosen. The agency got a search warrant for Rosen’s emails in 2010 by swearing that there was probable cause to believe he violated the 1917 Espionage Act as a “coconspirator” when he obtained information leaked by a State Department employee in 2009.

No federal law prohibits publishing leaked classified material, so the FBI got the warrant — and Attorney General Eric Holder personally signed off on it — by describing as criminal Rosen’s acquisition of the information. If that’s the criteria for

criminality, journalists would risk prosecution at times simply by obtaining information from whistle-blowers. That’s a form of prior restraint — and a violation of the First Amendment right to a free press.

The action against Rosen smacks more of intimidating journalists than in trying to plug a leak. The information the reporter disclosed — about how North Korea was likely to react to new sanctions — was not a big secret; in fact it was fairly common knowledge.

The Justice Department’s secret subpoena of Associated Press journalists’ phone records — both personal and professional — is also an outra-

geous intrusion on the First Amendment with potentially chilling effects on journalists and whistle-blowers.

The information the AP had — involving a CIA operation in Yemen — was much more sensitive than Rosen’s. But the AP agreed to sit on the story for several days after the administration warned that it could hurt national security. It was published only after the AP was told that was no longer the case.

Yet the administration still went after journalists’ phone records in trying to ferret out the leak. In fact, this administration has pursued twice as many leakers as all past administrations combined.

Much of the information on sensitive topics — everything from the Watergate break-in to the CIA’s secret prisons — has come from journalists working their sources and obtaining information from whistle-blowers disturbed by what they perceive to be abuses of power.

Obama says the DOJ will review its guidelines regarding investigations involving the media and will seek input from news organizations. And he says he now supports a media shield law his administration earlier opposed. Those are welcome starts.

Reprinted with permission.

Press freedom includes news-gathering Officers: President: Bill Forhan, NCW Media, Leavenworth l First Vice President: Keven Graves, Whidbey News Group, Coupeville l Second Vice President: Lori Maxim, Sound Publishing l Past President: Jana Stoner, Northern Kittitas County Tribune, Cle Elum l Secretary: Bill Will, WNPA, Seattle Trustees: Mike Dillon, Pacific Publishing Co., Seattle l Josh Johnson, Liberty Lake Splash, Liberty Lake l Eric LaFontaine, Othello Outlook l Imbert Matthee, Waitsburg Times l Don Nelson, Methow Valley News, Twisp l Stephen McFadden, Ritzville-Adams County Journal l Fred Obee, Port Townsend Leader Staff: Executive Director: Bill Will l Editor/Manager of Member Services: Mae Waldron

Officers: President: Rob Blethen, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Treasurer: Christine Fossett, Chronicle, Centralia Board: Nathan Alford, MoscowPullman Daily News l Tyler Miller, Daily Record, Ellensburg l Heather Hernandez, Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon l Dave Zeeck, News Tribune, Tacoma Executive Director: Rowland Thompson THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER is the official publication of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. It is published monthly by WNPA, 12354 30th Ave NE, Seattle WA 98125, phone (206) 634-3838. Email: mwaldron@wnpa.com; URL: www.wnpa.com, in conjunction with Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington, P.O. Box 29, Olympia, WA 98507, (360) 943-9960.

Email: anewspaper@aol.com.

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reedom to report the news requires the freedom to gather it.

In the months ahead, that basic concept – so central to the First Amendment’s protection of a free press – will also be at the heart of the ongoing debate over how far government officials may go in pursuit of those responsible for “leaking” classified information to journalists.

The debate kicked off new fervor with disclosure of a wide search conducted by the Department of Justice in which it seized phone records of The Associated Press that spanned two months, multiple offices and even some personal lines.

The bushel-basket, clandestine nature of the seizure meant AP was not given the opportunity to argue for even a more-focused search on a specific leak – leaving the work of up to 100 journalists on multiple stories exposed to government scrutiny.

Then there was the outright label of criminal conduct, as a “co-conspirator and/or aider and abettor,” attached by an FBI agent to James Rosen, chief Washington correspondent for Fox News. Justice Department officials apparently believe Rosen solicited confidential information from a U.S. State Department source about a 2009 pending North Korean missile launch.

In seeking a search warrant

SPJ

in 2010 to secretly examine Rosen’s e-mails, the agent said the journalist’s tactics included “employing Gene flattery” and Policinski playing to vice president/ the source’s executive director, “vanity and First Amendment ego.” The Center source later was indicted, and reportedly the FBI riffled through Rosen’s e-mails for at least 30 days, along with phone data and computer records of Rosen’s trips in and out of the U.S. State Department buildings.

Mass collection of journalists’ phone call information.

Threats of “criminal liability” aimed at reporters who get information from confidential sources in the government.

The idea that “flattery” equals espionage.

Combined with an unprecedented six prosecutions for alleged leaks – double the number under all previous administrations combined – it all adds up to a not-so-subtle message: “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

But asking official sources to tell what they know, on or off-the-record, is essential to the role of a free press as an

independent source of information about the government’s inner workings.

Conscientious whistleblowers in recent years have alerted fellow citizens to morally questionable interrogation tactics and potentially illegal wiretapping of phone conversations, and spurred publicly outcry over issues such as the Pentagon’s failure to provide in a timely manner and in sufficient numbers, supplies of available, mine-resistant vehicles to U.S. troops in the Middle East.

