Tricia Macke has been absent from the WXIX anchor desk for the past two nights. The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting Macke was suspended from the Cincinnati Fox affiliate after comments she made on Facebook about MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow:

Fox 19 managers aren’t talking about why news co-anchor Tricia Macke wasn’t anchoring Sunday’s newscasts, as she usually does. I’m hearing she was suspended for her Facebook remarks calling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow an “angry young man.”

“We don’t comment on personnel matters,” says WXIX-TV General Manager Bill Lanesey. And then he volunteered: “We expect Tricia to be back on the anchor desk Tuesday (tomorrow).”

Macke apologized for her comments on Friday. WXIX has not responded to TVSpy’s request for comment.

WXIX anchor Tricia Macke has issued an apology for calling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow “an angry young man.” In a statement on the station’s Facebook page, Macke said her comments were “insensitive and inappropriate.”

“I apologize to Ms. Maddow and any others who may have been offended by my comments, as they do not reflect my firm beliefs in individual and equal rights, and they certainly did not represent the opinions or position of my employer WXIX-TV,” Macke wrote.

GLAAD called on Macke Friday to apologize for her remarks about Maddow, which were made on her personal Facebook page October 12.

WXIX, the Fox affiliate in Cincinnati, said they had “received several expressions of concern” about Macke’s remarks, adding, “We also apologize to anyone who may have been offended by her comments.”

GLAAD and Equality Ohio are calling for WXIX to condemn remarks anchor Tricia Macke made on Facebook calling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow “an angry young man.”

Macke, who anchors the 6:30 and 10 p.m. newscasts on the Cincinnati Fox affiliate, posted on Facebook page October 12: “Rachel Maddow is such an angry young man.”

After people posted critical comments on the update, Macke responded, “I am sorry … I should have said antagonistic.” The update has since been deleted from Macke’s page (see a screenshot, via GLAAD, after the jump).

In a statement, GLAAD called on WXIX and its parent company, Raycom Media, to “take swift action to condemn Macke’s remarks.”

“Macke owes an apology not only to viewers, but to young people in Ohio who are subjected to unfair bullying and harassment like this on a daily basis,” GLAAD president Herndon Graddick said.

>Update: WXIX and Macke have issued an apology for her remarks.

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Emily Wood will be jumping FOX affiliates, going from WXIX in Cincinnati to WDAF in Kansas City, the Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting.

The Cincinnati native, who will be leaving WXIX next Friday, is the second reporter to announce her departure from WXIX in recent days.  Kimberly Holmes Wiggins announced she will be leaving the Cincinnati FOX station for a new job with Orlando’s FOX affiliate, WOFL, November 30.

Wood began her broadcast career at KDRV-KDKF in Medford OR.

Cincinnati Fox-affiliate WXIX is launching weekend morning newscasts beginning August 18.

The newscasts will air from 8 to 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. WXIX has hired Jessica Brown (pictured) to co-anchor the morning newscast. Previously, she was a weekend anchor and reporter at KSNF in Joplin, MO.

Brown will co-anchor with Dan Wells, who has worked at WXIX as a reporter since 2008. Katy Morgan will be the meteorologist. Read more

After an eight-month hiatus, WXIX‘s local talk show, “Cincinnality,” will return on June 3, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

The show will return in a significantly scaled-down format, according to host and producer Dean Miuccio. Instead of five hour-long shows a week, “Cincinnality” will be a weekly half-hour show, airing at 11 p.m. on Sunday nights.

The show features Miuccio and a variety of local radio and television personalities discussing “current events, entertainment and local stories of interest.”

Investigative reporter Matthew Nordin has joined WXIX, the Fox-affiliate in Cincinnati.

“He will hit the air the first day of sweeps (Thursday) with a great investigative story about dangerous truck drivers in our area,” news director Matt Miller told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Nordin joins WXIX from WMBF in Myrtle Beach, where he has been an investigative reporter and morning anchor since 2008. He has also worked at KTVA in Anchorage and WSPA in Spartanburg, SC.

Jeff Brogan is leaving his post as news director at WPTV to oversee news strategy and content development for all of Scripps’ 19 stations.

Scripps announced today that Brogan has been named senior director of news strategy and operations. In the role, Brogan will work in tandem with Lana Durban Scott, Scripps’ current senior director of news strategy and operations, on helping the company’s stations develop their content and strategic plans.

Brogan joined WPTV, Scripps’ NBC-affiliate in West Palm Beach, in 2010. The station is now searching for his replacement as news director. Read more

A charter bus collided with a WCPO news van during a live press conference about the collapse at the Horseshoe Casino construction site in Cincinnati this afternoon (watch above).

In the above video, which is from Cincinnati Fox-affiliate WXIX, the bus can be seen driving very close to where reporters were gathered for the press conference. Although the briefing continued after the collision, it was stopped when the bus driver got off the bus and began to address the crowd.

“If this group of people would have moved out of my way, I wouldn’t have ran into this truck,” she told the reporters gathered. Read more

Since anchor Ben Swann joined WXIX two years ago, he has played a major part in the Fox-affiliate’s “balanced” approach to news. In his regular “Reality Check” segments, Swann dissects major news stories to give viewers a fresh perspective on the headlines.

As Republican presidential hopefuls have duked it out over the past few months, Swann’s “Reality Check” videos have gained a national following, largely because of his repeated coverage (and defense) of Ron Paul.

Washington Post media blogger Erik Wemple posted an in-depth look at Swann’s ideological ties to the constitutionalist candidate this week, pointing out that, as the anchor has analyzed Paul’s candidacy, he has gained a national following, especially among Paul supporters. Read more