It’s been a tough couple of weeks here in the Bellevue Reporter newsroom. We’ve been stretched pretty thin. Let me bring you up to date.

If you follow the news from elsewhere in our state, you may recall the story of Kristine Fairbanks, a U.S. Forest Service Officer who was gunned down in the line of duty near Sequim. She was the aunt of Joel Willits, our sports reporter.

Needless to say, Joel has been away from the office helping take care of family matters. A memorial service for Fairbanks was held Monday in Port Angeles, attended by hundreds of law enforcement officers. Joel is back in the newsroom now.

You also may remember that Carrie Wood, one of our reporters, was named editor in Kirkland. She started there a couple of weeks ago, but her replacement won’t be on duty here until Monday. Reporter Lindsay Larin has been left to carry the writing load, which she has done exceptionally well.

It didn’t help any that I was on vacation last week. Fortunately, several other Reporter Newspaper editors pitched in to help get the paper out.

So, if you wondered what happened to your news release or a timely story, that’s why. Not an excuse for not getting to everything, but a reason.

But there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Starting Monday, Joshua Adam Hicks joins the news staff. He comes to us from our sister newspaper in Bothell where he has written news and features for several years.

Josh is a 2002 graduate of Albion College in Michigan. He completed internships with Seattle Business Monthly and Northwest Meetings and Events while working as a sports clerk for the Everett Herald before joining the Bothell-Kenmore Reporter staff in April 2006. He also published freelance work in the Seattle Times and with Enterprise Newspapers.

I think you’ll like him. He also will be moving to the Bellevue area.

This month means politics is on the front burner. We plan to present stories on the 8th District congressional race between incumbent Dave Reichert and challenger Darcy Burner. We’ll also have stories on the legislative races in the 48th and 41st districts.