Anna Almazan – No matter what the situation, she maintains a wonderful attitude and is always willing to help.

Chiara Bautista – Day after day, week after week, we turn to Chiara to create the Star’s visual brand and to give us a look that has multigenerational appeal.

Kim Bergeron – Her drive to find new products and promotions to generate revenue seems inexhaustible.

Jen Bond – Jen has consistently gone above and beyond when it comes to informing our readers and being a dependable coworker.

Henry Brean – His versatile, masterful writing could be the standard for all writers.

Sara Brown – Every time she saw a need in 2019, Sara stepped up to fill it.

Carlos Campuzano – All day, each workday he tracks the life cycle of the ads that pay our bills here, keeping everyone on task.

Eddie Celaya – …For his writing, his editing., his affection for old-school journalism and for rising the challenge of keeping our pages going out.

Norma Coile – She is the go-to editor when we’re looking for a snappier headline or a synopsis of a news project that took a reporter weeks to produce.

Tony Davis – He had a year worthy of not only Daily Star Employee of Year, but Arizona Journalist of the Year.

Lisa Duncan – She is efficient and forward-thinking, working behind the scenes so there are no “Oh no!” moments for her coworkers.

Elaine Encinas – She put her heart and soul into the Production Department farewell party, making sure every details was taken care of

Johanna Eubank – It takes her just a few hours to get El Tour results into our database  although she is not a data reporter or a programmer. She is Johanna, and she can do most anything.

Joe Ferguson – He has been a one-man political reporting team for the Daily Star for years.

David Fitzsimmons – On top of his cartoons, columns and fundraising, he supports Star activities–sketching our Readers Choice Awards guests and creating Employee of the Year portraits.

Sarah Gassen – She has always been kind and so willing to help me be successful here at the Daily Star.

Julie Goksel – She took the initiative to set up back-to-the-basics training for the advertising sales staff.

Thomas Hruska – He helped reconstruct the Citizen.com story database and assisted Lee in moving all our digital newsletters to a new system.

Gloria Knott – She has quickly and naturally stepped into a leadership role, overseeing daily website and social media posting.

Heather Locke – She simply never falls below the very high bar she has set for herself for quality of work and dedication to this enterprise.

Felipe Lundin – He’s done a remarkable job of smoothing out road bumps in the transition of our printing to Phoenix.

Monica Mason – A stellar employee, amazing at raising morale and helping fend off hunger through the food she brings each week for everyone to enjoy.

David Montemayor – Authored three masterful advertising branding projects in three days, including the “Real News” ads highlighting our top-flight journalists.

Beth Morales – When the advertising staff has a problem, they bring it to Beth because they know that whatever it is, she’ll find the solution.

Mollie Muchna – For her passion, innovation and creativity.

Becky Pallack – Because of her involvement, several Daily Star projects are able to move forward through funding from outside groups.

Mamta Popat – For her Production Department farewell photos, working with grace and compassion with the employees to photograph them in their own personal workspaces.

Curt Prendergast – His border reporting gives Arizona Daily Star readers enterprise stories they could not get anywhere else.

Kelly Presnell – The proof lies in his photos. To see them is to know the mastery of his craft. He is the best in Arizona. And he works for the Arizona Daily Star.

Kelli Ribbeck – She will get things done before you even ask and does what’s needed even when it isn’t “her job.”

Benny Tellez – Amid all the changes associated with our production move, he stayed on top of our insert program and the coordination with Phoenix. He’s one of the best we’ve got!

Paula Varela – In a pressure-packed job, her ability to make stressful situations into pleasantly humorous ones is amazing.

Rick Wiley – Both for his contributions to the Production farewell event and for the Newsroom hail-and-farewell parties, where each of his slide shows tells a real story about coworkers.

Johanna Willett – She is not only a fantastic writer, but a wonderful coworker whose kindness and dedication to the job motivates others to try their best.

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Reporter Shaq Davis tells stories about life on the streets of Tucson. He is the author of the occasional column Roadrunner, which updates readers on transportation issues, such as road maintenance—or the lack of it. He is also works the police beat, covering, in his words, “crime, crashes and convictions.” He recently talked about his road to journalism:

Tucson has been home since 1994. I grew up on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base after my father received his PCS orders while serving in Hawaii. I graduated from Pima Community College and transferred to the University of Arizona, receiving my bachelor’s degree in journalism in May 2018.