The basic question of how a free press must function will again complicate a renewed push in Congress for a so-called shield law – the “Free Flow of Information Act.” In setting out when a journalist may choose not to tell the name of a confidential source, and perhaps when the government may not ask, the methods of newsgathering will be front and center.

Any such law also will have to address First Amendment concerns over becoming a back-door form of official “licensing” of who is entitled to the full rights of a free press.

The Associated Press’ CEO Gary Pruitt, in his letter to the Department of Justice objecting to the records seizure, said that if the practice went unchallenged, the long-term result would be “the people of the United States will only

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news that SPJ had chosen me as its Journalist of the Year, because I recognize how deep our pool of talented journalists runs in this region,” said Kamb. “It’s a humbling honor, really, but one I certainly didn’t achieve on my own. I’m fortunate to work with a great team of editors, photographers, artists, copy editors and producers at the News Tribune who help me hone my work every day. This recognition belongs as much to them as to me.”

Kamb spent about a decade with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, where he worked on some of the region’s most important investigative work, such as “Without a Trace,” the P-I’s groundbreaking investigation examining how police handle missing-persons cases. The series led to state and national reforms and helped authorities identify six sets of human remains.

SPJ’s award goes “to a local journalist who has made an impact both externally (with the public) and internally. The nominator must demonstrate to us that this person has had a standout year.”

General Excellence firsts

First place awards in General Excellence went to the Idaho Falls Post Register, the Everett Daily Herald, and the Oregonian for small, medium and large dailies, respectively, and to the Chronicle in Centralia for nondaily newspapers.

Nicole Brodeur of the Seattle Times and Chris Daniels of KING 5 TV announced the awards given to print, broadcast and online journalists for work produced or published in 2012.

Journalists in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska are eligible to participate.

know what the government wants them to know … That’s not what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment.”

As some draw a connection between the AP and Rosen flaps to the Nixon anti-press era, it’s also instructive as this national debate continues to consider the words in 1971 of U.S. District Judge Murray Gurfein.

In his first days as a federal judge in the Southern District of York, Gurfein rejected the initial government attempt to stop The New York Times from publishing the “Pentagon Papers.” In his ruling, he said: “The security of the Nation is not at the ramparts alone.

Security also lies in the value of our free institutions. A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, an ubiquitous press, must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know. These are troubled times. There is no greater safety valve for discontent and cynicism about the affairs of government than freedom of expression in any form.”

True then. True now.

Gene Policinski is senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center.

Email him at gpolicinski@fac. org

Community, tech schools recognize Blethen’s work

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rank Blethen, publisher of the Seattle Times, was honored by the Trustees Association of Community and Technical Colleges as partner of the year during the organization’s spring convention last month.

The award recognized the Times’ yearlong education effort, the Greater Frank Good Campaign, published to address Blethen the effects of deep legislative cuts in higher-education funding.

The effort is credited with helping to prevent additional cuts to higher education in the 2012 legislative budget.

The Trustees Association is composed of all the trustees of the 30 two-year college districts in Washington. It provides support and coordination for trustees in the areas of education, communication and advocacy.

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Controversial legislative aide resigns The Herald, Everett

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legislative aide who has been a regular source of controversy during his two years working for Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon is no longer on the county payroll.

Kevin Hulten, 34, of Granite Falls, resigned May 9, writing that he believed he would be fired after sexually explicit images, including his homemade porn, were found on a government laptop computer he’d used in 2011.

Hulten emailed a written resignation about 20 minutes before the start of a hearing he had requested to challenge the allegations, Deputy Executive Gary Haakenson said.

“To be clear, I strenuously object to the county’s proposed personnel findings, but I feel that I have no chance of affecting this process internally,” Hulten wrote.

He denied any wrongdoing and claimed to be the victim of retaliation for a “whistleblower” complaint he brought against prosecutors.

A Seattle attorney hired by the county spent weeks investigating Hulten’s “whislteblower” allegations and determined they were baseless, and his claims of retaliation unsupported by fact.

Hulten had been on paid administrative leave since March 1, when he became the focus of a King County Sheriff’s Office criminal investigation into a series of records requests the Reardon aide has admitted to making under the alias “Edmond Thomas.” The Snohomish County Council requested the investigation to determine whether Hulten and another See AIDE, page 4

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JUNE 2013

OPEN ACCESS & LEGAL ISSUES

Court rulings in review

By SARAH K. DURAN and ERIC M. STAHL

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

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he Washington Supreme Court issued four opinions on May 9 of interest to the news media. Three address access to court and public records. The fourth upholds a jury verdict finding defamation and discusses the standards for proving actual malice.

State v. Richardson

In this case, the Supreme Court clarified the rules that apply when third parties, such as news outlets, seek to unseal criminal case files. Richardson involved talk radio host Mike Seigel’s attempt to unseal records from an old conviction of a local elected official who was running for state senate. The entire docket in the case had been sealed, meaning that the moving party could not obtain access even to the reasons the case was placed under wraps in the first place.

The Supreme Court held that was impermissible. First, the Court held that when someone who is not a party to a lawsuit moves to unseal a closed criminal file, the same heightened constitutional test used to assure open access to court proceedings (the landmark Seattle Times v. Ishikawa standard) must be applied. That means the file must be unsealed unless it is shown that compelling reasons continue to exist to keep the case sealed. The Court also held that this same constitutional presumption of access applies to court dockets – an important tool for the press and public to keep track of court proceedings. Finally, the Court held that when a trial court denies a motion to seal in a case that has otherwise concluded, the party seeking to unseal has an automatic right to appeal.

not require defendants to admit on the record they entertained serious doubts as to the truth of their allegations.…Considering the record as a whole, there is clear and convincing evidence here justifying the inference of actual malice, as the jury concluded on proper instruction.”

