Diaz Becomes Star Tribune’s DC Bureau Chief

From here:

After nearly three months without a full-time reporter covering Washington, D.C., the Star Tribune has made a hire — and its newest reporter won’t need long to get up to speed: Kevin Diaz, who left the paper to stay with McClatchy following the March sale of the Star Tribune, has accepted the position of chief correspondent. In a Wednesday afternoon email to staff, editor Nancy Barnes announced the news, as well as the hiring of a new D.C.-based intern, Jake Sherman.

Diaz, who was unavailable for comment Wednesday night, told Minnesota Monitor in mid-March that he “didn’t relish” leaving the Star Tribune to cover D.C. politics for papers in Idaho and Alaska, citing exciting times for Minnesota’s congressional delegation, which includes America’s first Muslim representative (Keith Ellison), Minnesota’s first female senator (Amy Klobuchar), and a new chair of the House Transportation Committee (Rep. Jim Oberstar). He said he had “no choice” but to leave the paper.

“The alternative was to give back every performance pay raise I’ve received since I came to Washington in 2000,” he said. The pay range for his new job was advertised at $60,000 to $75,000.

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