As a high schooler, I wrote a paper about Martin Luther King Jr., which caught the eye of my English teacher. My teacher would later call me to his desk and tell me he believed I’d written a college-level paper. I remember thinking that day about some of the possibilities with being a writer. Nine years later, here I am.

I first stepped inside the Daily Star during my apprenticeship in summer 2017 and thank Opinion Editor Sarah Garrecht Gassen for the opportunity. I was paired with Investigative Report Caitlin Schmidt, and with her help, I would later intern as a cops reporter before being hired full time after graduation.

My previous work for Pima Community College’s Aztec Press and Arizona Daily Wildcat student newspapers set me up for success in a reporter’s role.

I mostly work to keep readers updated on crime, crashes and convictions as well as a weekly dose of transportation-related news.

I work not only to provide stories to our readers but also keep up with how the Daily Star looks digitally. Producers make sure the stories that our readers want and need to read are in position for them to see. Part of the job is keeping track of what’s going on with the Star’s social media sites making sure everything is in good shape.

Sometimes the topic for my Road Runner column presents hundreds of pages of documents to scan. Aside from identifying proper keywords to search for, I believe it’s important to remember at the root of it all, people need to know how these projects may affect their daily lives.

The bulk of my work does involve the crime beat, reporting on fatal or serious-injury incidents. This past week, I unfortunately wrote about six people killed in the Tucson area. One was a fatal motorcycle crash and the rest are being investigated as homicides. I’ll likely be one of the reporters updating readers about the conclusion of each of the suspects’ cases.

Sometimes through these tragic cases we learn from friends and family about the deceased’s influence in the Tucson area and, in turn, our stories play a part in a family’s healing process.

By Melissa Davis.

8th Annual Dickens’ Tea was an amazing event that included live musicians, a buffet of teacakes and tea sandwiches, teas from around the world, a costume contest, raffles, silent auctions and even a tea duel!

Welcome Steampunk enthusiasts of all stripes! Whether you are a mad inventor in his desert workshop, a fashion maven behind the hat shop counter or a new adventurer fresh off the airship, we are delighted to meet you and hope you will embark with us on our many perambulations around Tucson.

Join us each month for our events and outings. Whether we are meeting for a cup of tea or helping to create a tinkerer’s latest invention, we are always keen to find that next grand adventure in the good company of our fellow Steampunks. Find us on Facebook!

The next convention is in March. Hope to see you there!

 SERVICE AWARDS

1 YEAR

• André Boudy – Human Resources
• Danyelle Khmara – Newsroom
• Gloria Knott – Newsroom
• Monica Morales – Circulation

5 YEARS

• Andi Berlin – Newsroom
• Sara Brown – Newsroom
• Stephanie Casanova – Newsroom
• Johnny Childs – Circulation
• Julie Goksel – Advertising
• Kim GravesAdvertising
• Jorge RancanoBuilding Maintenance

10 YEARS

• Micky Schmelzle – Newsroom

15 YEARS

• Darrell Durham – Marketing
• Felipe Lucero – Newsroom
• Maria Maldonado – Advertising
• Debbie Sanchez – Advertising
• Rick Wiley – Newsroom

20 YEARS

• Carol Ann Alaimo – Newsroom

25 YEARS

• Jennie Silvas – Advertising
• Paula Varela – Production

30 YEARS

• Tom Birmingham – Advertising
• Tim O’Connor – Advertising
• Lisa Standish – Finance
• Rob Wisner – Newsroom

35 YEARS

• Rosemary Ochoa – Advertising

If your impression of a bookkeeper is a meek, reclusive soul whose closest coworker is a spreadsheet, you’re one of the few people in this company who hasn’t met Fina Johnson, Advertising Revenue Manager. Here are 10 insights into this lively, friendly keeper of numbers:

I am a native Tucsonan and my husband is too.  We both graduated from the U of A.  I have a brother and a sister.  I’d say that we are similar in that we are all very family oriented.  We each have 3 kids – 2 boys and 1 girl each.  We also all married our high school sweethearts.

I started here at Tucson Newspapers in August 1998.  I was the Classified Accounting Supervisor.  Prior to that, I worked at the UA Bookstore.

When I started here I felt a little lost.  At the U of A I had moved up from a student position so it was very ‘safe’.  This felt like my first real grown-up job.  The one person that gave me confidence and made me feel like I was completely capable was Renee Weatherless.  She was a wealth of knowledge and the hardest working person I’d ever met.  She taught me so much about accounting, and to this day I feel like my foundation is built on invaluable knowledge I gained from her.