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP While the facts of the case Sarah K. Duran (left) and are distinguishable from most Eric M. Stahl. typical news reporting, the opinion is a reminder that Tan v. Le defamation cases can be lost This case is a reminder that if reporters ignore obvious while plaintiff defamation verdicts are rare in Washington, sources, such as the subject of they still can happen if publish- a news story, or are careless about verifying information. ers act carelessly. The case involved statements made by Residential Action Council members of the Vietnamese v. Seattle Housing Authority community in Thurston This case involves access County, including some to public records. It stemmed published in a local newsletter, accusing other members of that from the failure of the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) community of being communists and undercover Viet Cong to release records related to SHA tenant grievance hearing agents. The Supreme Court decisions. The Court held that held that the statements were although federal regulations defamatory, that they were not apply to the SHA’s dispute protected opinion, and that resolution process, the SHA evidence supported the jury’s is also subject to the Public finding of actual malice. A Records Act (PRA), which jury had found the defendants requires production of those liable and awarded plaintiff portions of the records that are $310,000. not exempt.

The Court of Appeals This case is important for reversed, but the Supreme two reasons. First, it reaffirms Court reinstated the jury’s that public records containing verdict. Of note, the Supreme Court found sufficient evidence information that is exempt from disclosure still must be of actual malice based on the produced in response to a defendants’ failure to contact PRA request; the state or local the plaintiff to confirm the agency cannot withhold the accuracy of statements before record entirely, but instead making them; a history of must redact exempt informaacrimony with the plaintiff; tion and provide the rest. (This the defendants’ failure to is the reason that agencies investigate any of the facts sometimes produce documents before publishing them; and defendants’ reliance on sources with words or sections that are blacked out.) Second, the case of information that were not is important because it provides credible. The Court wrote: a step-by-step explanation of “While there is no single smokwhat an agency must do to ing gun proving actual malice when it responds to a record in this case, the clear and conSee CASES, page 4 vincing evidence standard does

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tion. It is widely suspected that the investigation concerns a May 7, 2012, story by the AP about how the CIA thwarted a second attempted underwear bomb plot. The next day, the New York Times revealed that the CIA had been working with a double agent.

“We held that story until the government assured us that the national security concerns had passed. Indeed, the White House was preparing to publicly announce that the bomb plot had been foiled,” Pruitt explained in a follow-up blog post.

NAA issued a statement this week demanding a full accounting of what happened.

NAA also joined more than 50 news organizations in sending a letter to the Justice Department questioning the lack of notice to the AP and whether other DOJ regulations for issuing subpoenas to the news media were followed, including a requirement to narrow the scope of the records requests.

“These tactics will not scare us off, or the AP, but they could reveal sources on other stories and frighten confidential contacts vital to coverage of

government,” the New York Times wrote in an editorial.

Holder revealed in a press conference and later during a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing that he had recused himself from the investigation after the FBI questioned him because he was one of a few people who had access to the classified information at the center of the leak probe. Holder confirmed that Cole was the one who approved the telephone records request, even though DOJ regulations require the attorney general’s approval.

The House Judiciary Committee held a DOJ oversight hearing Wednesday with Holder as the sole witness. During the hearing, several members of Congress from both sides of the aisle expressed outrage over the Justice Department’s actions in the AP case, and expressed renewed support for a federal shield bill to protect journalists’ confidential sources. Holder responded that the DOJ and the Obama Administration continue to support a federal shield bill.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced on May

15 that he will reintroduce his shield bill, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support in the 111th Congress. In the House, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and a former judge, introduced the Free Flow of Information Act of 2013 (H.R. 1962). This is similar to legislation that passed the House of Representatives in the 110th and 111th Congresses by an overwhelming margin and by unanimous consent, respectively. NAA appreciates the leadership of Schumer and Poe on this issue.

As you may remember from our collective effort on a shield bill, after extended negotiations in 2009 to craft a national security exception, the Obama Administration endorsed a Senate Judiciary Committee bill that was approved by the committee that December.

While the full House had passed a bill in March 2009, the Senate bill stalled on the Senate floor following the string of WikiLeaks disclosures in 2010.

Several members of Congress were concerned that “document dump” sites such as WikiLeaks

could invoke a shield law if subpoenaed for the names of their anonymous leakers.

NAA is currently working with our coalition of more than 70 media groups, as well as with interested members of Congress and the executive branch, to see if a federal shield bill can finally be passed in the wake of the AP records scandal. The events that have come to light this week demonstrate that clear, uniform standards – administered by an impartial judge – are needed for the compelled disclosure of confidential source information so that overly broad requests do not chill the flow of information to the public on important government issues.

In the coming days, we will provide member newspapers with updates on the shield bill effort, including talking points on the issue. If you want to take action now, call your congressional representative and senator and ask them to cosponsor the Schumer media shield bill in the Senate and the Poe media shield bill in the House. The Capitol Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121.

Official stalls dash cam video release Prosecutor planned to hand over footage

The Seattle Times

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King County court commissioner on May 13 temporarily blocked the release of patrol-car video considered to be key evidence in an assault case brought against a Seattle police officer.

