Jeff Helfrich

Helfrich joins Ogle Newspapers

OREGON – Ogle County Newspapers and Shaw Media have hired Jeff Helfrich as Ogle County news editor.

Helfrich, a Rochelle native, graduated from Ohio State University in 2018 with a bachelor's degree of arts in journalism. His background includes experience at the Rockford Register Star and the Journal Standard of Freeport.

Helfrich was born and raised in Rochelle. Along with his passion for local journalism, Helfrich's specialty is feature writing with much of his experience gained in sports writing.

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Leisa Richardson

Richardson joins the SJ­-R as its new executive editor 

SPRINGFIELD – Leisa Richardson joined the the State Journal-Register as executive editor on Dec. 2.

Richardson worked for the Indianapolis Star in several editing roles over the past 19 years, most recently as regional planning director, responsible for planning daily enterprise news coverage. She also worked with editors to find innovative ways to produce and share content across the USA Today Network with an emphasis on high-impact content that matters to readers. Prior to the Star, she worked at the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Commercial-News in Danville.

As the SJ-­R's executive editor, Richardson oversees all newsroom operations and leads the newspaper's award-winning editorial staff, which has been recognized by state and national associations for excellence in reporting and photography.

Richardson is also the National Association of Black Journalists 2020 conference program chairwoman.

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John Shank

JJ Tompkins

News Media Corporation announces promotions

ROCHELLE – Longtime News Media Corporation Publisher John Shank has been named the company's new chief operating officer, and JJ Tompkins has been named chief revenue officer.

Shank, who has spent his entire 31-year multimedia publishing career with NMC, is based in Rochelle and will oversee the company's entire operation, while continuing in a dual role as Illinois group publisher. He replaces Nickolas Monico, who recently left NMC to pursue other industry opportunities. 

Shank began his NMC career as a reporter and later served as editor of the Rochelle NewsLeader, which has been the company's flagship publication since 1975. From 1992 through 2009, he was the general manager of the Ogle County Life newspaper. In 2009, he was promoted to Illinois group publisher covering six locations in the state.

Tompkins, who specializes in new revenue generation and promotions, will be leading efforts to develop both digital and print opportunities across all of the NMC operations. He began his multimedia publishing career in 2001 after graduating with a business and marketing management degree from the University of Arizona.

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Hunt named editor at Breese Journal 

 BREESE – Bryan Hunt has joined the Breese Journal as its editor.

Hunt spent 22 years at the Morning Sentinel in Centralia, starting with the paper as a photographer and darkroom technician in July 1987 and transitioning into reporting. He most recently served as editor of the Carlyle Union Banner and covered Clinton County news for the Banner and the Sentinel while with Centralia Press Ltd.

Hunt started his journalism career in news production at ABC affiliate KTVO TV-3 in Kirksville, Missouri, before joining the staff at the Fort Madison Daily Democrat in Fort Madison, Iowa, as a photographer and writer. A 1983 graduate of Webster Groves High School in Webster Groves, Missouri, Hunt has an associate degree in communications from St. Louis Community College-Meramac, and a bachelor’s degree in communications from Truman State University in Kirksville.

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Barry Winterland

Winterland to oversee Pantagraph paper group

BLOOMINGTON – Barry Winterland, of Bloomington, has been named general manager of the Central Illinois Newspaper Group for Lee Enterprises, which includes The Pantagraph.

The move is part of a restructuring of the organization, which also includes the Herald & Review in Decatur, Journal Gazette/Times-Courier in Mattoon-Charleston and Woodford County Journal in Eureka. In addition, he will continue to serve as regional finance director of Lee properties in Twin Falls, Idaho; Elko, Nevada; and Carbondale.

Publisher Michelle Pazar is no longer with the company. Winterland had been regional finance director of central Illinois since 2012. A Lexington native, he joined The Pantagraph in 1989 as business manager and has served in various capacities since that time. He holds his undergraduate degree and master of business administration degree from Illinois State University.

