A week of breaking news

Don't blink or you'll miss a new, unfolding spot news story.

Holy cow! What a whirlwind since the very beginning of the new year.

Some of this week's highlights include a home invasion/stabbing in, of all places, Pepper Pike. Dave Summers and Randy White started out on this story...which began with a wkyc viewer calling me the minute I stepped on the news assignment desk asking if we were going to do anything on the incident in Pepper Pike overnight? I had not even logged on the computer but took down the man's information...looked in our computer and when I did not see any information tossed a call to Pepper Pike. They were very forthcoming in what happened and immediately faxed over the information. In our effort to be first online, with Twitter, on Facebook and everywhere else, we tipped off the competition to this story. However, they did not get as much as Dave and his crew.

Now normally the aforementioned story would lead the news....unless you wind up stumbling onto a standoff /hostage situation in the Walgreens in Barberton.

Akron wizard extraordinaire Eric Mansfield received a call from a contact telling him about the situation....he made a few calls, pinned down exactly what was happening and we re-routed Dave Summers and his crew Randy out that way. I also dispatched a live truck to meet them in order to feed back video and go live.

In the meantime, we had another soldier killed overseas, and on the lighter side, the story we had been tracking about the Yorkie theft had a break in the case. The suspect was busted and the cute little Yorkie rescued.

While the reporters and producers are writing this all up for air, I'm going as fast as I can to get the ever flowing 'new' news on our website--hopefully before the competition.

If that was not enough, houses and gas lines started catching fire in Fairport Harbor....what an amazing story. I can not even believe how fast this story spread (no pun intended). Our crews were out at the scene for at least 2 days non-stop bringing the latest developments to our viewers on air and on-line. We had so much video coming back to the station and being fed back, it was hard to keep track of every element. We also really implemented our new Mobile 3 Live Gear which we recently put into play. Without getting technical, it's live gear basically in a backpack which allows you to pretty much go live from almost anywhere....Pretty snazzy stuff.

When Dominion East Ohio and the Mayor held their first presser, I listened in while they were feeding it back live.....and immediately put an update on wkyc.com. At the same time, our producer was doing the same to get the story ready for air....

But wait, there is more.....a few days later, Summit County officials uncovered a house having Ricin inside. Hmmm, interesting. For the next few days, officials, FBI, Homeland Security, Sheriff, men in funny HAZMAT suits roamed every inch. Another story Eric Mansfield and Carl Bachtel won hands down. They checked the house each day and were allowed closer than any other tv station. In fact, one day Carl was on the scene solo. No other stations were there. They were digging and searching with all kinds of activity. There was a press conference away from the scene where everyone else did their live shots....then I got the call from Carl saying "I'm here all alone." While he was giving me the lowdown on his scene, I was relaying to the producers and newsroom. For a few minutes, it was quite confusing because the press conference going on simultaneously with the search never mentioned that a concurrent search was happening. But, let's face it. When you have a stellar crew on site, seeing with his own eyes what's shakin' you have to go with it and totally trust your crews in the field.

And folks, all of the above is why I love what I do, where I do it and no day is EVER boring or uneventful!

Not gonna let 'em get me down--EVER!

From the minute I awoke, the gods were not smiling on me.

Everyone was saying, 'it can't get any worse,' yet it did.

Usually on these days which have misfortune sprinkled about, I check my baggage at the door before I walk into work. Come on, no matter how awful my day, there is always someone else in Cleveland, in my family, in the building or in another part of the world who is having a much worse day.

My boss imparts wise words of wisdom: 'if you are up, everyone else will be up and if you are down, you bring down the room'--basically telling me to 'put on a happy face!'

And most days I do!


I am a very upbeat person. I'm the girl who leads the cheers, helps anyone who needs help, rallies the troops, comes up with solutions for impossible conundrums, and jokes when the tension is thickest. Most days I DO check my baggage at the gate.


Not today. It was an awful work day. And, what made it more frustrating is that NONE of the crap happened on my watch. I did not cause any of it. But, I had to handle it.

I made a call to make sure I could salvage a story. To make matters worse, the police dispatcher for this particular city (who shall remain nameless) was, well suffice it to say, NOT A VERY NICE PERSON!

I could not log on the computer.

I had one of those head aches that causes one to vomit. Sorry, I know that's graphic, but that's how I felt and what I did!

Once the computer made up its mind to let me in, the information center started rolling and never stopped....

There was quite a bit of "stuff" that got lopped on my lap the FIRST 10 minutes of my shift including:

• Westlake dashcam/audio tapes
• Parma Hts fatal fire
• Brunswick fire (turned out to be a truck into a store)
• tracking down Westlake shooting vigil details
• Bonna shooting arrest and mug shot disseminated
• Alliance dead body update
• FOW interview subject arriving in the front lobby to my surprise
• Jory Aebly family statement and Wall of Hope details
• Peyton Moodt developments
• staying up-to-date on the missing boaters /local survivor

This is my job. This is what I do. And I'm told I do it well, though there are many days and times I make mistakes. I'm not perfect. And, to boot, I LOVE doing it! I was cranking out information, putting pictures into avid pics, circulating updates, and so much more.

Ironically, a compliment only added fuel to the fire. On any other day, it would have been taken in the proper spirit. I received a very nice commendation from someone who congratulated me. He said, 'you are totally firing on all pistons today! Nice work!' Absolutely wonderful praise!

Sounds great, huh? It is a TREMENDOUS compliment. But, this is what I do everyday. THIS IS HOW I ROLL. I fire on all pistons every day. It's unfortunate that many tireless efforts sometimes get lost in the shuffle.

I am so blessed though. What I DO have going for me during my shift is a great group of co-workers who rock! I thank God for them every single day. We celebrate our great days, push each other to our limits on a daily basis, and help each other survive the dicey days. There are MANY and I do not mean to slight anyone by not mentioning someone....but the folks who really helped douse the flames TODAY included web folks Leigh and Marc.....editor Matt, the dynamic duo of Chris Tye and videographer Chris Kunz.....followed up by Dave Summers and videographer Mark Smilor......videographers Dan Medsker and Randy White.....Jess....fearless Director Frank.....Aaron the intern.....pinch-hitting Producer Carrie (in for the ailing Dan, who is a ROCK!)......and my MVP's who come through EVERY SINGLE DAY--Jim Donovan and Yak (thanks for the ice cream sandwich, you guys!!)....

My headache is gone, the other bodily unpleasantness spoken of before have ceased. Sounds of laughter began emanating throughout the room shortly after 730pm and we kicked a lot of booty! No matter what a struggle it was to get there, at the end of the day, I know the effort put forth by my peeps and really that is all that matters, isn't it!!!