Commissioner Pro Tem Eric Watness ruled that the dashboardcamera video should not be disclosed to the news media until a King County Superior Court judge heard arguments May 30 on whether it should be released.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office had planned to release the video to the Seattle Times and KOMO-TV in response to public disclosure requests.

Officer Chris Hairston’s attorney’s filed court papers seeking to block the release at this stage of the case.

Hairston has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge stemming from a Sept. 24 incident in which his wife, Katie, who also is a Seattle police officer, responded with another officer to a report that a person had passed out near Seattle Central Community College.

While dealing with several people who had been drinking alcohol, Katie Hairston was assaulted.

When Chris Hairston arrived, he is alleged to have assaulted the handcuffed suspect. A Seattle police report said Hairston could be seen on the video forcefully using his hands on the man.

Hairston was charged by the City Attorney’s Office, which has declined to release the video.

The Times and KOMO-TV requested the video from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which obtained an assault conviction against the suspect in the attack on Katie Hairston.

Attorneys for Chris Hairston, in seeking an injunction to block the release of the video, argued that disclosure would violate Hairston’s right to privacy and jeopardize his right to a fair trial.

They also asserted that releasing the video would conflict with a state law regarding the release of dashboard-camera video while criminal or civil litigation is pending — a law that is currently before the state Supreme Court in another case.

The county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office argued the video was subject to public disclosure and that Hairston wasn’t likely to prevail on the merits.

Watness ruled Hairston would be harmed if the video were released before the issues could be fully argued.

The Seattle Police Officers’ Guild has sharply criticized City Attorney Pete Holmes for charging Hairston, saying Hairston simply grabbed the suspect and that his conduct should be handled internally by the Police Department.

Prior to Hairston’s request, the guild’s president, Sgt. Rich O’Neill, questioned why Holmes had not released the video.

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Blinder’s back, and he has new sales webinar P erforming the Proper Prep to Increase Sales,” a webinar by Mike Blinder for WNPA members and their ad sales staffs, is set for 10-11 a.m.

July 31.

Blinder will focus on boosting sales reps ability to close more business.

“Regardless of what your suite of products includes, failing to do the homework before each call will result in not being able to fully monetize the call,” he said.

He will show attendees how investing just 10 minutes online

to learn about a new or existing customer will assist in performing a better needs analysis and help sales reps close not just Mike Blinder more digital business, but tons of print dollars as well.

Response to Blinder’s February 2012 Webinar for WNPA, which drew close to 50 attendees, was enthusiastic.

“He was fantastic!!! The whole

team loved his energy and would love to see more of these types of webinars for us to take part in,” said Tammy Greenaway of Pacific Publishing, Seattle, in an email.

Janet McCall of the Northern Light in Blaine agreed. “I think the training was great,” she said.

“I realize that it is all about the numbers, and improving (our) skills is an important element in raising closing ratios!”

Joelle Miller of the Woodinville Weekly and Diane Buxton of the Grandview Record-Bulletin made similar comments.

The Blinder Group assists in

maximizing revenues for clients through effective sales training programs, both onsite and online and covering print and online sales. Blinder’s clients are literally all over the map, from press associations and media groups to weeklies and dailies across North America, including the Chicago Sun-Times, where he presents on July 24. His latest book, “Survival Selling,” is a guide for sales reps who want to know how to garner more revenue in tough economic times. The Blinder Group is based in Florida, where Mike and his wife, Robin, live

with their daughter, Haven, and goldendoodle, Ginger.

Registration is due July 24.

Cost is $25 per newspaper and WNPA will invoice member newspapers that register.

Register at wnpa.com/events.

All webinar registrants will be entered in a prize drawing to win coupon for the 2013 WNPA Convention entitling the bearer to 25 percent off convention registration for one person from his or her member newspaper.

WNPA’s 126th annual convention is scheduled on Oct. 3-5 in Olympia.

Chronicle publisher gets the gold

CALENDAR OF EVENTS June 7 July 18 July 31 Oct. 3 Oct. 3-5

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BNC Tourism Special Section Entries due WNPA Board Meeting, Leavenworth Mike Blinder Sales Webinar WNPA Board Meeting, Olympia 126th Annual Convention, Olympia Details: www.wnpa.com/events

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request.

Writing the lead opinion (which is of questionable precedential value, as it was not joined by a majority of the Court), Justice Gonzalez divided the PRA’s 141 information and record exemptions into two broad categories — “categorical” and “conditional.”

The opinion states that the vast majority of the exemptions are “categorical,” which means the records exempt without limit to a particular type of information or record. One example the Court cited is the exemption that prohibits release of debit card numbers. A smaller number of exemptions are “conditional,” meaning they apply only if it is demonstrated that an identified privacy right or vital governmental interest is threatened. Based on this explanation, the lead opinion states that agencies responding to PRA requests must take certain “indispensable” steps, including determining whether any exemptions applies to the requested record; whether the exemption is categorical or conditional; whether the exemption applies to entire records or only to certain information contained in the record; and whether exempted information can be redacted from the records.