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Josh Harmon

Audience director named for Central Illinois Newspaper Group

BLOOMINGTON – Josh Harmon has been named audience director for the Central Illinois Newspaper Group for Lee Enterprises, which includes The Pantagraph.

Harmon has worked in the newspaper industry for 25 years, including 15 in Champaign with the News-Gazette. Most recently, he has been executive planning director for a group of Gatehouse newspapers in Central Florida. Before that, he was regional audience development and operations director for River Valley Media Group in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, for Lee Enterprises.

His wife still has family in the Paxton area.

The Central Illinois group also includes the Herald & Review in Decatur, the Journal Gazette/ Times-Courier in Mattoon-Charleston and the Woodford County Journal in Eureka.

General Manager Barry Winterland also announced that Kat Cantrell, who has been interim audience director, will be circulation operations manager for Central Illinois.

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Newspaper editor releases debut novel 

MARIAN – Peter Spitler, editor of the Pinckneyville Press and Du Quoin Weekly, has written and published his first novel, “Tango Atlantica.”

Spitler, of Murphysboro, is a familiar name to southern Illinois newspaper readers in Du Quoin, Randolph County and beyond, known for incisive local journalism covering everything from sports to history to courtroom drama.

The book is a fictional take on events leading up to the creation of "Project Skywater," a 1961 geoengineering project funded by the U.S. government that proved it is possible to make artificial changes in the atmosphere.

With scientists on that project predicting the ability to "create" a hurricane in 40 years, Spitler's timeline of the book, the year 2005, makes it plausible. 

The actual writing took about 18 months and three full drafts. 

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Poet joins Carmi Chronicle staff as columnist, writer

CARMI – Carmi-White County High School teacher Erin Pennington has joined the Carmi Chronicle as a regular columnist and writer.

Pennington’s chapbook of poems, "Something to Say," was published in April 2019 by Finishing Line Press of Georgetown, Kentucky.

Pennington was a part-time professor of English at Rend Lake College from 1996 to 1999. In 2000, Pennington and her daughter, Taylor Pennington-Jones, moved to Carmi for her initial position as 10th-grade English teacher. Pennington was also a weekly writer for The Carmi Times from 2012 until 2019.

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New columnist starts writing with ties to Rantoul's past 

RANTOUL – A Rantoul native and Rantoul Township High School graduate who lives in Washington, D.C., is now writing a column for the Rantoul Press.

J.A. Werner’s father was stationed at Chanute Air Force Base, and eventually her parents retired in Rantoul. She left the area in her 20s and moved to Washington, D.C., after visiting her friend and her husband (also from Rantoul). She’s been there ever since.

Over the years, her visits to Rantoul have diminished, especially with the death of her parents. “The pull to drive through Rantoul when I'm in the area always starts with that optimistic smile and ends with a sad heart,” Werner said. “So much has changed.”

Her mother used to write a column for the Rantoul Press called “Chirp and Chatter,” but she found the archives didn’t go back far enough to find any of the columns. She then saw a request for a columnist.

“My nostalgia kicked into overdrive, as I wondered if maybe I could follow in my mother's footsteps,” she said. 

Appropriately, Werner’s column is called “Chirp & Chatter 2.0,” in which she’ll write about the community’s rich history.

She is the self-published author of "The Cellomaker" series.

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Les Winkeler

Longtime Southern Illinoisan Sports Editor Winkeler retires

CARBONDALE – After nearly 31 years at The Southern Illinoisan, Les Winkeler has retired.

Winkeler spent about the past 15 years as sports editor. When he was not covering high school or SIU sporting events, he could be found in nature, working on pieces for the paper’s Outdoors page. 

Executive Editor Tom English calls Winkeler the “office dad.”

“He's the one a lot of us look up to,” English said. “There are members of this newsroom who were not yet born when Les started here at The Southern. And, it's not just in our little newsroom. Everybody knows. And I do mean everybody.”