I always said that I wanted to be a lawyer.  I started as a poli-sci major and quickly realized it wasn’t for me.  Way too much writing!  😊

When someone outside the Star asks me what I do here I usually just say I’m an accountant.  My husband says I’m a bean counter.

Being detail oriented is hugely important if you’re going to do this job well.

My favorite part of my job? The people I work with!  I have met so many great people over the years and made some lasting friendships.

Outside of work, my husband and I are very much into our family – both immediate and extended.  We love going to the movies and travelling.

My coworkers know I love England. We have been there twice now.  But Scotland stole my heart.  What a beautiful country!  And the people were incredibly friendly.  We’ve found all of Europe (where we’ve been) to be a very friendly place to visit.

If I could give the leaders of this company one piece of advice, it would be this: Always remember to thank your staff for their hard work.  The appreciation goes miles.  😊

I opened Junebuggg’s Jewels just days after New Year’s 2019, right before my 29th birthday. I started selling rhinestoned accessories to help express my love of all things shiny and sparkling, and because I genuinely love to create. While I had opened the shop “just for fun” and never thought anything would come of it, I was lucky enough to have my first sale just days later, on my birthday. In the first few months of 2019, I worked with several other small business by sending accessories for photoshoots; and in July 2019, a number of my pieces were included in a photoshoot with Rolita Couture, and a number of other music festival/rave wear brands.

I am heavily inspired by art history, fantasy, folklore, and color. I truly believe that magic exists in this world, and it is my goal to channel it in my pieces (with a little extra sparkle.)

If you have a love for all things magical, my shop is for you! Currently I stock all manner of accessories — sunglasses, goggles, hair clips, jewelry, etc — with plans to add clothing in 2020. I hope you’ll join me on this grand adventure!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JunebugggsJewels

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Behind the Byline – Tony Davis has our backs on the environment.

Tony Davis may well know a lot more about the environment of Southern Arizona than some government and industry officials whose decisions impact it profoundly. He’s been covering the beat for the Star for the last 15 years, writing hundreds of pieces about human and natural threats to our surroundings—most recently, a 2-part series about a dicey drain-and-replenish strategy that threatens the region’s water table. Here are his thoughts on that series and his craft:

Tell us a little about yourself.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, and graduated from high school in Albuquerque, NM. I earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Northwestern University. I got a reporting/rewrite job at the Tucson Citizen in 1976, left that job in 1985 to move to Seattle to be with my future wife and returned to Tucson to join The Star in 1997. I had grown attached to Tucson during my first tenure here and while I was away and moved back when the right job opened for me.

What did you want to be when you were a kid?
I have wanted to be a newspaper reporter at least since I was in the sixth grade. I won a spelling bee in my elementary school in Albuquerque that year, and I told the local paper at that time that newspaper reporting was my ambition.

Where had you worked before you started at the Star?
Previously, I worked at the following newspapers, in reverse chronological order: the Statesman-Journal in Salem, OR; the Albuquerque Tribune; the Valley Daily News in Kent, WA; the Tucson Citizen; the Evening Bulletin in Philadelphia and the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, NJ.

How did you get into the environment beat?
I have been interested in environment in general, and water issues in particular, since moving to Tucson in July 1976, the week that a huge water rate increase took effect here that sparked a successful recall election drive against the four City Council members who voted for that increase. I first started covering the environment full-time for the Citizen in fall 1981 and had the same beat at the Valley Daily News and the Albuquerque Tribune following that. I started at the Star as growth and development reporter, then covered a combined growth/development and county government beat from 2001 to 2005. Since 2005, I have been the Star’s environmental reporter.

You are considered one of the best interviewers on the staff. How did you prepare for those you did for the water table series?
I prepared for the interviews by doing lots of public records research from the Arizona Department of Water Resources, looking at the DWR’s approvals of certificates of assured water supply for the suburban developments that I discussed in the story. There, I found how far the DWR had predicted the developments’ pumping would cause groundwater levels to fall and how far the water levels were already falling in the general area of the subdivisions. From telephone research, I learned how far the water tables were now falling in the vicinity of the subdivisions. I have to say that I didn’t do a lot of preparation for the interviews in the sense of drawing up lists of questions. I have been writing about falling water tables for more than 30 years, so the questions are somewhat second nature to me by now.

