Notes On The News: A day editing the Independent

May 20 was the 11-month anniversary of the Indy’s launch. It was also the final day of the legislative session, budget decision day for the Assembly, and full of other routine duties and breaking news.

(Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

It was a busier day than usual, but not abnormally so.

May 20 was the 11-month anniversary of the Juneau Independent and during that time — as well as the two prior years editing the Juneau Empire — every day has been full of what might be called routine unpredictability. 

Last Wednesday was also the final day of the legislative session — typically one of the busiest days of the year for lawmakers and journalists — and a key night for a lot of Juneau Assembly budget decisions during a meeting that lasted five-and-a-half hours. Covering things late into the evening is pretty routine — as is “being in two places at once” by covering one event in person while observing the other remotely — but those two were more intense than usual.

That aside, it was a fairly typical day, with no major catastrophes or other happenings that have marked my most notable moments in this profession. The day was also blissfully light on business matters needing attention — a new aspect of life at the Independent as its founder as well as editor, and one where there is still a steep learning curve for me. 

One not-small hitch was Managing Editor Jasz Garrett was out sick with the nastier version of a couple bugs making the rounds, putting a severe crimp on how much at the Capitol and elsewhere in the community could be covered. It also meant the stories I got out were likely rougher than usual since she has a keen eye for spotting glitches and missing details in my copy. Luckily, our feature correspondent Laurie Craig has for the past few years been reviewing and quickly alerting me to any glaring snafus on her own initiative.

In what are essentially shorthand notes, here’s how the day played out:

6:30 a.m.: Immediately upon waking scan the following for items of local relevance/interest: state/U.S./global news sources (especially those with stories we can republish in full such as AP, Alaska Beacon and other States Newsroom sites, and Alaska publications we have a content sharing agreement with), CBJ and other official sites, social media, and Google results for “Juneau” during the past 24 hours. Publish the worthwhile items or note which ones should be reported by us.

Check email (among the items this morning are a Voices column and a Community announcement about Memorial Day events). Type in the police blotter. Drink the day’s first cup of coffee from a 32-ounce takeout container to help get me alert while doing the morning “chores.”

(Note: A quick scan of news wires, social media and email continues every 20-30 minutes throughout the day. Various items and submissions of interest are edited as needed and posted as I come across them.)

8:05 a.m.: Quickly sketch outline for story previewing final day of legislative session.

8:10 a.m.: Assemble and send daily email newsletter, which has 14 items to cut/paste.

9:30 a.m.: Finish and publish legislative preview story.

10 a.m.: Walk to Capitol after showering, dressing in coat and tie, which is a requisite for the House and Senate floor, and packing all my work gear.

10:30 a.m.: Contact high school senior to set up interview for feature profile as part of graduation coverage.

10:40 a.m.: House floor session begins. Agenda quickly gets to omnibus crime bill, a key part of which incorporates a separate bill sponsored by Juneau lawmaker Sara Hannan. Bill passes at about 11:20 a.m. Go downstairs to Capitol’s press room to write story.

1:05 p.m.: Publish crime story.

1:10 p.m.: Begin work on omnibus education bill that passed House while I was writing the crime story (Gavel Alaska streams allowed me to keep up with the House and Senate proceedings while working on other things). Talk to Juneau Rep. Andi Story in her office about the bill she authored that started simple and became the vehicle for a lot of additional changes.

1:40 p.m.: Laurie makes an unannounced visit to drop off food (watermelon and sandwiches). 

3:50 p.m: Publish education story.

3:55 p.m.: Refresher scan of 59-page “packet” for Assembly Finance Committee meeting beginning at 5:30 p.m. (I typically give an initial read to meeting packets when first published, often on Fridays, in case there are items worth writing preview stories about)

4:30 p.m.: Get an email tip the Goldbelt Tram is issuing refunds to season pass holders. Confirm tip and gather details, including an update that reopening date of tram — which was a few days away — is now for an unknown date later this summer.

5:05 p.m.: Ellie Ruel arrives to help with the evening reporting duties at the Capitol, spending the evening covering the House and Senate floor proceedings, and taking most of the pictures that make it into our coverage. I spend 20 minutes wandering Capitol halls getting updates on the status of the evening (pre-midnight adjournment by 9 p.m. or so is the guess). The special session is set to begin the next day.

5:25 p.m.: Walk to City Hall for Assembly Finance meeting. Work on tram story while an overview of the city’s budget for the coming year is presented.

6:10 p.m.: Publish tram story.

6:20 p.m.: Monitor House and Senate remotely via Gavel Alaska, while covering Assembly discussion/decisions on individual budget items at City Hall.

7:30 p.m.: Ellie texts that the Senate may adjourn soon. I head back to the Capitol, listening to the Assembly on CBJ’s YouTube feed along the way.

7:58 p.m.: Senate adjourns. Cover post-session press conference with Senate majority leadership, talk to minority leader in his office, begin drafting story.

8:52 p.m.: House convenes for its final floor session.

9:43 p.m.: House adjourns. Talk to majority leader in his office.

10:14 p.m.: Publish first version of adjournment story, which then goes through a series of updates as additional details, interviews and photos are added.

12:42 a.m.: Walk home from Capitol. 

12:50 a.m.: Set up a second laptop computer on the other side of my apartment to record the full audio of the Assembly Finance Committee meeting that lasted five-and-a-half hours, so it can then be put into transcription software so I can review what happened when I wake up.

1 a.m.: Update and review legislative stories. Get ready for bed.

2:01 a.m.:  Klas Stolpe sends story about local high school soccer team's win Wednesday evening.

2:30 a.m.: Soccer story edited and published.

2:31 a.m.: Final scan of email, wires and social media. End of the workday.