Ameriquest Mortg. Co. v. Office of the Attorney General of Washington

be disclosed in response to a request under the state Public Records Act. The Court held that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) prohibits the disclosure, even if personal information is redacted, because the GLBA entirely prohibits the “use” of the records at issue for a different purpose. In a previous decision, the Court had decided that the GLBA is an “other statute which exempts or prohibits disclosure of specific information or records” within the meaning of the PRA. Separately, the Court found the records were not exempt under the PRA’s investigative records exemption, because there was no ongoing investigation and withholding the records was not essential to effective law enforcement. The Court also rejected the lender’s argument that the records were exempt under the Consumer Protection Act (which bars public release of information provided by a company in response to an investigative demand by the Attorney General) because the lender had voluntarily disclosed the records to the Attorney General informally, rather than in response to a formal demand.

Copies of these decisions are available on the Supreme Court’s website at http://www.courts. wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions. recent.

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mak-Okanogan County Chronicle Publisher Roger Harnack has been selected as a Golden Quill winner by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.

Harnack, 45, will receive his Golden Quill, one of only 12 presented worldwide each year, during the organization’s annual gala session July 13 in Green Bay, Wis. He credited his editorial mentors — James A. Jones Jr. of the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald, Tribune General Manager Ed Trainor of Eufaula, Ala.; and John Brewer of the Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles —

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for the award.

The award is based on Harnack’s column, “Have we lost all say on wildlife,” which focuses on the lack Roger of local representation Harnack on the state’s Fish and Wildlife Commission despite having a seated member from his community.

In comments, the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors judges wrote: “An employee of a conservation group sits on a state

board that oversees wildlife management. As a result of the conflict of interest, the board member must abstain from voting on various issues that come before the board. Roger clearly outlines how these abstentions leave his community without the representation it deserves.”

Harnack joined the Chronicle in 2009. His career includes stints as publisher of the Red Oak Express in Red Oak, Iowa; bureau chief of Stars and Stripes in Tokyo, Japan; and as an editor at the Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles, the East Oregonian in Pendleton, Ore., the Daily Record in Ellensburg and the Puyallup Herald.

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Reardon aide, Jon Rudicil, violated any laws by conduct that some on the receiving end characterized as harassment and apparent attempts at surveillance.

The “Edmond Thomas” activity targeted about 20 county employees, many of whom had cooperated in a Washington State Patrol investigation of Reardon’s use of public money during out-of-town business trips he made with a former mistress. Intimidating witnesses is a crime.

Hulten also is the focus of an investigation ordered in April by the executive director of the Public Disclosure Commission, the state’s election watchdog agency.

The state since last year has been investigating whether public resources were improperly used in Reardon’s 2011 re-election campaign.

The new investigation, initiated by commission staff, raises questions about phone calls that Hulten made to state election watchdogs in spring 2011. The calls focused on issues later raised

by associates of Hulten’s who attacked Reardon’s then-election opponent, state Rep. Mike Hope, R-Lake Stevens.

Hulten made the calls during business hours and may have violated state law that prohibits “using the facilities of a public office or agency to assist a candidate’s campaign,” the complaint from Andrea McNamara Doyle said.

In his resignation, Hulten denied any wrongdoing and said that the county had failed to show that he’d even been assigned the hard drive where the nude images of him and a former girlfriend turned up.

“I refute all of the allegations and respond by simply pointing out that there is no proof that I did anything at all,” he wrote. “In fact, all of the computers that were actually issued to me were found to be clear of any violation.”

An April 19 report prepared

by Bridget Clawson, the county’s human resources director, tells a different story.

The images were discovered in March while the county was securing evidence for sheriff’s detectives and responding to questions raised about a longstanding records request involving Hulten, the report says.

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5

JUNE 2013

Looking at Adobe’s ‘Cloud’ from both sides now

M

y mailbox has never been as full as it’s been lately. Publishers and editors from all over the place have been writing concerning two topics: 1. What do I think about Adobe’s move to Cloud versions of their software and its effect on newspapers?

2. Congratulating me on correctly predicting the fate of the Times-Picayune last year and my reaction to the events of mid May 2013.

I’ll tackle the Adobe questions here and offer thoughts on the May events in a separate column.

Does Adobe have its head too far up in the Cloud?

Unless you’ve been asleep since early May, you’ve heard about the changes at Adobe.

Soon, users won’t be able to buy boxed versions of Creative Suite products like InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.

Beginning in the very near future, there will be only one way to purchase Adobe products. OK, you won’t actually be purchasing the software. You will be leasing it.

It works like this: For previous owners of Adobe CS3 - CS6 products, the Creative Cloud can be leased for $30 per month.

This requires an annual commitment and the price will likely go up after the year. Others will pay $50 per month, with a one-year commitment.

For this $30-$50, users receive access to the entire suite of Creative Cloud apps, including those used most in print and

digital publishing: In all, there are more than 20 apps available and subscribers have access to all of these Kevin Slimp applications Director, as long as their Institute of accounts are Newspaper active.

Technology

How much does it cost to upgrade to the Cloud?

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the cost of moving to Creative Cloud (CC). Here’s the lowdown: • Current CS3 (or later) owners can upgrade to CC for $30 per month for the first year. CS6 users can upgrade to CC for $20 per month. After that, my guess is the introductory price will move over to the standard rate, which is currently $50 per month.

• New CC members not currently using Creative Suite can pay $50 per month for access to these same applications. This requires an annual commitment.

• A subscription to a single app is available for $20 per month.

Although not many newspapers would have staff using just one of the apps, it’s possible to subscribe to Adobe InDesign (or another of the CC apps) for $20 per month.

This requires an annual commitment. Adobe is offering a 50 percent discount through July 31, to current CS3 or later users, making the single app license $10 monthly for the first year.

