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Same time, same place next month

Our next membership meeting will be in our usual spot on the second floor of Turner Hall, at noon Monday, May 8. This meeting will feature a special election for treasurer and at-large board member (along with a free lunch).

After Treasurer Bob Helbig was named to a management job, the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild's Executive Board named Amy Hetzner to serve as treasurer until the membership meeting. She will be running May 8 to fill the remainder of Helbig's term, through Sept. 30. We're also seeking candidates to run the same day to fill the remainder of Hetzner's term on the board, also through Sept. 30. Candidates for either position should contact Local 51 President Jennie Tunkieicz or Secretary Kawanza Newson ASAP.

Two Local 51 members named Pulitzer finalists

Congratulations to Mark Johnson and Kawanza Newson, two of the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild's most active members, who were named as finalists for one of the Pulitzer Prizes announced Monday.

Johnson, a metro general assignment reporter, and Newson, a medical reporter, were in the running for the explanatory reporting prize, for their Milwaukee Journal Sentinel series telling the compelling story of a girl who survived rabies against all odds. The Washington Post took the prize in that category.

For Johnson, it was his second Pulitzer showing in four years. He was also part of the Journal Sentinel team that was named a finalist in the same category in 2003 for its coverage of chronic wasting disease.

Newson has been Local 51 secretary for about two years. Johnson is in his third term as a steward leader, handling contract enforcement and coordinating the stewards serving the metro day-shift reporters, Wisconsin news bureaus and MKE staff.

New treasurer picked; board member sought

Local 51's Executive Board has appointed Amy Hetzner to replace Bob Helbig as our treasurer.

That appointment will last only until our next membership meeting, at noon Monday, May 8, at a location to be announced, when Hetzner will run in a special elect ion to fill the remainder of Helbig's term, through Sept. 30.

Also at that meeting, members will vote on filling Hetzner's position as an at-large board member. If you're interested in that spot, please contact our president, Jennie Tunkieicz, or our secretary, Kawanza Newson, as soon as possible. Nominations for both treasurer and board member will be accepted from the floor.

Helbig is leaving his post -- and the Guild -- because he has been named to the management position of deputy business editor for the Journal Sentinel. He has served on our board for a record 14 consecutive years, including a record seven years as treasurer and four years as our second-longest-serving president.

Hetzner, a Waukesha Bureau reporter, was elected last September to her second term as an at-large board member. She also is Guild co-chair of a special joint wage study committee and has been active on our Human Rights Committee.