Well, given my commentary yesterday, I am not even going to pretend to be objective and try to make this next update an official news story. So, I’m just going to keep this story going as an opinion, and say that two reliable sources now have told me the next West Hawaii Today Hilo Bureau chief is going to be Nancy Cook Lauer. 
Moments ago, she confirmed:
“Hey Tiffany!
Yes, the rumor is true. I figured from your blog you had already suspected as much. I have heard stories from reporters who loved the job, and others who hated it. I’m thinking I will fall into the category of the former. Thanks for asking.
N”
Nancy Cook Lauer used to be the Capitol Bureau Chief for the West Hawaii Today before she was laid off. Now she is on her own with frequent tweets on Twitter.com and maintaining a blog at www.allhawaiinews.com.
This is what she has to say about herself on her blog:
“Nancy Cook Lauer refuses to be a victim of the mainstream media meltdown. Her 20-plus years of journalism experience culminated when she moved to Honolulu in 2005 to open a state capital news bureau for Stephens Media, following a stint as state capital bureau chief for the Gannett-owned Tallahassee Democrat. Now that Stephens no longer requires her services, she’s determined to keep the news alive, supporting herself with odd and not-so-odd jobs until the economy appreciates journalists again. Lauer has won numerous awards, including a national first-place award from CapitolBeat and national news writing awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and Scripps Howard, state awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and Florida Press Club. She’s been recognized as the 2008 print reporter of the year by the Hawaii Medical Association and won a special humanitarian award from disabled workers in 2002. She holds a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in psychology from Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, Va., and a master’s degree in library and information sciences from Florida State University.”
I wish Nancy Cook Lauer all the best. I just hope that what I divulged about my experience with the position is beneficial to her and that she goes into her new post with eyes wide open.
March 15th, 2009 at 3:27 am
[...] Nancy Cook Lauer will be replacing Jim Quirk as West Hawaii Today Hilo Bureau chief according to Tiffany Edwards Hunt. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Most Ludicrous Suggestion, Mayor Kim Takes Blame [...]
March 15th, 2009 at 10:27 am
As another veteran of the position, I too wish her the best. At least she has some familiarity with Stephens’ management so she’s not going into the job blind.
March 15th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
NCL is a first-rate reporter and a welcome addition to the Big Island journalist ranks. Smart move by WHT.
May 16th, 2009 at 7:02 am
I also wish Nancy well, but as you know, Dave and John, all of you would have been fired, or will be fired from the Stephens Media Group if you tried to report on the corruption and racketering in the County of Hawaii Government. Prove me wrong and try and find out why the Hawaii County Police Department, the Prosecuting Attorney, and the Judges of the Third Circut are covering up Police Report #C08039254-001,002, and C08037351, that inentifies Mayor Billy Kenoi and Corp. Counsel Lincoln Ashida’s, State Attorney General Mark Bennett, and a laundry list of Federal, State and County officials involvement in Extoration in violations of HRS 707-764(1)(e), and evidense of the Enterprise of corrupt government officials, to include how the State Attorney General Mark Bennett, and Judges Metcalf, Smith, and Nakamura of the Third Circuti have provided protection for an Enterprise that engauges in a pattern of Racketering avtivites that place the People of Hawaii in danger, why the Department of Homeland Security had opened an investightion Case #DHS090317006 into the alteration, or corruptly inaccurate presentations of the Fema Digitized Rate Insuannce Maps of the Waiakea Stream system in Hilo. You can also call the National Insurance Crime Bureau 1-800-835-6422, and try and get a story as to why an Investigator was in Hawaii asking questions about the alterations of the FEMA Floor Rate Insurance Maps referance Case #NICB 09-032314, maybe the insurance companies are going to sue the County for the money thay paied out in property damage claims from the Feb 2008 flooding in Hilo that resulted from the County altering the stream beds to protect the property of privledged people at the expense of the unimoportant down stream from the levees and other stream diversion works constructed from over 500 dump truck loads of material taken from the Hilo Streams in a 2001 Federal/County contract to clear the Hilo Streams from debris of the 2000 floods. And if you are still interested try and get some information from Max Yuan FEMA Washington D.C. 202-646-3843.
The Tribune Herald has been aiding government corruption in Hawaii for years in its defacto policy to not report government corruption, and has refused to report about the organized government corruption and how the the People of Hawaii are threatened and extorted into silence.
Please use all the Journalistic skills you can muster to prove me wrong, happy reporting.
Aloha,
Dan