Observer loses longtime employee ‘Frannie,’ 86 Chinook Observer, Long Beach

F

rances “Frannie” O’Neil, 86, a lifelong resident of the Long Beach Peninsula and a long an employee of the Chinook Observer, died May 17, 2013, in Chinook.

The eldest child of William and Edith (Lundquist) Winn, she was born Nov. 9, 1926, in Astoria. Soon after her birth the family moved to Nahcotta.

There she attended school until the building burned; finishing her elementary education in Ocean Park. Frances was a 1945 graduate of Ilwaco High School.

On Oct. 15, 1948, she married Wayne O’Neil, whom she met while a member of the rodeo court.

Wayne’s father, Jimmie, was publisher of the Chinook Observer and for the ensuing years both worked side-by-side with Jimmie and Lee Marsh in publishing the paper. Frances was the proofreader and social editor among numerous other duties.

Wayne and Frances took over sole operation of the paper in 1963, selling in 1984. The O’Neils retained ownership of Midway Printery. During the 1960s Frances also worked as a checker at Sid’s Market.

For many years Frances was active in Ocean Beach Rebekahs No. 313, serving in

various capacities including as Noble Grand twice. A member of the Auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Frances also Frances for many years O’Neil answered the phone and was the “off hours” dispatcher for the Long Beach Volunteer Fire Department.

In past years she was a Cub Scout leader and Sunday school teacher at Long Beach Presbyterian Church. Among her numerous community endeavors were volunteering for many, many years with the Kite Festival, Jazz Festival, Loyalty Day and Beach Run. Frances is survived by her son, Dan, of Ilwaco; daughter, Peggy (Randy) Mathena of Colville; grandchildren Josh O’Neil, Heather Varila, Carly (Michael Wahler) Mathena and Sarah (Matt) Miller; five greatgrandchildren; sisters, Roberta Werts of Olympia and Lucille Gove of Yakima; and her brothers, Bill Winn of Astoria and Chuck Winn of Long Beach.

Her husband Wayne died in 1998.

Memorials may be made in her memory to the Lone Fir Cemetery Association in care of Penttila’s Chapel, P.O. Box 417, Long Beach, WA 98631.

APPS & TOOLS INCLUDED IN ADOBE CREATIVE CLOUD • Photoshop • Premier Pro • Flash Pro • Illustrator • Muse • Audition • SpeedGrade • Lightroom • Developer Tools • Acrobat XI • Touch Plugins • Edge Animate • After Effects • InDesign • Typekit • Fireworks • Dreamweaver • Edge Code • Prelude • Flash Builder • PhoneGap Build

There are discounted rates for students and teachers. For $75 per month, users can subscribe monthly, without an annual commitment.

In addition to the software, subscribers have access to 20 Gb of storage space. This can be useful, especially to keep backup versions of files offsite, but shouldn’t be used to store current files in the editorial workflow.

Should I make a move now?

That’s a tough one. While there has been a lot of grumbling about the Creative Cloud, especially in the print publishing world, Adobe has us in a corner.

The listed prices are referred to as 40 to 50 percent off. When

the announcement was made about the new Creative Cloud options, I told callers to hold off a few days and see if Adobe made adjustments. Hearing the cries from users, Adobe announced the discounted rates (through July 31, 2013) for individual and suite licenses.

There are a number of factors to consider. If you’re currently using one of the latest versions of Creative Suite and feel like you don’t need to upgrade within the next year, then you’re probably fine as you are.

If you’re using an earlier version of Creative Suite products, the offer to upgrade at a discounted rate is available only through July 31. Adobe could extend this discount, but there is no guarantee that they will. Waiting could end up costing a lot more than going ahead and subscribing with the discounted rates.

What am I going to do?

I’ve decided to go ahead and subscribe to Creative Cloud.

Let’s face it: In my line of work, I have to be up to date on all the latest software, so it’s a nobrainer for me.

So what’s the catch?

The catch is that none of us know what will happen after one year. If you move all of your workstations to Creative Cloud— and it doesn’t make sense to mix and match design software—then you will be forced to pay whatever price is available after 12 months. If that is $50, then publishers will be forking out $600 per station each year. Yes, that’s a lot, especially when you

probably upgraded to Creative Suite for $500 to $800 and used it for two to three years.

Did Adobe make a huge blunder?

Probably not, but it’s too early to tell. My background as a communications and customer service expert makes me wonder why Adobe didn’t do a much better job of introducing CC to the masses. At the same time, I’m fairly certain the number crunchers at Adobe have crunched numbers till their fingers hurt and determined that the payout from this move will far surpass the losses of customers who refuse to upgrade or move to other options.

If I were at Quark, I would be working like crazy to introduce viable non-cloud options for the design world. Package QuarkXPress with a solid photo editing app and sell it at a reasonable price, without connecting it to cloud technology, and a lot of folks will consider moving back from Adobe to Quark.

Only time will tell.

What else should I know?

Your current computer operating system might not be compatible with CC products. Check closely before making the move, to be sure the software is compatible with your machines. If it’s not, make the necessary upgrades to your operating system.

Some users, though not most, will be required to purchase new computers to run CC. Again, check out all the angles before making a move.

Write to Slimp at kevin@ kevinslimp.com.

Miner writer, rail historian dies Newport Miner

M

ichael John Denuty, for more than 25 years a reporter for the Newport Miner, passed away May 14 at his home in Spokane.

