February 2011--Great month for stories

Yes, it is winter in Cleveland.

Everytime we go out to do a 'snow' story or I'm asked to have a crew shoot snow, I keep reminding myself, it's just winter in Cleveland.

But even I must admit, we've been dumped on moreso this year than in years past.

The great thing about modern technology, wkyc.com, facebook, and even twitter is the immediacy of sharing pictures and video. As a member of the wkyc facebook weather warriors page, I upload lots of pictures during snow storms to share what's happening in my neck of the woods. Hopefully, viewers from our entire viewing area are doing the same! We sure do love to see what's happening in your neighborhood, especially if we can not get there ourselves!

Every other week has had a different weather event playing out...one week it's 50's and rain with tremendous thunderstorms (February 26) and then the next we are in the midst of yet another white out, knuckle clenching snow blizzard.....strap your seat belt on folks, we have a little ways to go before winter is officially over!

Another story stemming from our Cleveland winters began when my package delivery was delayed.....simple idea yet quite funny. We got socked yet again toward the end of February.....I was set to receive a PKG on a Thursday and sure enough the darn snow delayed it for 5 days....well, it was not anything that pressing but does make you think about those people that do wait for supplies which help save their lives and help their quality of life. The weather delays can put them in quite a predicament.

As I checked the UPS website everyday, it had this huge message on their homepage that the bad weather may be delaying deliveries ....the 3 main areas that popped up were OHIO, CALIFORNIA, and LIBYA! Cleveland and Libya in the same sentence quite comical and then the comedians on fb had to get into the act and ask me what I had purchased from Libya!

Whether we want to admit this or not, yet another huge story this month was The Cleveland Cavaliers playing the Los Angeles Clippers and winning 126-119. The Cavs seem to beat the great teams....but more importantly was gathering added information to feed to Chris Tye after the game....when the game ended, social media takes over.

It's a hoot to be on facebook and Twitter and see people from literally all over the world commenting on the same story....maybe friends of yours who have scattered but are still Cleveland Sports fans monitoring the game.....and then if you follow big wigs on Twitter...it's awesome to see the likes of who is commenting at the game's conclusion. ESPN, NBA, Ted Williams the Golden Voice, Drew Carey, Josh Cribbs, Ozzie Guillen, just to name a few, all interjected their congratulatory comments to the Cavs' strong game against LA.....and to add a little flavor to Chris Tye's live shot, we fed him the comments we were reading all over the social media world.....

It's very fun to scream something to the producer who relays to the talent in the field and literally minutes later, it's coming out on the air.....it's that 'Broadcast News' moment!

One other big story for me particularly was the death of my Mother's best friend. Mercedes Karpinski Spotts was a real influence in the legal world in Cleveland...but so much more. She helped those who could not help themselves....I honestly can not do justice in a few words here to praise all this woman stood for and did for Cleveland and beyond as a wonderful trailblazer and humanitarian.

Since I was very close to Mercedes, she imparted on her family that I sing her funeral and I was in the loop almost immediately after her passing. In turn, I wrote a story on wkyc.com way ahead of the competition including Cleveland.com. It all came together in memorializing this wonderful woman who established so much of what Cleveland has become.

At Mercedes' funeral, there were judges and other politicians, religious, and pretty much people from all walks of life. Jimmy DiMora showed up at her funeral. No matter what you think of this man, I find this moment very telling and heart warming. This man who is certainly in the spotlight now more than ever chose to honor his friend above what people may say about him ....I'm sure he was uncomfortable but he exemplified (at this moment) what we all should...the right thing above caring what people may say.

News Desk Nuggets

The winter of 2010-2011 has brought us some kind of snow event, ice or rain storm, or temps in the 40's-50's every couple of weeks. Regardless of what is happening, most days we've had beautiful sunshine, which just makes everything seem better!

As we usher in February 2011, Mother Nature does not disappoint as we welcome yet another approaching winter storm.

With snow storms come hundreds of iAlerts into the Channel 3 Newsroom. The iAlert computers have been hot all winter long spewing out the school closings. There has been so much snow, state legislators are working on expanding the calamity days again to a reasonable number to deal with Cleveland, Ohio winters.

Please, if you have an iAlert account, read over your information packet and follow the easy steps to close your school from home via the phone or computer. It's quite an easy process. And the idea is so that administrators can close their schools wherever and whenever they'd like to throughout the day, night or overnight. However, at times folks have been making it much more difficult than it really is by not typing in the correct day for schools to reopen or the closing to expire.

We are in the midst of February sweeps as we continue cranking out stories our viewers can use to enhance their lives, inform them, help save money, and get healthier in the new year. Added in of course investigative pieces from The Investigator Tom Meyer and special stories from every one of our reporters throughout the month. Be sure to catch teases for upcoming stories on facebook, Twitter, YouTube, wkyc.com as well as on air at Channel 3.

