Michael Bushnell
Northeast News

It was a banner year in terms of growth, events, and news coverage here at your Kansas City Northeast News. In the awards department from the Missouri Press Association’s 2017 Better Newspaper Contest, Former Managing Editor Paul Thompson secured a second place berth in the Multi-Media Reporting category for his expertly produced and finely crafted Northeast Newscast podcasts.

El Bryan, better known as Bryan Stalder, has brought home the brass almost every year he’s produced cartoons for our local community newspaper, and we’re tickled pink to have him as part of our team.

Stalder picked up Second Place in the Best Editorial Cartoon category for his cartoon about health insurance, and an HM for his Johnson County Wastewater cartoon. He also secured an HM in the Best Photo Package category for his spread of the 2017 annual Tweed Ride at the Concourse.

Mr. Publisher Bushnell also scored a second place award in the Tilghman Cloud Memorial Editorial Award for a piece entitled (18.U.S.C. 922 [g] [1-9]), an editorial questioning why the Jackson County Prosecutor chooses not to use federal sentencing guidelines to lock up violent, dangerous felons who commit gun crimes. The award is one of the most prestigious awards given in Missouri to authors of opinion pieces in newspapers.

The Dog is also pleased to say we secured three Honorable Mentions in the annual competition.

Last but certainly not least, our 2017 Editorial Intern Abby Cambiano secured an Honorable Mention in the Best Military Story category for her coverage of the B-17 “Madras Maiden’s” visit to Kansas City and an interview with local WWII veteran Roy Shenkel, a Waist Gunner in the B-17 “Jersey Mosquito.” Shenkel was on his fourth mission when his plane was shot down in April, 1944. He spent the remainder of the war, 13 months and one week, in a German prison camp. Shenkel will never know of this award, however, as he passed away on August 2nd, 2018. This News-Dog was honored to have shaken his hand and been a part of his history.

This year we also expanded our community partnership to include OneKC Radio, a low power, community radio station that primarily covers the Historic Northeast community with a signal radius of roughly five miles around the Kansas City Museum. OneKC Radio opened a satellite studio on the second floor of The Northeast News building at St. John and Topping. The partnership has allowed for a number of simulcast and programming opportunities including the broadcast of our weekly Northeast Newscast Podcast and a weekly news update started by our 2018 Summer intern staff. Watch for even more news and broadcast partnerships this next year with the folks at OneKC Radio.

2018 saw the departure of Managing Editor Paul Thompson, who left the House of News to be the Managing Editor at the Austin Texas Business Journal. Thompson was responsible for expanding the brand of The Northeast News and exponentially growing our digital brands on Twitter and Facebook. The Northeast News Facebook page now boasts over 10,000 followers and our Twitter account boasts over 1,200 followers.

Thompson’s departure allowed former Northeast News Intern Abby Cambiano (Hoover) to come back and run the show for about six weeks. During that time she was responsible for most all of the content delivery including two podcasts, one with East Patrol Major Greg Volker about the new crime initiatives that were responsible for significantly lowering the crime rate in a significant area of the Historic Northeast community.

Her second podcast was with new Northeast News Managing Editor Elizabeth Orosco who comes to us via KMZU News in Carrollton, MO.

Graduating from Park University in Parkville, MO in December 2015, she immediately joined the reporting staff at KMZU. Known over its forty-county mid-Missouri broadcast area as “The Farm,” Orosco was responsible for anchoring the hourly newscasts at the top of every hour, covering community news, and creating the Morning Newsmaker, a daily feature spotlighting a local or regional newsmaker.

As for what 2019 brings for Orosco here at The Northeast News, she looks forward to expanding on the strengths already in place such as the Northeast Newscast Weekly Podcast.

“I want to expand the news delivery platforms and work on being more consistent on how we deliver news and content to our readers, listeners, and consumers,” she said when sitting down with the Head Newsdog.

Focus on the community is also a priority.

“I want to learn what’s important to the Historic Northeast community as far as the issues and daily living,” Orosco said. “Living in the community in which I work offers some tremendous insight and I look forward to bringing that forward in the coming weeks and months.”