KGAN reporter Kelsey Minor has confirmed with TVSpy he will be leaving the Cedar Rapids CBS affiliate.

Minor announced the move on his facebook page where he wrote in part,

TO ALL OF YOU: I write this open letter to the many of you who have allowed me to deliver the news to you here in Eastern Iowa…After much consideration, I have decided that the next two weeks will be my last with CBS 2 and FOX 28 News and I will deliver my last report on January 18th…Thank you all so much for your support and watching me do this job I really love to do. With that said, make it a great day everyone.

Before joining KGAN in October 2010, Minor worked in Jackson, MS and Boise, ID.

KGAN anchor Jason Vincent commented on Minor’s facebook posting by writing, “You will be greatly missed Kelsey Minor Kgan!”

Scott Livingston, Sinclair Broadcasting’s vice president of news, is defending the company’s election special against criticism that it presented an anti-Obama agenda. The special — which aired on six stations in battleground states on Monday night — was  a “continuation of the engagement of the audience and the process of educating them about the topics,” Livingston tells TVNewsCheck:

“No doubt it was hard-hitting, but it was fair,” said VP of News Scott Livingston, who oversees the local news operations of 42 Sinclair stations. “No one is disputing the facts of the stories that aired in the special.”

Livingston said no partisan agenda was at play in producing the show — nor in choosing the markets in which it was played. Read more

Jason Vincent, the news director who resigned from KQDS earlier this month after posting a disparaging comment about Native Americans on his Facebook page, is joining KGAN, the Duluth News-Tribune reports.

Vincent will be the morning anchor at KGAN, the CBS-affiliate in Cedar Rapids.

Vincent was the news director at KQDS, the Fox-affiliate in Duluth. In early August, he posted a status update to his Facebook page that read: “Add drunk, homeless, Native American man to the list of animals that have wandered into my yard.” Read more

During a recent weather update from meteorologist Justin Roberts, KGAN alerted viewers about a “Head Advisory” in the Cedar Rapids area (image above). [Via NewscastStudio]

Anchor Les Sachs is set to retire later this spring, after 35 years with WGEM.

Sachs first joined WGEM–an NBC-affiliate that covers the tri-states area of western Illinois, northeastern Missouri, and southeastern Iowa–in 1973.  After rising through the ranks at WGEM, Sachs left the station in 1989. He returned in ’93 and has been there ever since.

“Les has always been there, in good times and challenging times, for so many people.  He’s been that trusted resource,” WGEM news director Chad Mahoney said.  “Les genuinely cares about the community and people sense that.  That’s why he has been so successful for so many years.” Read more

Cedar Rapids CBS-affiliate KGAN recently reported on some renewed interest in the disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit, who began her broadcasting career with the station.

Huisentruit disappeared in 1995, a short time before she was expected to arrive for work as a morning anchor for KIMT in Mason City.

“Investigators believe she was kidnapped, but they’ve never named a suspect, or found her body,” KGAN reporter Alice Barr told viewers on Thursday.  “Now some renewed interest in the case has her family and friends more dedicated than ever to finding justice for Jodi.” Read more

A man who claims to be running for President has promised to buy airtime on stations across Iowa to run graphic anti-abortion ads that display images of aborted fetuses, often in bizarre poses.

“We will show dead babies on every television station in the state of Iowa,” Randall Terry, a Democrat, declared recently.

Targeting pro-lifers who may have voted for Obama in the last presidential election, Terry has so far attempted to buy spots on stations in Cedar Rapids. KGAN, the market’s CBS-affiliate, has refused to run the ads–not necessarily because of their graphic nature but because Terry hasn’t established himself enough as a legitimate presidential candidate. Read more

Conan O’Brien poked fun at content-sharing in local news this week, showing a clip on his show of several anchors repeating the same phrase — “push the envelope” — while reporting on the late night host’s plans to officiate a same-sex wedding on his show.

The original source of the copy was CBS Newspath, according to staffers at two stations featured in the clip. Although “Conan” only showed 18 stations, a search of TVEyes.com reveals that 27 stations reported the story using identical wording (a full list, including markets and affiliations, is after the jump.)

The script was tease copy for Monday’s “Eye on Entertainment” package, filed by CBS Newspath correspondent Sandra Hughes. The full version reads: “Conan O’Brien may be about to push the envelope on late night television. And British songstress Adele seems to have pushed her voice too far. CBS’ Sandra Hughes has those stories and more, in your Monday morning ‘Eye on Entertainment.’”

South Bend’s WSBT, which was featured in the Conan clip, addressed the situation on the 6 a.m. newscast this morning, calling it the “dark secret” of the news business. Read more

Trying to figure out how to propose to his girlfriend, KGAN reporter Brian Scott decided to do what comes naturally for him: he created a news package. On Saturday, Scott played the fake news story for his girlfriend Amber and taped her reaction (video above).

“I wanted to do something personal, not too public, but still something we could enjoy forever and something that really described us as a couple,” Scott told TVSpy. “I decided to do this because it’s something I know (making news stories) and it’s something where I could include a lot of inside jokes and really make something special.”

Spoiler: she said “Yes.”