Please continue to let me know and I will add them here. I also need to try to determine whether there's any sort of logic to who's left. It seems like virtually the entire sports staff is gone, for instance, and arts writers Joe Brown and Kristen Peterson have been shifted to the Las Vegas Weekly. Will the eight-page Sun now primarily be a vehicle for coverage of government?
Since many have asked me, my "The Petcast" co-host and Sun education writer Emily Richmond did survive. I'm told that photographer Sam Morris, whom I had previously listed, also is still employed.
Today, Sun publisher Brian Greenspun addressed the matter on the front page of the paper in a very strange piece. Yes, he acknowledged the economic ravages that have brought upon this moment but no, he did not publicly acknowledge the veterans whose service had ended. What's more, he tried to, like with the press release, suggest there's some good here. "It was both a hopeful and a sad moment," he wrote. Hopeful for who? He refers to his publications -- and I agree -- as "credible and responsible" content providers, except that he acknowledged no managerial errors that led to this -- there had to be some, even if they were sins of excessive journalistic ambition -- and did not specify how many people had lost their jobs.
One more thing. I don't believe for a moment that Mike Kelley, the grizzled old managing editor, happened to decide to retire recently because he feels obligated to his family as Greenspun wrote. Kelley knew this day was coming, didn't want to be a part of it and decided journalism like this just isn't as fun or important as it was. That's my hunch, anyhow. Anyone who knows this man knows that he would have been happiest to keel over on a printing press.
Anyhow, since the Sun won't do it, I will. Here's what I've got so far in terms of who lost their jobs. If you read the papers or the sites, you'll know their names. As Hunter Hillegas of RateVegas.Com mentioned in his comment on my earlier post, they alone could put out a heckuva paper.
I'll update with length of service if people send it along:
- Josh Bell, movie critic for the Las Vegas Weekly and podcaster of "Josh Bell Hates Everything" for the website. 7 years service.
- Ron Kantowski, sportswriter for the Sun.
- Mary Manning, environmental writer for the Sun. There at least 20 yrs. I competed with her for stories when I covered Clark County government, and hence the Water District board, more than a decade ago.
- Steve Silver, sports writer for the Sun.
- Rob Miech, sports writer for the Sun.
- Bethany Acree, commercial designer, Greenspun Interactive. 2 years service.
- David Clayton, editorial writer, Sun. Part of Pulitzer-winning team now disbanded that included Drex Heikes (now LA Weekly editor) and Ali Berzon (now with WSJ).
- Richard Abowitz, writer-at-large for Las Vegas Weekly. Recently also lost his Los Angeles Times blog on Las Vegas to cuts there. Also, possibly the smartest writer and person I've ever met. He brings light reading like Proust to red-carpet events to pass time. Really.
- Jeff German, Sun columnist for at least 20 years. His reporting drove the criminal investigation into the death of Ted Binion. He also used to clash furiously with then-R-J political columnist Jon Ralston.
- Abigail Goldman, Las Vegas Sun reporter. Broke the story of Nina Radetich's scandalous breach of ethics at KTNV. Hard to fathom that, as Castro survived 9 U.S. presidents, Radetich remains on the air and Abby's done.
- Jeff Simpson, In Business Las Vegas editor and a member of the "gang" of the Vegas Gang podcast. Also, occasional sparring partner of yours truly on Nevada Week in Review.
- Melissa Arseniuk, LasVegasSun.Com pop culture writer. Met her covering the O.J. Simpson trial last year, which she Tweeted gavel to gavel for the paper in the first known use of that in Las Vegas. Saw her last night at the Vdara opening and she was upbeat and hopeful.
- Jerry Fink, entertainment writer and show reviewer for at least 15 years.
- Jeff Haney, poker and gambling columnist. Just sat next to him through 21 hours of the Final Table of the World Series of Poker last month and have relied on him for years to provide expert commentary to my poker-related stories.
- Timothy Pratt, minority affairs reporter for the Sun. Tim's probably the only -- or at least one of the few -- bilingual journalists in the Las Vegas mainstream press. Of all these people, the R-J would be wisest to snap him up for the value-added skills and how important covering minority issues and immigration will be in coming years in Las Vegas.
- Brenden Buhler, the quirk-finding Sun writer whose stories I have linked to repeatedly because they're always original and funny. Three favorites: battling his swamp cooler, beard-trimming mania and resale graves. 3.5 years service.
- Mark Whittington, assistant managing editor.
- Nicole Lucht, In Business Las Vegas and Sun business writer.
- Sam Skolnik, City Hall reporter. 3.5 years service.
- Billy Steffens, LasVegasSun.Com multimedia producer who Tweets here and who came in on Saturdays to help Emily and me produce "The Petcast" at the Sun's podcast room until we decided to return to LVRocks.Com.
- Chris Mason, GMG software developer
- Chris Morris, Sun illustrator and art director
- Mark Damon, Sun director of photography.
- Brian Sodoma, special publications writer for In Business Las Vegas. 4 years service.
- Pat Teague, editor of RalstonFlash, Jon Ralston's daily email blast and managing editor of special publications. 1.5 years service.
- Paul Szydelko, Las Vegas Magazine senior editor and former manager of the late Henderson Home News. 22+-years service.
- Marcia McMillan, receptionist
- Keyanna Stewart, photo/graphics technician *
- Joe Boswell, marketing creative director.
- Beverly Poppe, GMG/Las Vegas Weekly photographer.
- Richard Serrano, Sun federal agencies reporter.
- Natasha Shepard, Web producer.
- Scott Den Herder, Sun multimedia producer
- John Paul McDonnall, copy editor, edited parts of the Pulitzer-winning series.
- Fred Cohen, copy editor, edited of the Pulitzer-winning series.
- Colleen Smiley, Vegas Magazine deputy editor.
- Jamie Delaney, executive assistant to Greenspun web guru Rob Curley.
These are in no particular order and I'm happy to add more information about each -- as well as additional names -- when they come available.
[Disclosure: I write a column for the Las Vegas Weekly, owned by Greenspun Media Group.]
