Sacramento

A recent KOVR report on crosswalk safety nearly took a dangerous turn when a driver, allegedly intoxicated, ran a red light on live television.

Doug Brauner, a reporter for the Sacramento CBS O&O, was standing in a Sacramento intersection during the morning newscast on Thursday when a black pick-up truck blew through the crosswalk Brauner was standing in (video inside).

“Really? Really!” Brauner said. The California Highway Patrol Officer that was giving Brauner tips on crosswalk etiquette for the segment turned his patrol car lights on and took off after the driver. Read more

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Adrienne Bankert is joining KTVT as co-anchor of the weekday morning newscast, the Dallas CBS O&O announced today.

Bankert joins KTVT after eight years at KCRA-KQCA in Sacramento, where she anchored the morning and noon newscasts and hosted “Common Ground,” a monthly newsmagazine. She begins at KTVT on June 25.

“Adrienne is intelligent and engaging,” KTVT president and general manager Gary Schneider said in a statement. “I think our viewers will enjoy her personality and appreciate her genuine interest in the community.”

A station spokesperson tells TVSpy that Bankert will replace Lisa Pineiro, who has anchored the morning newscast since 2010.

After 20 years working at KXTV in Sacramento, anchor-reporter Sharon Ito is stepping away from the news business to focus on raising the 11-year-old daughter she has with her husband, KXTV reporter George Warren.

Ito, who grew up in the Sacramento area, first started with KXTV in 1985 as a reporter and producer.  After leaving KXTV in 1990 for a job at KCAL in Los Angeles, she returned to the ABC-affiliate in 1996.

“It’s been wonderful being a part of the News10 family all these years,” Ito said in a statement.   “But of course, closest to my heart is raising our 11-year-old daughter here in Sacramento, the place I love.  It’s so true, there are stages in life and a break just feels right.” Read more

Jerome Parra will take over as news director of KXTV, the ABC-affiliate in Sacramento, on May 14.

Parra began his career as a writer and assignment editor at KXTV. He is currently the assistant news director at KPNX, the NBC-affiliate in Phoenix.

“He is a smart, innovative journalist who is passionate about news,” KXTV president and general manager Maria Barrs said in a statement. “He has great energy and ideas, along with the right experience, skills and drive to lead our team.” Read more

In a segment teased throughout this morning’s “Good Day Sacramento,” reporter Melissa Cabral submitted herself to a dunk dank in order to test out a waterproof iPhone case.

Her iPhone ended up working underwater, but the same can’t be said about her microphone.

“Good Day Sacramento” reporter Alan Sanchez dressed up as the Easter bunny to entertain some local kids last week. And everything was going great until, well, Sanchez lost his head (video above).

In what seemed like an elaborate set-up to soak KXTV‘s Kate Larsen, the Sacramento ABC-affiliate dispatched the morning reporter to a busy roadway, where anchor Dan Elliott had spotted a large puddle.

Just as Keba Arnold, Elliott’s co-anchor, was warning Larsen about getting splashed, a car plowed through the puddle, drenching her (video above).

In a moment made for YouTube, KTXL reporter Sean Bennett attempted to snowboard (or, as he called it, “surf skating”) on live TV while covering a snow storm that hit the Sacramento area this week. It didn’t go well.

KTXL quickly posted raw video of Bennett’s fall on its website and now fellow Tribune station WXIN has uploaded it to YouTube, proclaiming it to be a “viral video.” So far, it’s received 54 views.

The reactions were the same but the setting was definitely different.

In a story this week about a controversial poster displayed at the local highway patrol academy, Sacramento Fox-affiliate KTXL featured reactions from its own staff, including the assignment manager, shot in the station’s newsroom.

One staffer interviewed for the story by reporter Rowena Shaddox even wore a lanyard with the logo of KTXL’s owner, Tribune, while standing in front of a wall displaying the station’s “FOX 40″ logo, leaving little doubt about his background. Video inside… Read more

Veteran political reporter John Myers is leaving his post as Sacramento bureau chief at public radio station KQED to join ABC-affiliate KXTV.

In a post on his Facebook page this week, Myers announced that he had accepted “the newly created position of Political Editor at KXTV.”

“The position allows me to not only continue my reporting on the Capitol and state politics (for broadcast and online), but to help shape News10′s 2012 election coverage and beyond,” Myers wrote.

In moving to KXTV, Myers is returning to his TV news roots.  He worked as an anchor and reporter at KSBY in San Luis Obispo before making the move to radio.  His first day at KXTV will be April 2.