Lisa Lyden, who has been anchoring KOAA‘s 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts since 1983, announced recently that she will step down at the end of July.

“This was not an easy decision to make,” Lyden said. “I’ve been wrestling with it for some time, and feel now is the right time to hang up the microphone and spend more time with family.”

Jennifer Horbelt will replace Lyden at the KOAA anchor desk beginning July 27th, working the NBC-affiliate’s 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts alongside Rob Quirk.  Horbelt joined KOAA as a morning anchor last December. Read more

Four more local stations are headed to the White House for a Presidential interview today: Seattle’s KIRO, Norfolk’s WVEC, Pensacola’s WEAR and Colorado Springs’ KOAA.

The primary focus of the interviews will be the close of the Iraq War, and the stations were chosen because they have large military communities in their markets, according to President Obama’s official schedule. The payroll tax cut extension — which was the subject of a round of local press last week — will also be discussed.

The anchors — KIRO’s Angela Russell, WVEC’s David Alan, WEAR’s Bob Solarski and KOAA’s Rob Quirk — will sit down with the President at 10:30 a.m. Interviews will be embargoed until 5:00 p.m.