Did any surprises come up in these interviews or any others in your career that have taken the conversation in an entirely different direction?
Yes. In March, I went to interview a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supervisor, Steve Spangle, in Phoenix, and we were supposed to talk about his past work on the proposed Rosemont Mine. Instead, after I asked him what had prompted him to retire, he told me out of nowhere that one of the major factors was that he felt his Interior Department superiors had unethically pressured him to back off a tough stance had had taken on the proposed, 28,000-home Villages at Vigneto subdivision in Benson. In short, he became an unexpected whistle-blower whose comments generated a number of Page 1 stories for us.

I understand that you follow some environment-conscious practices in your personal life that we all could learn from. What are they, and why you adhere to them?
1. I recycle everything I can that the city recycling program will collect. I examine what I put into our recycling bin very carefully to make sure it’s acceptable.
2. When I run errands, I try very hard to combine two or three errands into one to reduce the number of miles I drive.
3. I don’t drink water from plastic water bottles or ever use plastic straws.
4. I wish I could say I ride the bus to work often but I don’t.
5. We use very little water at home. Our water bills show that typically, we use half or less than half the amount that the average home uses in the Tucson Water service area.
6. I reuse plastic bags many times. I take reusable canvas and other reusable grocery bags to stores for virtually all shopping purchases.
7. I buy as many products as possible in glass jars and avoid buying things in plastic jars when possible.
8. I avoid buying products made with palm oil—whose production contributes to rainforest destruction in Southeast Asia—as much as humanly possible.

Circulation Single Copy Operations Manager

Have you ever wondered, “Who is this guy buzzing in and out of the office at odd hours of the day and night.? This guy who perpetually wears a smile—and shorts?” Well, here’s the answer to that question…and a few you’ve probably never thought to ask.

1. My dad was a Navy man so we moved every year or two. Our family moved 17 times by the times I graduated High School in Tecumseh, Mi.
2. As a kid I wanted to be a fireman and changed my mind many times before deciding to follow my dad’s footsteps and join the Navy.
3. Before I worked for the Star I lived in Georgia, working for a roofing company as a sales rep. Imagine a person who is afraid of heights climbing on steep roofs—that was fun!
4. I started here as a carrier in August 2010, but I quickly decided that I do need days off after all. I was hired on as a Product Coordinator at the East warehouse, then promoted to the Lead Product Coordinator, then, somehow, promoted to a Senior District Manager and finally to Single Copy Operations Manager. As of today, I do not have a new title to add to my list, but the day isn’t over yet.
5. I am responsible for all our retail outlets and the contractors that deliver the papers to our outlets. I handle customer complaints, draw changes and collections. (Did I mention customer complaints?)
6. I always start out my weekdays with a cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts. I’m usually there shortly after they open at 5 a.m. and then it’s safe to head into the office. The rest of the day is a blur. Saturday is my day off. Sunday is a normal work day—my catch-up day. I can usually get a lot done with no one else in the office.
7. Without question the most enjoyable part of my job is the people I work with every day. It’s always great to have some fun at work.
8. I was an Electrician’s Mate in the Navy. Bootcamp was in Chicago in the wintertime and then I was sent to Virginia for the rest of my enlistment on board the USS Puget Sound. I was on the ship about three years, including two six-month tours in the Mediterranean Sea. In the Navy I learned the importance of teamwork and not just working by myself. Everyone has a unique and important role in the overall picture. It was good preparation for working here.
9. My wife and I are animal lovers and we have a very, very spoiled dog named Abby. We started a business about 9 years ago making our own pet treats (Pawlicious Pet Treats) and we sell them at different farmers markets and pet adoption shows and one retail outlet in Tucson, Dogs-N-Donuts.
10. Little known fact: When I was 4 or 5 years old, I fell out of an airplane. And that was before I started drinking!!

Readers of the Daily Star know Chiara Bautista as the source of playful illustrations and crisp infographics that illuminate our stories. Fans of the Tucson Festival of Books know her as the illustrator who creates the event’s signature creatures from letters of the alphabet.

But event goers at next weekend’s Tucson Comic Con—as well as some 755,000 followers of her Facebook page—know her as the artist who conjures up wild, exotic woodland creatures for a series of fantasy comic books. You’ll find her at booth #918 all three days of the Nov. 1-3 comic confab at the Tucson Convention Center.