On July 3, my sports editor emailed to inform me that when I wasn’t taking vacation time, I would be reassigned to the breaking news beat for the remainder of the month.
Aside from having to adjust from making my own schedule (and working predominately in the evening) to a 9-5 p.m. shift Tuesday through Saturday, I wasn’t particularly fond of sitting in rush hour traffic twice per day over the Tappan Zee Bridge. I also had zero experience on the breaking news beat.
Sure, I’ve broken news on sports, but I’ve never had to deal with calling police lieutenants in regards to burglaries, call the attorney general’s office for comment, sit in a courtroom to cover a major case, or anything of the sort.
The bulk — while certainly not all — of my job in sports consists of going to games, covering them, and writing about the beats I cover when I’m not at games. Rarely is there any drama so serious that it would involve police.
Saturday marked my final shift on breaking news and, as promised by my editors, it was an eye-opening and rewarding experience. As you’ll see from the stories I covered, it was anything but a typical month:
07.30.16 Amid drought, golf courses cutting back on water usage
07.29.16 Congers yacht washes ashore in NJ, police stumped
07.29.16 Man, 42, charged in string of Cold Spring burglaries
07.29.16 Tarrytown teen pleads guilty in fatal Sleepy Hollow park stabbing
07.28.16 ‘Wonder Woman,’ 23, honored after saving boy’s life
07.28.16 WCC transcript scandal: What happened to the players?
07.28.16 WNBA legend Weatherspoon trains, eyes local hoopsters
07.27.16 White Plains man guilty in vicious stabbing of girlfriend
07.27.16 Katonah consignment biz owner pleads guilty to tax fraud
07.27.16 Mike Nolan family: Killers are ‘cowards,’ ‘punks’
07.26.16 Food popsicles, hose downs: Animals beat heat
07.18.16 Thrift shop source: Brewster burglary, cops say
07.16.16 UConn-bound Andra Espinoza-Hunter returns to Ossining
07.15.16 Attorney General urges Cuomo to sign off-hours arraignment bill
07.15.16 Putnam sheriff issues alert: call forwarding scam
07.14.16 ‘Pokemon Go’ tips: Use Ingress to win locally
07.14.16 Yonkers’ Joseph Sutera missing for the second time this week
07.13.16 New City man, 84, crashes car into house
07.13.16 Cops: Sparkill man broke restaurant window
07.12.16 ‘Pokemon Go’ craze overtakes the area
Breaking news was rewarding in so many ways, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t itching to get back on the sports beat. I’ll be back on sports Tuesday. Volleyball officially starts Monday, Aug. 22. Stay tuned.
