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07/19/06
Wendy
Benjaminson, Jeffrey Kummer named Texas news editors for the
AP
DALLAS -- Veteran journalists Wendy
Benjaminson and Jeffrey C. Kummer have been named Texas news
editors for The Associated Press. The appointments were announced
July 10 by Dallas Chief of Bureau Dale Leach.
Benjaminson, the AP's correspondent in Houston, will be the
news cooperative's first Houston-based news editor. Kummer,
now senior editor for investigations, government and specialty
beats at the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, will be the Dallas-based
news editor.
Benjaminson was named correspondent in charge of the AP's
seven-member Houston staff in February 2005.
She began her journalism career in 1984 at The Washington
Times. She later worked as a reporter for United Press International
and Market News Service before joining the AP's Washington,
D.C., bureau in 1990 as night political editor.
Benjaminson worked briefly in the AP's Houston bureau before
joining the former Houston Post in 1992 as assistant city
editor. She moved to the Houston Chronicle a year later and
served in various roles, including assistant state editor,
politics editor, metropolitan editor and assistant managing
editor in charge of the Sunday newspaper and special projects.
She is a graduate of the University of Maryland.
Kummer began his career in 1973 as an intern for the LaCrosse
(Wis.) Tribune. He then worked for newspapers in Muscatine
and Davenport, Iowa, before joining the Pioneer Press in 1977.
He was named to the newspaper's first-ever investigative team
in 1982 and joined the editing ranks in 1993. He held several
editing roles before becoming a senior editor in 2001. Kummer
was one of three editors and five reporters who worked on
a series of stories about academic fraud at the University
of Minnesota that won the Pioneer Press a Pulitzer Prize for
Beat Reporting in 2000.
He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.
Kummer and Benjaminson replace Michelle Williams, who has
been promoted to assistant chief of bureau for Texas.
As news editors, Benjaminson and Kummer will share primary
oversight of Texas' AP news report -- a job that has historically
been held by a single person. Having two news editors will
allow for better beat- and issue-driven coverage by the Texas
AP's 47-member editorial staff, Leach said.
Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720
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