There are two new hires at Buffalo CBS-affiliate WIVB: Lou Raguse and Emily Guggenmos (pictured).

Raguse joins the station from KMSB in Tuscon, where news operations were shut down earlier this month. Guggenmos also joins WIVB from Tucson, where she was the weekend co-anchor at KVOA.

The pair met while working in Sioux Falls — Guggenmos at KDLT and Raguse at KELO. They were married in 2010.

“Emily and Lou are both strong journalists who will fit in perfectly with our winning team here,” news director Joseph Schlaerth tells TVSpy via email.

New details have emerged in the alleged shoplifting incident that led to KVOA anchor Martha Vazquez‘s resignation this week after 26 years with the station.

According to a police report, posted by Tucson Weekly, Vazquez was cited for stealing a hoodie and a pair of earrings from a Dillard’s department store.

A Dillard’s security officer observed the longtime Tucson anchor try on a $338 Eileen Fisher hoodie near a clothing rack and then conceal it inside of a sweater she had been wearing. She then purchased shoes and a few other items and attempted to leave the store without paying for the hoodie, at which point she was detained by security. Read more

KVOA anchor Martha Vazquez, who has been a fixture on Tucson TV for three decades, abruptly resigned on Monday, following an alleged shoplifting incident that occurred over the weekend.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that a woman with the same name and birth date as Vazquez was cited Saturday on suspicion of shoplifting from the Tucson Mall.

After alerting staff of Vazquez’s resignation on Monday afternoon, KVOA news director Cathie Batbie-Loucks told the Daily Star that the veteran anchor’s departure was “due to personal reasons.”

A native Tucsonan, Vazquez began her broadcasting career with CBS-affiliate KOLD in the 70s, before moving on to KVOA in 1984. Most recently, she anchored the station’s 4 p.m. weekday newscast. Read more

Sports director Dave Silver is leaving KGUN after 28 years with the station.  His last day on-air will be December 23rd.

Silver, who currently appears on KGUN’s 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts, is set to join the University of Arizona Foundation, when he signs off from KGUN.

“Congrats to colleague Dave Silver on his 28-year run at KGUN,” KVOA sports director Ryan Recker tweeted on Tuesday.  “Best of luck as he moves on to the UA Foundation. He’s one of the good guys.”

Before coming to Tucson in 1983, Silver worked at KSBY in San Luis Obispo and KMIR in Palm Springs.

Ed Ortelli, who has worked for 28 years in television sales and general management roles, has been named president and general manager of KNOE-KAQY, the Hoak Media-operated duopoly serving Monroe, LA and El Dorado, AR.

Ortelli will take the helm at the two stations — which also operate the CW affiliate, NNOE, on a digital subchannel of KNOE — on September 19. He will report to Rich Adams, the chief operating officer of Hoak Media.

“I know our employees look forward to Ed’s leadership and vision, and we are confident that his broad skills will help grow this legacy television operation for the benefit of our advertisers and viewers alike,” Hoak Media CEO Eric Van den Branden said in a statement.

According to Broadcasting & Cable, Ortelli’s past positions include general sales manager at KPRC in Houston and station manager at KVOA in Tucson.

Jim Joslyn is retiring as vice president and general manager of San Antonio’s KSAT. He has been with the Post-Newsweek station since 1991.

“Jim has run KSAT for 20 years and the results speak for themselves,” said Post-Newsweek CEO Alan Frank in a memo obtained by TVNewsCheck. “It’s a dominant station by every measure–ratings, revenue and impact in the community. This success is a reflection on Jim’s leadership, his character and the great team that he has assembled.”

Joslyn, who led Tuscon’s KVOA before joining KSAT, has recently overseen an aggressive expansion of the station’s local news programming.

KSAT viewers know Joslyn for his regular editorial segments and in 1997 he was recognized by the Texas Associated Press for his editorials and commentaries.

KSAT has yet to name Joslyn’s successor.

Doug Barden, the news director at KBAK-KBFX in Bakersfield, CA, has been hired to lead the newsroom at San Luis Obispo’s KSBY.

Barden will replace Dave Schermer, who left the station earlier this year shortly after Kathleen Choal became the NBC-affiliate’s president and general manager.

Choal, a TV news veteran who previously served as news director and station manager at Tucson’s KVOA, was impressed by Barden’s resume.

“With his experience and passion for news, Doug was exactly the journalist I was looking for to lead this newsroom,” Choal told TVSpy.

Barden worked as an assistant news director at Salt Lake City’s KSTU and Reno’s KRNV before becoming KBAK-KBFX’s news director in 2008. His first day with KSBY is set for July 11th.

News director Dave Schermer, who has been with KSBY since 2006, is stepping down from his position at the San Luis Obispo NBC-affiliate.

The move comes after Kathleen Choal, who has extensive experience leading newsrooms, assumed the president and general manager post on April 1st.

Choal came to KSBY from Tucson’s KVOA, where she served as news director and station manager. Choal joined KVOA as news director in 2005 and was appointed station manager in 2009.

Announcing his resignation on Wednesday, Schermer said that he will now focus on building informational websites. He is set to stay with KSBY for the next several weeks.

Tucson’s KVOA has promoted Cathie Batbie-Loucks to news director.  Batbie-Loucks has been with the NBC-affiliate for 11 years, previously serving as assistant news director and, most recently, as “content management center director.”

“Cathie has tremendous institutional knowledge when it comes to the Tucson marketplace,” said Bill Shaw, KVOA’s president and general manager, in announcing the promotion. “Her strong work ethic and leadership skills will allow KVOA to continue to provide news excellence going forward.”

Batbie-Loucks succeeds Kathleen Choal, who was promoted to president and general manager of KSBY, another Cordillera Communications-owned station.

“Over the course of my professional career, KVOA has afforded me many amazing opportunities,” said Batbie-Loucks. “I am humbled — day in and day out — by the commitment of the talented journalists I work with at News 4 Tucson, and now I have the honor of leading this exceptional team as we open a new chapter in KVOA’s legacy.”

Pima Community College, which suspended Jared Lee Loughner just weeks before he gunned down 19 people in a Tucson parking lot, has been stonewalling Tucson stations in recent weeks, refusing to speak about the actions it took in handling the troubled young man.

NBC-affiliate KVOA became the first Tucson station to speak with PCC since the days immediately following the shooting. Reporter Sandy Rathbun sat down with an attorney representing the college this week for an interview that aired on Thursday night (video above).

In the interview, attorney Alice Callison said that the college dealt with Loughner “in a reasonable fashion based on what we knew at the time.” She added that the school has not changed its policies since the shooting. Read more