Turning a Page (It's a Long Way to Tipperary)

I am entering the final days of an era of my life that has lasted nearly six years.  After Football Tonight closes out at around 11 p.m. on Friday, I will be wrapping up my tenure at KQ2, the ABC station I grew up watching.  I'll be moving on to Fort Smith, Arkansas near the Ozarks to work at KFSM television.  It is a CBS affiliate.

I am going to look fondly at my time at KQ2 as an experience that both helped me grow as a person and forge friendships that I will remember for a lifetime.  I stayed longer than most and made it through roughly three generations of the newsroom.  I will be forever grateful and indebted to Bridget, the news director who hired me as morning show producer in September 2012 despite me not having any real television news experience.

It was sort of rough at first, both learning my methodology for producing and learning the often outdated technology that a market 200 station is stuck using.  In 2015, I feel I began to get my footing as a producer and realized this is the career I want for the rest of my life.  I am so grateful to Bob, the longtime anchor on Hometown this Morning that helped me grow as a producer by giving me daily feedback and Andy, the evening producer who would later become the news director that gave me wonderful feedback when needed.

In early 2017 I moved from the morning show to the evening news shows and by late September 2017 I had received a call from the assistant news director at KFSM that they were looking for producers.  I was slightly perplexed why they would be calling a small station in northwest Missouri in their search, but I later found out that an anchor I worked closely with had applied there, and I can't confirm this, but I assume they found out about my work through that.  The combination of that interest and the unique market made me accept their offer.  It might be a jump from 200 to 100, but the population of Fort Smith (the city I will be living in) is around 90,000 and only around 20,000 greater than St. Joseph.  The market is unique because it is also based out of Fayetteville, which is a college town with a population of 80,000.  I am hoping this will mean that the market isn't going to be as cut throat like a city where there is 150,000.  I have gotten nothing but a down home family vibe.

I am also looking forward to beginning an adventure in the Ozarks.  I can't wait until Spring when I can begin to explore all the nature trails that the northwest Arkansas area has to offer.

Keep up to date on my professional journeys by following my twitter account here: @5NEWSNielson on Twitter.

I can't wait to look back at this post and see how I reflect on it and what will mark the biggest jump I have made in my 35 years on Earth.  I can only help but think of the final scene of the show that (at least partially and subconsciously) inspired me to want to go into television news, The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

"You know something, Mr. Grant? Now that it's over, I don't feel as bad as I thought I was going to.  In fact, I feel pretty good, I really do."

Astronaut With Family Connection to Pony Express in Town for Solar Eclipse

A former NASA astronaut whose great-grandfather rode in the Pony Express is back in St. Joseph to witness Monday's total solar eclipse.

Dr. William Fisher II is the descendant of Pony Express rider Billy Fisher and said that connection will make viewing the eclipse reach totality in St. Joseph extra special.

Billy Fisher, rider in the Pony Express

He went into space as a part of the sixth flight of Space Shuttle Discovery and brought several items connected to his ancestor's time riding in the Pony Express.

"There was several items I brought from this museum like a Pony Express poster," Fisher said. "Interestingly enough, the Pony Express was ended by the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad where they drove the golden spike and I got to fly the golden spike on my mission too."

Crew on the sixth mission of Space Shuttle Discovery

Fisher's mission began on August 27, 1985 and lasted just over seven days and he said he felt participating in the space mission was a continuation of the same spirit of adventure that his great grand-father had exhibited by riding in the Pony Express.

"It's the pioneer spirit that lives in all of us and it felt great that I was carrying on his legacy." Fisher said.

The connection to his ancestor isn't the only thing that will make Monday a day to remember for Fisher. He said that being around people witnessing the solar spectacle for the first time is also a one of a kind experience.

"If you see a solar eclipse and you're not moved by it to think about the heavens in general there's something wrong with you," Fisher said. "Everybody that I know has learned something about the solar system and the sun from the fact that it is coming and I think that's a great thing."

Fisher also spoke with KQ2 about his thoughts on the program that brought him into space ending.

"We haven't got a space ship at all. Our astronauts can't get to space without the Russians," Fisher said. "That's shameful. Do you know how long ago we landed on the moon? It was a month before Woodstock! Now we can't even get to space. I think it's disgraceful."

With Monday's celestial event being viewed by people coast-to-coast, he hopes it will inspire those witnessing and push the space program forward.

"We need to make some kind of discovery that pushes us ahead," Fisher said. "I wish it had been sooner in my lifetime because Mars would be great."

Fisher makes it a point to return to St. Joseph every couple decades to reconnect with his family roots.

Great American Eclipse Preview Show

Here is the final edition of Hometown this Morning I will ever produce.  I produced this show for nearly five years, and returned for this special preview show of the Great American Eclipse, which you can watch in its entirety in the Youtube video below:

Newly Rediscovered Photo Suggests New Theory in Disappearance of Amelia Earhart

It's considered one of the biggest mysteries of all time, but now a documentary is offering a new explanation for northeast Kansas native Amelia Earhart's disappearance.

A never-before-seen photo, from the National Archives, is believed to show Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, after they crash-landed in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The photo came from a top secret Navy file, according to a new History Channel special.

Earhart vanished 80 years ago while attempting to become the first women to fly around the world.

The prevailing theory about what happened to Earhart and Noonan is that they crashed and sank in the South Pacific on July 2, 1937.

The newly unearthed photo suggests they survived and that decades-old theory is wrong.

The documentary makes the claim she may have been captured by the Japanese military.

The filmmakers also present accounts of locals who claimed to have seen her and use comparative photos of Earhart, Noonan and her plane to support their theory.

Japanese officials have reportedly denied the claims and U.S. officials have not confirmed any of the show's assertions.

Earhart was born in Atchison in 1897 and you can find more information on her life and legacy by visiting the Amelia Earhart Museum.

"Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence" airs this Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. on The History Channel.

Comey FBI Testimony

Note: This is an article I wrote for work alongside the help of another reporter who interviewed the professor.  A video of the segment I produced on my show that accompanied it will be attached at the bottom.

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A local political expert is weighing in on former FBI Director James Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.

Comey testified under oath on his interactions with President Donald Trump since Hillary Clinton's defeat in the 2016 election.

It was Comey's first public appearance since he was abruptly fired by President Trump on May 9.

Comey spoke of a growing unease between himself and the president. He told senators he believed Trump had both lied to him on multiple occasions and tried to pressure him into dropping the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's connections with the Russian government.

Comey also accused the Trump administration of consciously working to sabotage his public image. "The administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray," Comey said.  "That it was poorly led, that the work force had lost confidence in its leader.  Those were lies, plain and simple.

During the testimony, Comey said he asked a third-party person to leak his memos detailing those conversations with Trump to the press. Comey hoped this would lead to the appointment of a special counsel to handle the investigation into the Trump campaign's interactions with the Russian government.

"I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting and so I thought it really important to document," the former FBI Director said.

The president fired back through his attorney, saying Comey's admission that he leaked information should lead the former FBI director be investigated for other leaks.

Missouri Western political science professor Melinda Kovacs said she felt it was a smart move by Comey to have the memos leaked to reporters.

"I think that what has come out in public for this particular case is much more substantial and serious than in previous cases in presidential history," Kovacs said.

Kovacs added she believes the next steps in the investigation will most likely not be as public as Thursday's testimony, and will involve work behind closed doors by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Regardless of how his investigation turns out, Kovacs said she believes today's hearing will have long-lasting effects on the White House.