And, unfortunately, for this news desk chick, it will have to be an 'award-less year.' I was quite fortunate last year to win my 8th Emmy award and my 14th Press Club Award. However, in a year with budget & pay cuts and a rocky economy overall, I'm letting the deadlines for the local Emmy Award entries and local Press Club Award entries come and go. I'm very proud of my work from 2010 and could have come up with at least 1/2 dozen stories to enter. However, entries = lots of money! Basically, you have to pay for your membership fee and then an entry fee for each application.

The award rat race will have to get along with one less rat!

News Desk Nuggets

As we welcome in February, the week proves to be like driving on the Autobahn in Germany --fast and furious!

Today not only kicks off Black History Month but Go Red for Heart Health Month!

We will have stories all month on both topics.

Coming up this Thursday and Friday, wkyc will host a phone bank manned with experts who can answer your questions regarding heart health month, staying healthy, and what signs to look for regarding heart problems. So look out for that as we get closer to the end of the week.

Tuesday is Ground Hog Day. The little bugger will give us a glimpse how long this snow will linger.

And the big news stories which continue this week include the Essa trial ....and it was only a matter of time, but an arrest warrant has been issued for William Calderwood in connection with the West 83rd house explosion. The alleged 'fire bug' too many times is someone in the neighborhood, someone who brings attention to himself or herself at the crime scene, is quite vocal, or is the 'rescuer' at a fire scene. Just like a movie for television drama, that's how this story appears to be playing out.

Stay with wkyc and wkyc.com for the latest developments on all of the above and so much more....as we also continue counting down to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics!

4 live shots and counting...

A great news day --oh heck, news, sports, and weather!

I knew it would be good knowing that the 'Holmgren-Mangini' meeting was still in progress and because I have been getting text alerts on my cell phone from wkyc.com weather regarding the snow events for the rest of the week.

You too can get text alerts from wkyc on anything you want --weather, sports, breaking news, just about everything. All you have to do is log onto wkyc.com and hit the section slugged 'text alerts.' Then follow the directions to sign up and voila, you are well connected!!!!

So I've been getting continuous weather updates...and if I had not been sitting on the news assignment desk when it happened, I would have known instantaneously that Mangini was coming back in 2010 because I received an alert on this breaking sports as well!

Today was tricky but it all worked out.

We had 4 live shots. Now, that's not really a lot but everything had to be coordinated. It's my job to think of everything and make sure this goes off without a hitch. I won't go into the tedious detail but part of my job is making sure the crews are sent out with trucks which are compatible for what they have to do. For instance, a crew heading further out should take the truck with the tallest mast.

I also have to be cognizant of the schedule. If a crew is off at 530pm, then I have to make sure he is replaced, which was one of my constrictions today.

And I have to check with our editing department to see if and how many crews they may need to use to edit reporter packages.

It really is rare when anyone is just sitting around doing absolutely nothing!

In the end it all worked out. We had:

Rem 1 --Paul Thomas and Chris Kunz LIVE at Pershing for weather

Rem 2 --Dave Chudowsky and Dan Medsker LIVE at Berea Browns Camp

Rem 3 --Chris Tye and Mark Smilor LIVE in Willoughby for weather

Rem 4 --Mike O'Mara and Brian Johnson LIVE in Brook Park for Mangini reaction

The snow continues......Josh Cribbs is still disgruntled.....and I'm daydreaming about how many live shots we may have Friday!?!?!?

Hit or Miss business

Our weather folks did a wonderful job mapping out where the warnings and watches were, who 'should' be getting the heaviest snowfall totals, and sharing all the necessary details our customers needed to know about this new year snow storm.

Kudos to AJ, Betsy, Hollie, and Bruce!

It's hard to do.

From my end of it, I was lucky.

As an assignment editor (and a traveler), I skated by pretty easily with this latest storm.

Friday was like any other day, for the most part.

We had snow. My two reporters were on 'snow patrol' but, at least during my shift, there was nothing 'out of the ordinary.'

No horrendous accidents, no road closings, no airport shutdowns, no planes sliding off runways, no weather-related medical calls.

And considering we have our new and improved I-Alert school closing system, we really had minimal calls from administrators asking for help. They seem to understand the upgraded system. On our end, it is a dream. When I did get school folks calling in, I was able to assist them within seconds! We still need to work out a few bugs, but so far, so good!

The scanners were slow and quiet most of the night.

I even stayed late. We had a 'scheduling snafu.' There was no one scheduled to relieve me. Though I was not required to stay, I wound up staying about 3 extra hours (no charge!) past the end of my shift 'just in case' something happened with the weather (being the dedicated employee I am!!). Nothing!

After hearing there could be 'gloom and doom,' I was a bit anxious at how the roads would be once I did leave the newsroom.

It took me only 10-15 minutes extra to get home. What a dream. At times, the roads were a bit slick, but I was not 'white knuckling' it at all. Getting up a few hills I encounter were fine. And when I got home, I was able to maneuver around my neighborhood, which is usually impossible during big snow storms.

The worst of it: my driveway! Our plow guys never came until Sunday!

Stay warm, stay safe this winter season! And tune into Channel 3 News and wkyc.com for the most accurate weather coverage from all of our forecasters!!!!!