Larry Conners,the KMOV anchor who said on facebook the IRS targeted him after an interview with President Obama last year, is off the air until further notice.

“He’s not suspended. We just all thought it made sense (for him) to take a few days off,” Sean McLaughlin, news director for the St. Louis CBS affiliate, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We take this very seriously, and we don’t expect this to drag on. We’re still looking into the situation and weighing our options.”

>UPDATE: Conners’ attorney told TVSpy in a statement, “As the attorney for Larry Conners, I am constrained to advise you that he is barred by corporate from making statements, posting on Facebook, or participating in interviews on the IRS issue. That is the only reason for his silence.” Read more

KMOV anchor Larry Conners, who claimed he was targeted by the IRS after he pressed President Obama on government spending during a 2012 interview, walked back his allegation on the St. Louis CBS affiliate’s 5 p.m. newscast Tuesday.

“First, I need to state those were my personal views, not those of KMOV-TV,” Conners said (video above). “Second, to be fair, I should disclose that my issues with the IRS preceded that interview by several years. As a journalist I understand the importance of keeping personal matters separate from my professional work — sometimes you have to do that retain your independence as a newsman. Those lines might have been unintentionally crossed yesterday by my [Facebook] post.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Conners and his wife owe more than $85,000 in back taxes.

KMOV anchor Larry Conners suspects the IRS has been targeting him since he pressed President Obama during an interview last year. In a lengthy Facebook post Monday, Conners wrote, “almost immediately after the interview, the IRS started hammering me.”

“At the time, I dismissed the ‘co-incidence,’ but now, I have concerns … after revelations about the IRS targeting various groups and their members,” Conners wrote.

During the interview, Conners asked about government spending, telling the President that some KMOV viewers were concerned about the First Family “jetting around on different vacations” and wondered if he was “out of touch.”

“The President’s face clearly showed his anger; afterwards, his staff which had been so polite … suddenly went cold,” Conners wrote on Facebook. “What I don’t like to even consider … is that because of the Obama interview … the IRS put a target on me. Can I prove it? At this time, no. But it is a fact that since the April 2012 interview … the IRS has been pressuring me.”

Conners declined to comment for this post. Watch his 2012 interview with the President here. [h/t Politico]

KMOV in St. Louis and WFAA in Dallas-Fort Worth have won 2012 Investigative Reporters & Editors Awards.

KMOV’s Craig Cheatham and Jim Thomas won the IRE Award in the small Broadcast/Video category for “War Zone: The Destruction of an All-American City,” an hourlong documentary about political corruption in East St. Louis, Ill. Cheatham’s “dogged reporting and hard-hitting questions appear to get inside the minds of hardened politicos who admit to him their wrongdoing,” the judges wrote. The CBS affiliate’s report resulted in the resignation of a police chief and pending criminal charges and investigations.

WFAA’s Brett Shipp, Billy Bryant and Jason Trahan won in the medium Broadcast/Video category for “Unfair Game,” an examination of Texas high school coaches and administrators helping students illegally transfer school districts to put together top athletic teams. Shipp “used an inventive combination of social media and dogged reporting to show how high school athletics had been transformed into a business in which the best players were lured away from their neighborhood schools and sometimes across state lines,” the judges wrote. One coach was fired as result of the ABC affiliate’s report.

Chris Stanford will join St. Louis CBS affiliate KMOV as evening weekend anchor.

Stanford posted the news to his facebook page, “It’s been a great year and a half here at WCCO-TV. I feel I’ve learned a great deal and have worked with so many talented people. So, “where are you going”, you ask? St. Louis!! I start Monday at the CBS affiliate KMOV.”

Stanford comes to KMOV from WCCO in Minneapolis where he has been the morning anchor since August 2011.  He previously worked at WQOW in Eau Claire, WI.

News director Sean McLaughlin told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Stanford will anchor his first newscast next weekend.

Lauren Trager, weekend anchor for Little Rock NBC affiliate KARK, has announced she will be joining KMOV in St. Louis, MO.

KMOV news director Sean McLaughlin confirmed with TVSpy, Trager will join the St. Louis CBS affiliate as a general assignment reporter.

Trager made the announcement on her facebook page saying, “It is with very mixed emotions I make this announcement to you all: I’m leaving KARK. Thank you for all the kindness you have shown me here. I’ll always be so fond of my time in Arkansas. Best wishes to you all!”

Trager, who started at KARK in 2008, said her last day at KARK will be Wednesday.

[Arkansas TV News]

If viewers of St.Louis CBS affiliate KMOV have been wondering what happened to anchor Larry Conners, they can wonder no more.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Conners has been out of action after a second rotator cuff surgery. He posted the slow progress of his recovery on facebook last week saying,

Pain meds not working again but think infection is improving. Seeing doctor tomorrow. Still hoping [t]o be back on air soon. As always thanks for prayers and don’t forget those much worse off. Read more

Maggie Crane will be leaving St. Louis CBS affiliate KMOV at the end of the month to work as the press secretary for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.

“When the mayor’s office approached me, it became a hard opportunity to pass up,” Crane told TVSpy. “I absolutely love [TV] news.  It has afforded me many wonderful opportunities, and I will certainly miss it.  But, I look forward to lending my voice to the inside workings of the city I love and call home.”

Crane, who started working at KMOV in 2009, began her TV News career at KQTV in St. Joseph, MO, before moving to WINK in Fort Myers, FL.

“We really admire her work,” Jeff Rainford, the Mayor’s chief of staff told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “She’ll be a great addition.”

[Jake's DTV Blog]

Vickie Newton, a former anchor at KMOV in St. Louis, is speaking out about her five-year battle with a cyberstalker. Newton describes the harassment in The Village Celebration, an online magazine which she founded:

“I don’t know who is stalking me and I don’t know what the end game is,” said Newton. “Recently, some of the postings have included key words that describe rooms in my home, family members names are included and so the level of the threat is more aggressive.”

Newton has described her situation as “mind-boggling” – she hid her computer, but her computer case is missing; the stalker has described the “sterling silver picture frames in her master suite;” and the alarm at her Arkansas lake house was going off while she was in St. Louis at early hours in the morning, but no one was ever found.

Newton signed off from KMOV in July, hoping her relocation would deter her stalker, but she says it has only intensified. She said she has installed new security systems and changed her locks, as well as contacting the authorities about the harassment, but it has continued. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Brittany Noble is returning home to St. Louis as she joins CBS affiliate KMOV as a reporter.

Since September 2011, Noble has reported for the morning newscast at WEYI, the NBC affiliate in Saginaw, Mich. Her first day at KMOV will be January 7.

Noble has also worked at WBBJ in Jackson, Tenn., as a reporter and anchor. She began her career working as a producer at KAIT in Jonesboro, Ark. while she pursued a master’s degree in journalism at Arkansas State University.