He was 65.

Denuty was born Feb. 15, 1948, in Spokane, the youngest child of John and Josephine Denuty. His father worked on the section for the Northern Pacific Railway during the 1920s and in later years worked at Hillyard for Western Fruit Express.

Mike Denuty graduated from John R. Rogers High School in 1966. He then attended Spokane Community College and earned a journalism degree at Eastern Washington State College, now Eastern Washington University, in 1970.

He went to work for the East Washingtonian in Pomeroy and was there until 1979. He then went north and worked for the Priest River Times and later the Newport Miner until retiring in 2009.

He had started out in the days of true cut-and-paste, when writers wrote on cheap paper with manual typewriters and kept a bottle of rubber glue at the side.

Mike would type frantically, rip the paper out of the typewriter and cut it up and arrange it how he wanted. Then the paper was pasted together and handed to a copy editor, who worked it up and passed it to the typesetter.

Denuty was already working at the Miner when current publisher Fred Willenbrock bought

Newport Miner

Mike Denuty was a reporter and a railroad enthusiast. the paper.

“I couldn’t believe how fast he typed when I first met him,” Willenbrock said.

Willenbrock respected Denuty’s work.

“Mike was always a professional; a journalist that reported accurately, fairly and objectively what he observed in this community for decades,” Willenbrock said. “I believe this is a better place because of his work.”

Denuty won his share of journalism awards. He took particular pride when one of his wellresearched pieces beat out a rival Spokane business newspaper.

Denuty always said he didn’t write for awards, which was probably true. He wrote because it was his job, what he went to school for and what he probably did best.

Though he was known in Pend Oreille County as a news-

paperman, the true love of his life was trains.

He was a very active railway historian, traveler, photographer, researcher, writer and collector of toy trains. His devotion to the hobby was probably unmatched by anyone in the Inland Empire area.

Wayne Antcliff knew Denuty and his parents in Spokane. He said Denuty’s room was packed with train memorabilia.

“I think he liked trains from the day he was born,” Antcliff said.

One of the last things Denuty did was publish “This Week In Northwest Railroad History,” an historic online account of what happened in the railroad world that he would email on Sunday afternoons to those on his list.

Denuty is survived by two nieces.

6

SHAW

JUNE 2013 from page 1

“Three of the four sides of my family each have 100 years of history in and around the Eastside,” Shaw said. “And I’m pleased and honored to be able to tell the continuing story of the dynamic communities of where generations of my family lived, worked, raised their families and built and served the community.”

Shaw grew up in Bellevue’s Bridle Trails neighborhood, and is an Interlake High School and University of Washington graduate.

Shaw and his wife, Mary Beth HaggertyShaw, have lived in Issaquah for 30 years. They have raised two children, Liam and Mora, both Issaquah High School graduates.

Taylor, who retired after 26 years in the newspaper business, wrote in her farewell column, “I have been fortunate to have worked alongside talented editors and excellent sales professionals.

“I learned from controllers, human resource managers and pressmen who crank out a newspaper on a regular basis. I’ve been entrenched in the digital world and still love to see a newspaper on the porch.

“The most rewarding part of the job has been the people. People are the news whether they work for you or are running for office. The opinions and actions of people are what create diversity of thought; this is what kept me going day after day.”

Taylor and her husband, Hank, plan to stay in the area.

TWN

Sound adds to Maxim’s list of duties

Executive takes lead over firm’s operations in Olympic Peninsula

L

ori Maxim, vice president of West Sound Operations at Sound Publishing, has assumed additional responsibilities at the company’s Olympic Peninsula newspapers.

She is overseeing the teams at the Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles, the Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum.

The company bought the newspapers in 2011.

“Sound’s recent growth has given us a chance to reconsider or reimagine our leadership structure,” Sound Publishing Lori President Gloria Maxim Fletcher said.

“In her almost 25 years with the company, she has worked with a multitude of paid and free products

of every shape and size. The Olympic Peninsula news products are certain to enjoy her leadership and many talents.”

Maxim continues to serve as vice president for the company’s newspapers in the San Juan Islands, Vashon and Whidbey islands, and Kitsap County, as well as 14 Little Nickel publications.

She is the second vice president of Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and also serves on Olympic College Foundation’s board.

Kent publisher picked to lead South Division Shepherd’s role expands to three more papers

K

ent Reporter Publisher Polly Shepherd has accepted a promotion to Regional Publisher, South Division, with Sound Publishing.

Shepherd, who is also the publisher of the Covington/Maple Valley/Black Diamond Reporter and Auburn

Reporter with regional responsibilities for the Renton Reporter and Tukwila Reporter, expanded her role to include the Federal Way Mirror, Enumclaw Courier-Herald and the Polly Bonney Lake CourierShepherd Herald.

Shepherd began her career with Sound Publishing in 1999 and was

named publisher of the Kent Reporter in 2007. She is a member of Kent, Covington and Southwest King County chambers of commerce, sits on the Board of Directors for New Connections of South King County and also serves on the Advertising Committee of Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

Shepherd moved to Seattle in 1996 from Chicago, where she was a sales manager for Japan Airlines.