English said Winkeler will continue writing his Outdoors content and will also continue writing a sports column.

“At least we'll still have that,” English said.

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New reporter joins The Vienna Times and Goreville Gazette

GOREVILLE – The Vienna Times and Goreville Gazette started off the new year with a new full-time staff reporter.

Jordan McBride came to the staff from Shawnee Development Council, where he served as a program manager for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and Trade Adjustment Assistance programs.

McBride received a Presidential/Chancellor Scholarship from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2011. He completed his studies in journalism and technical writing in 2015.

McBride is active on the Southern Illinois music scene as a writer and performer. He lives with his fiancée, Shyanne, and their American boxer, Oswald and rescue cat, Dougal.

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Litwiller adds responsibilities at Hearst

ALTON – Lisa Yanick Litwiller has been named director of audience for Hearst Community Newspapers, including The Telegraph in Alton, The Intelligencer in Edwardsville, and several newspapers in Illinois, Michigan and Texas.

In her new position, Litwiller will develop and execute an audience strategy for the community newspapers working with digital producers, editors and writers on innovative, new ways of storytelling.

For the past year, Litwiller has helped Hearst Connecticut Media newsrooms engage audiences and implement digital best practices. For six months she led a team of seven journalists in a national investigation of sexual abuse connected to Boys & Girls Clubs over decades.

A graduate of Central Michigan University, she and her husband have four children and live in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Before working for Hearst, she spent nearly two decades as a photographer, writer, editor and community engagement editor in small community newspapers, covering three counties with a staff of three. She also was a morning show co-host and news anchor for a top 40 radio station.

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Second retirement for veteran Pana News-Paladium reporter 

PANA – Anticipating her retirement on her 80th birthday in September, co-workers at the Pana News-Palladium told veteran reporter Millie Meyerholz that she would need to download her brain to a hard drive.

Though she did stay a few weeks past her birthday, Meyerholz retired, for the second time, after 53 years in the news business with the PN­P, on Oct. 29. She continues to be a correspondent for the paper. When asked what she would miss most about being in the newsroom, Meyerholz did not hesitate.

"My fellow workers and the people who come in,” she said. “Even the people in the courthouses – judges, state's attorneys, and staff. It's like an incredible number friends."

Meyerholz is an award-winning journalist, receiving accolades from the Illinois Press Association for feature stories written through the years. She’s been co-recipient of Volunteer of the Month from Peoples Bank & Trust of Pana, and Best Demonstrators at Pana Chautauqua Days, involving Pana Pioneer Heritage Guild activities.

She admits she started off humbly. Spending parts of her childhood in both Pana and Ramsey, she first worked as a sales clerk at Ben Franklin and waitressed at restaurants in Pana, Ramsey and Vandalia. She also was a clerk at a small grocery in Ramsey. Then Meyerholz broke into the news business ­ as a reporter for WPMB radio. She segued right into writing as a correspondent for the Pana News-Palladium in 1966 and the Vandalia Union-Leader from 1967 to 1972.

In the spring of 1972, she was offered a part-time job with the PN­P and hired full-time by fall.

Though Meyerholz is probably best known for her pieces on Pana area history and her “Here 'Tis” column, she has long been familiar with the police beat and courthouse news in multiple counties.

"I have sat through murder and government theft trials and other profound criminal hearings in Christian, Shelby and Fayette county courthouses and federal court in Springfield,” she said. “My work has taken me through joyous occasions, the madcap, and grievous incidents. What has made me most happy is writing feature stories about people and places, today and yesteryear subjects. I consider them the heart of the surrounding community."

Though she began as a news correspondent, she has worn many hats and carried several titles at the PN­P, including photojournalist and senior reporter, the title with which she retired this time, and which was bestowed long before her first retirement ­ officially in February 2005.

When former Editor Tom Latonis asked her to come back part-time in March 2007, she was still attending Lake Land College. She graduated in 2009, at age 69, summa cum laude with a degree in liberal arts.