People

Crystal Apilado is now editor of McNaughton Newspapers’ weekly Winters Express, the newspaper reports. The Winters High grad and Western Michigan University journalism alum had been assistant editor and succeeds Emma Johnson, who has taken another position in McNaughton Newspapers. “I’m excited to see what Crystal can do in partnership with the town,” Express Publisher…

Melanie Smith begins this week as managing editor of Tank Town Media’s weekly Tracy Press, the newspaper reports. Smith, a Tracy High grad, has been with The Press since 2005 and most recently has coordinated content for the Friday print edition and daily online edition. Michael Ellis Langley, editor since 2013, left the company in…

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Carol Hungerford became publisher in July of the Del Norte Triplicate in Crescent City. Country Media, the Salem-based company owned by Carol and husband Steve, acquired The Triplicate and the Curry Coastal Pilot in Brookings, Ore., from Western Communications in a bankruptcy auction. “Over the past two decades, we’ve built our business to include some…

Steve Nakutin becomes general manager at GateHouse Media’s High Desert Media Group, which includes the Daily Press in Victorville, its five weekly publications and their websites, the Daily Press reports. He had been advertising director for two years and formerly was with The Signal in Santa Clarita and at weeklies in the Los Angeles Area.…

Rachael Garcia in August began as editor of Century Group Newspapers’ Record Gazette in Banning. Garcia recently served as associate editor of the Duncan McIntosh Company, Inc. in Fountain Valley, a publisher of boating magazines. Prior to working there, she was a news assistant and social media specialist at The Orange County Register for three…

Hector Hernandez Jr. is now editor of Century Group Newspapers’ Highland Community News. Hernandez, an Azusa Pacific University alum, had been a reporter for the Highland paper for five years. Hernandez replaced James Folmer, who became editor of Century Group’s new Redlands Community News.

Kim Fowler moves from publisher of the Del Norte Triplicate in Crescent City to general manager of GateHouse Media’s Ames (Iowa) Tribune. … Belinda Mills, former publisher of the Imperial Valley Press in El Centro, is now general manager/advertising director at GateHouse Media’s Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News.

Steven R. Nixon, executive director of the Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association, was elected president of Newspaper Association Managers (NAM) during the group’s 96th annual summer conference in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. New York Press Association Executive Director Michelle K. Rea becomes immediate past president, replacing CNPA Executive Director Tom Newton, who ends his NAM service as…

Peggy Pietrowicz is now publisher of The Union Democrat in Sonora, the just-sold newspaper reports. Pietrowicz, advertising director since early 2018, first joined the newspaper in 2004 as a classified sales rep. “I’m looking forward to getting to know the community on a different level,” she said of her immediate plans for the newspaper.