Media Buzz | News/views about local media

Newsy tidbits: KVIA's Marin says goodbye, Newspaper Tree ready to launch?

•KVIA reporter and weekend anchor Daniel Marin said goodbye to viewers during his last newscast Sunday evening. Marin will be devoting himself full-time to his band The Royalty, which signed with Victory Records in November.

•Newspaper Tree recently posted a few job listings on its website, a sign that it could be launching soon. It recently announced the hiring of Louie Gilot as publisher, and is now looking for a managing editor, a community editor, an investigative reporter and interns. Gilot most recently was the executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and is a former El Paso Times reporter. To view the job listings, visit newspapertree.com.

•Congrats to KINT-Channel 26 reporter Cristina Zapata, who recently gave birth to a baby girl, and KFOX's Martina Valverde, who recently got married in a civil ceremony.

Las Cruces Sun-News building to be demolished

LAS CRUCES - It's been a year since an accidental fire in a storage building effectively destroyed the Las Cruces Sun-News complex at Las Cruces Avenue and Alameda Street.

Now, with asbestos abatement in the 56-year-old former grocery store building complete, demolition is imminent and a new building could be completed before the end of the year, according to Publisher Frank Leto.

After about 30 days to prepare the site, construction will begin immediately and could take up to nine months, Leto said.

"We remain excited about the new building," Leto said, "not only because our employees will have a modern and efficient new office, but because our investment in downtown Las Cruces provides an economic benefit to our community and furthers the long-term goal of downtown revitalization."

Newsroom staff are also looking forward to getting back to work.

To read more and watch video of the fire, click here.

That was fast!: KFOX's Rascon to leave EP for bigger market

KFOX reporter Jacob Rascon, who was just beginning to make strides in covering the court beat, will be leaving the station on Jan. 27.

Rascon has accepted a job as a multimedia journalist for KNBC in Los Angeles. He'll start off at the station's Inland Empire bureau, with the possibility of moving to the station's main office in Burbank in the future.

"This is an big 'get' for KFOX14 and continues our trend of sending our folks to large markets (i.e. Seattle, St. Louis, Dallas, etc.)," KFOX news director O'Hara wrote in an email to the El Paso Times announcing Rascon's departure.

Rascon joined KFOX in April and covered several stories here based off the courts beat. His father is Houston news anchor and veteran reporter Art Rascon.