Copy edit local news stories - breaking, crime, court, health, features - and schedule the stories for digital and print publication along with the management of special sections throughout the year. Manage reporters and help them with generating and shaping story ideas, and assist with coordinating interviews and gathering background information. Writing the Alexa flash briefings report which highlights the day's top stories for the Bee's Alexa channel.

Generating story ideas and content for the 10pm newscasts M-F. Monitoring police and fire scanner traffic. Checking local newspapers, websites, email, social media, press wires, and contacts for news we need to cover that day or in the future. Assigning stories for that evening and keeping track of news crews to monitor their progress, make them aware of any breaking developments and helping them research information for their stories. Coordinating live shots, booking satellite time, and handling story requests from affiliate stations.

Writing news releases, pitching stories, securing media sponsorships and advertising and setting up interviews involving the American Cancer Society for both the Peoria and Quad Cities media markets (newspaper, TV, radio). Being a point of contact for media for all things ACS and cancer-related, including Relay For Life and Great American Smoke Out. Preparing spokespeople for media interviews and providing monthly reports to ACS staff to advise them of progress, story placement, and future opportunities for stories and sponsorships.

Freelanced for the Peoria Times Observer for one year and then was offered a full-time reporter position in Aug. '08. I reported for all five community newspapers - Peoria, East Peoria, Morton, Chillicothe and Washington. I covered meetings, feature stories, took photos and had a featured opinion column. Roving reporter if you will. In 2009, I won two awards from the Illinois Press Association - first place for Single Story News Reporting and honorable mention for Feature Writing.

Generated story ideas and content for the 10pm and weekend newcasts. Monitored police and fire scanner traffic. Checked local newspapers and websites, fax, email, press wires, and media contacts for news we needed to cover that day or in the future. Assigned stories for the day/night crews and kept track of news crews to monitor their progress, make them aware of any breaking developments and help them research information for their stories.

Managed three daily planning/story meetings. Generated story ideas. Monitored scanner traffic and checked local newspapers and websites, fax, email, press wires and media contacts for news content we needed to cover that day or in the future. Wrote stories for the newscasts (mainly court/crime checks), checked scripts for content or spelling errors and posted stories on the station website. Assigned stories for the day/night and kept track of news crews to monitor their progress, make them aware of any breaking developments and helped them research information for their stories.

Wrote feature stories, covered meetings, took photos and had a weekly opinion column on current world news or events around the Fulton County area. Managed the obituary and markets pages and checked them for errors and proper layout.