{"id":18380,"date":"2017-05-26T23:15:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-27T06:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/a-note-from-the-editors-desk-meet-our-staff\/"},"modified":"2017-05-26T23:15:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-27T06:15:00","slug":"a-note-from-the-editors-desk-meet-our-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/a-note-from-the-editors-desk-meet-our-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"A Note from the Editor\u2019s Desk: Meet Our Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inside the Juneau Empire building, the windows extend nearly from floor to ceiling, providing sweeping panoramic views of the Gastineau Channel and Douglas Island\u2019s mountainscape.<\/span><\/p>\n

The building itself is spacious, and houses a collection of Alaskan art.<\/p>\n

And the people inside, of course, are some of the best you\u2019ll ever meet.<\/p>\n

My guess, though, is that the bulk of Juneau residents have never stepped inside. Most probably drive past it on Egan Drive, without a second thought.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s probably because it\u2019s in a little bit of a funny location. It\u2019s not quite downtown, and not quite Twin Lakes or Lemon Creek. There\u2019s no foot traffic, unless you\u2019re fishing by the Channel Drive dock in the summertime. One of the only reasons to drive on Channel Drive is if you\u2019re visiting DIPAC or have business with the paper.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d like to give people a reason to stop by. The Empire will soon be hosting regularly scheduled tours of the building once a month (stay tuned for details.) In the meantime, we provide tours upon request, with advance notice. Anyone who wishes to take a tour can contact me directly at emily.miller@juneauempire.com, or call me at 523-2263.)<\/p>\n

We had a great tour group come through recently \u2014 the students in Joyanne Bloom and Patte Bowman\u2019s classes at the Learning Connection. We had fun showing them the printing press and introducing them to some of the people who operate it, without ripping the giant rolls of white paper. We talked to them about what we do in the newsroom, and how we find the stories we write about. We even went through the revolving door into the old photography darkroom.<\/p>\n

For those who may not want or not able to tour the Empire, we have something else for you. On the next page, A12, you\u2019ll see the first of a new monthly segment, called \u201cMeet the Staff,\u201d that introduces you to some of the Juneau Empire\u2019s employees. (Online, see the text below, and a digital version of the ad in the photos.) I think you\u2019ll be surprised how many faces you recognize \u2013 the Empire hires many local residents in all our departments from the newsroom, to circulation to production and advertising.<\/p>\n

First up in the \u201cMeet the Staff\u201d segment is James Brooks, the Empire\u2019s statehouse reporter. He\u2019s been reporting in Alaska for a decade, and his love for the Last Frontier, Alaskana and historical trivia is inspiring.<\/p>\n

We hope you enjoy meeting some of our staff. If you\u2019re ever in the neighborhood, don\u2019t be shy.<\/p>\n

Meet James Brooks, Statehouse Reporter<\/span><\/p>\n

How often do you visit the Capitol?<\/em><\/p>\n

Unless you work there, I\u2019m betting you don\u2019t stop by very often. That\u2019s OK. That\u2019s why you have me.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m James Brooks, the statehouse reporter for the Juneau Empire. If you\u2019re a subscriber, I work for you.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you don\u2019t have the time to go to the Capitol yourself, it\u2019s my job to let you know what\u2019s happening. Because I know you don\u2019t have a lot of time, it\u2019s also my job to focus in on the things you care most about.<\/em><\/p>\n

For Juneau, what happens in the Capitol matters. More than a third of our jobs are government jobs. If the Capitol shakes, Juneau quivers. You need to know which way to move.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more than a century, the Empire has had a presence in the Capitol. It\u2019s the hometown paper, and state government is hometown business. I\u2019ve been a reporter in Alaska for a decade, working in Fairbanks and Kodiak before Juneau. I\u2019ve covered stories from Dutch Harbor to Barrow, and from Wrangell to Nome, but a lot of what happens in those places starts here, in Juneau.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a privilege to cover the Capitol and follow in the footsteps of past Empire reporters like Bill McAllister and Pat Forgey.<\/em><\/p>\n

Their mission was the same as mine today: Know what\u2019s important to Juneau, then explain what\u2019s happening in simple, clear terms so you can respond. My mission is to give you the tools to influence legislation. If you see something you like, I want you to know who to thank and how to get involved. If you see something you don\u2019t like, I want you to know how to change it.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you do visit the Capitol, take a detour. Walk through the front doors, turn to the right, and walk to the end of the hall. You\u2019ll find the press room there.<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll also find a lot of empty desks.<\/em><\/p>\n

The press room is a lot less crowded than it used to be. This year, only two newspapers kept a correspondent in the Capitol for the entire regular session. Two TV stations and a radio network have joined them.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a far cry from what it used to be. When Gov. Bill Egan became Alaska\u2019s first state leader, the capitol press corps filled a second-floor office between the House and Senate chambers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today, the Legislature uses that room as its lounge.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Empire has been covering the Alaska Legislature as long as there\u2019s been an Alaska Legislature. It\u2019s my privilege to continue that tradition, and it\u2019s my honor to count you among my readers. Thank you for your support.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2022 Emily Russo Miller is editor of the Juneau Empire. Contact her at 523-2263 or emily.miller@juneauempire.com.<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inside the Juneau Empire building, the windows extend nearly from floor to ceiling, providing sweeping panoramic views of the Gastineau Channel and Douglas Island\u2019s mountainscape. The building itself is spacious, and houses a collection of Alaskan art. And the people inside, of course, are some of the best you\u2019ll ever meet. My guess, though, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":430,"featured_media":18381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-18380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18380"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=18380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}