Vermont’s largest weekly is pleased to announce two additions to its growing news staff: Veteran Statehouse reporters Terri Hallenbeck and Nancy Remsen are joining Seven Days as it expands the reporting team covering Vermont government and politics.
“Our readers want to know what’s happening in Montpelier,” said publisher and coeditor Paula Routly. “They want to know how decisions are made, who’s making them and why. It takes more than one political reporter to explain all of that.”
Hallenbeck and Remsen spent the last decade running the capital bureau at the daily Burlington Free Press. Both announced they were leaving the paper on Election Day, because they had been taken off their longtime beats and reassigned.
A University of Vermont graduate, Hallenbeck spent 11 years at the Daily Star in Oneonta, N.Y., before returning to the Green Mountain State in 1998 to work for the Burlington Free Press. She served as copy editor and assistant metro editor before joining the paper’s capital bureau in 2005.
At Seven Days, Hallenbeck will serve as a full-time staff writer, covering the Statehouse and occasionally writing the Fair Game political column.
“I’m thrilled to be back writing about the legislature and state politics and grateful that Seven Days sees the value in experienced coverage,” