As you know, we had empty desks in the newsroom when wife Gosia and I made the adventurous trip across the Alcan early last January. The business and HR team of Jennifer Robinson and Kaira Lum performed double duty to process stacks of resumes and application letters — many from people who withdrew applications after imagining themselves shoveling their front stoop all winter.

Today, in those desks we have new reporters Caleb Jones from Arizona State and Gavin Struve from the University of Nebraska contacting all areas of athletics for the Sports section. (Send them press releases and news tips on everything from curling to bowling in men’s and women’s coverage). They’ll also report Outdoor news. On the News desk, Carter DeJong comes to us from Indiana University’s School of Journalism. We hope he’s ready to tackle multiple beats.

Editing and page design guru Gary Black has helped new copy desk arrivals Tiffany Emmons and Brielle Barker acquire skills in a hurry. Tiffany already banged out a topnotch Back-to-School tab magazine as chief designer.

Continuing to lead the Daily News-Miner’s coverage are day-in-and-day-out veterans Jack Barnwell, Kris Capps and Haley Lehman. Under seasoned News Editor Gary Black, the editorial team veterans produce excellent coverage, even while we were short-staffed. Besides putting out two magazines, sharp-eyed editor Dorothy Chomicz, with Kris Capps and Black, gives the newsroom their savvy take on all things related to Alaska, local Fairbanks politics, and News-Miner history.

There was one bittersweet moment. Our longstanding news intern Mariana Low has finished her stint as a topnotch news and feature reporter to accept a science writer part-time opportunity at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. We’ll miss her upbeat personality and talents.

Then we have the ad sales, service center, home delivery and customer service folks, including Rebecca Watkins, a compassionate soul who helps families put down the stories of their loved ones in News-Miner obituaries at times of great grief, and art director Linda Lacey who wears many other hats.

I enjoy working at various conventions with ad sales pros Justin Peterson and Ann Diener. I will miss summer worker Eli Bye who is off for a European vacation and then enrolls at a seminary to meet his calling. Eli always made me laugh when he addressed me as “Mister Hank,” never just Hank.

The entire support team serves under veteran ad and circulation pro Tom Gilligan who doubles as a News-Miner board member and promises to buy me a beer one day when he’s not so busy (lol).

Next, applause goes to the press crew and mailroom led by Mark Anderson who gets the paper out daily with the knowledge to overcome every press bug. When I was buried in white stuff during a snowstorm and could find no plow service available, Mark showed up in my driveway at 10 p.m. with his pickup and plow to make sure I made it to work the next day.

Greeting me every morning with new jokes, homespun stories and, occasionally, jars of smoked salmon is our veteran home delivery and garage watchdog Jim Rader.

Then there is our digital operations guru Brian Webster whose nickname ought to be “Ask Brian,” because you’ll hear that battle cry many times in a day. I could give you a shorter list of what he doesn’t due at the paper rather than try to tell you what he does do.

Then, at the top of the masthead, is Helen E. Snedden Foundation Executive Director Virginia Farmier who goes back in time many years to Glory Days at the News-Miner — with Capps and Chomicz and grant writer/community outreach coordinator Nita Hamlin. Back then an entire army of personnel worked in all capacities on two floors of our building.

Farmier, now our publisher, stays involved in more state and local organizations than I can name. Together with board members Tom Gilligan, Chuck Gray and Fuller Cowell, Virginia oversees and guides the editorials you read weekly on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

The whole team has saved me from making more errors, and I am honored to work with each one of them. They love this community and they love this newspaper. All of us send thanks to loyal subscribers who’ve stuck with the News-Miner for decades.

Finally, permit me to thank my wife Gosia who not only embraces the crazy hours this job requires, but does so with a smile, takes occasional spot photos unpaid for the News-Miner, and kicks my butt twice a week when she thinks I’ve grown too big for my britches.

“Gosia, do you realize that 2023 marks the 61st year since I published two pieces in the Buffalo News back when I was in high school?” I said last week.

“Uh-huh,” she said, obviously under-impressed. “Do you realize I’ve only been alive for 61 years?”

“That’s not nice,” I said, while picturing her in diapers.

“No, but it’s true,” she said. “And you know how lucky you are to work at a job you love?”

So, that’s the week that was. I’m signing off now, excited to help the staff put out the News-Miner’s next issue that’s now in your hands.

Toot, toot!

Editor's note: This story was updated August 7, 2023.