Globe West’s Deirdre Fernandes has moved to the Business section to cover banking and insurance. This is good news for Deirdre but sad news for Newton. Deirdre was the best reporter the Globe had dedicated to Newton in a long time and she covered a lot of ground while trying to keep government officials accountable.
Her successor is Evan Allen, according to Globe West Editor Leslie Anderson. Allen has been writing for the Globe as a freelancer for about two years, according to news clips I checked in the Globe archives, and she’s been in and out of Newton periodically. Her recent coverage on Engine 6 was certainly comprehensive. Evan can be reached at [email protected].
We welcome you to Newton, Evan, and hope you will join our discussions here at Village 14!
Gail is too modest to say this but Deirdre was arguably the best Globe West reporter since Gail Spector (although Matt Viser was pretty darn good too).
It was always a pleasure to talk to Deirdre. She understood the issues and there was always a lot of depth and nuance to her work. She also broke a lot of stories that no one else seemed to be paying attention to.
I’ve been following Evan for a while now (she did some really good work following the Marathon bombing, including if memory serves me, covering the loss of young Martin Richard and the scene in Watertown) and I’m aware of her work in Needham and some surrounding communities. I suspect Newton has lucked out with another good one.
Good luck, Deirdre, and welcome to Newton, Evan.
Hi!
Thank you for such a wonderful welcome! I’m really excited to be covering Newton, it’s a great beat and I know that Deirdre loved working it.
Greg — you’re too kind. Thank you so much. And I hear about Deirdre from people all over the city — I have big shoes to fill!
If anybody ever needs to reach me, in addition to email you can get me on my cell — 617-620-9800.
Really looking forward to working with everybody!
Evan
Farewell, Deirdre. You did good work and it was always a pleasure hearing from you. Best of luck in your new job reporting for the Globe Business section.
Welcome, Evan. Now that I know you are an Emerson College WLP graduate, I am even more impressed with you. I look forward to speaking with you again soon.
Hi Evan:
I enjoyed speaking with you regarding your article about the Newton Police Department.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/west/2013/07/20/newton-has-spent-over-paid-leave-and-other-costs-for-police-department-investigation/A1Tb11RwKbCQiIlKVi3YwI/story.html
Gail/Greg/Village 14, Newton Police Chief Howard Mintz recently released his department-wide review. I was surprised that NewTV host Jackie Morrissey is a fan of Mintz.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/newton/news/x853697683/Newton-PD-Chief-Mintz-takes-aim-at-gender-discipline-issues