CAREER MOVES n Chris Cook, the editor of the Forks Forum for more than six years, has retired with his wife, Evelyn, to Crescent City, Calif., drawing a close to his newspaper career. The Forks Chamber of Commerce honored him with a surfer-decorated cake and appreciation for his work covering the West End. Cook plans to spend time with his wife and write more books, including what he calls a nonfiction approach to the first section of James Michener’s “Hawaii.” Cook’s own history with Hawaii includes earning an English degree at the University of Hawaii, serving two stints at the Garden Island newspaper on Kauai, working as a stringer for The Associated Press and United Press International and as a tourism specialist for the County of Kauai. The latter coincided with the 1992 Hurricane Iniki, which devastated Kauai. Cook has written or had a role in more than a dozen books, many of them about Kauai. While in Forks he wrote “Twilight Territory: A Fan’s Guide to Forks & LaPush” and, in the Images of America series, “Forks,” with Larry Burtness.

Cook has traveled to many of the best places in the world for surfing, and that was one of the draws of Forks. n Shar Starr Hendrickson is the new advertising representative at the East County Journal in Morton. Hendrickson was born in Morton and grew up in the county, then earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a teaching certificate at Seattle Pacific University. After 20 years in education she explored a variety of opportunities including a stint as an ad rep at DeVaul Publishing in Chehalis, parent company of the Journal. As a member of the Morton Lion’s Club, Hendrickson helped organize blood drives; at the Morton Manor, she coordinated events for residents. She is passionate about live theater and a founding member of the local Fire Mountain Arts Council. n Tyler Huey, a reporter at the Nisqually Valley News

in Yelm, has been promoted to assistant editor. In his new role, Huey is responsible for the newsroom in Editor Michael Wagar’s absence and has a more prominent role in the layout of the newspaper. He joined the newspaper in 2008 and will continue to cover sports and his other beats. He succeeds Megan Hansen, who left the newspaper late last year to serve as editor of the Whidbey Examiner in Coupeville. n New on the inside sales and office staff at the Marysville Globe, Melody Faust has 15 years of administrative experience. She has managed and owned small businesses and also worked at larger ones, including the Snohomish County PUD and Premera Blue Cross. Early in her career, she was the classified manager at the De Queen Bee in her hometown of De Queen, Ark. She moved to the Northwest more than six years ago. n Oscar Sosa joined the Quincy Valley Post-Register as graphic designer. Since graduating from Quincy High School in 2002, Sosa has pursued his educational goals and worked in the local hardware store and as an after-school program director at Quincy Junior High. He holds a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and also trains horses in piaffe, a type of dressage. Sosa succeeds Raquel Urbina, who had been with the newspaper since 2010. n Judyrae Kruse, who wrote a column on recipes and homemaking at the Daily Herald for 36 years, retired last month. After she succeeded Nancy Erickson as the Forum’s writer, the feature developed into a thrice-weekly opportunity to engage readers and their interests in food, family and seasonal traditions. Whether reprinting a much-requested recipe or crediting a slight but significant variant along with the name of its submitter, Kruse aimed to include as many names in her column as she could. She also published requests from readers who wanted to re-create

a childhood memory through a favorite dish and had lost or never had the recipe, forming a supportive community of encouraging readers. Her husband, Wayne Krause, continues as the newspaper’s hunting and fishing writer. n The Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle hired Jennifer Marshall to cover southern Okanogan County, county government and general assignment news. Previously Marshall worked as a reporter for the Quad City Herald in Brewster, where she also gained experience in pre-production, and at the Lake Chelan Mirror.

She also has three years’ experience a news editor with KOZI Radio in Chelan. She is a 2005 graduate of the State University of New York College at Cortland, where she majored in communication studies with a concentration in journalism.

Marshall succeeds John F. Cleveland II, who is providing freelance photography for the Chronicle. n At the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber, Natalie Johnson is the new editor. For the past three years, Johnson has been the newspaper’s only

full-time reporter and played a key role in the newspaper’s editorial Better Newspaper Contest awards during those years. She graduated in journalism from Whitworth University in Spokane and interned at the Pacific Northwest Inlander.

Johnson and her fiance plan to marry this summer and will live on the island. Johnson succeeds Leslie Brown, who accepted a communications position with the King County Office of Public Defense after nearly seven years with the Beachcomber. n Connor Vanderweyst is the new Grant County reporter at the Columbia Basin Herald in Moses Lake. A December 2012 graduate of Central Washington University, Vanderweyst was a reporter and then assistant sports editor at his college newspaper.

He will cover city councils, county courts and other county agencies for the Herald.

Vanderweyst grew up in Everett and expects to enjoy living in the smaller town of Moses Lake, as he did Ellensburg. n Lake Chelan Mirror’s new editor is Kacie Thrift, a reporter for the Cashmere Valley Record and Leavenworth Echo since

2012. All three newspapers are owned by NCW Media in Leavenworth. Thrift joined NCW Media immediately after she graduated from Whitworth University in journalism and mass communications. She grew up in the Entiat and Chelan area.

Thrift succeeds Vince Lovato, who resigned to pursue his personal interests in publishing. n With Mike Williams’s new position at the Coast River Business Journal, he has returned to journalism with a new-found understanding of small business. For the past five and a half years he was coowner and co-operator with his wife, Heidi Stonebraker, of Knot Just Another Baking Company in South Bend. Previously Williams had been a correspondent for Long Beach’s Chinook Observer, a sister newspaper to the CRBJ, and worked in production at the Willapa Harbor Herald in Raymond. His background also includes copy editing and page design at three Seattle-area newspapers and a degree in communication from Washington State University.

H W

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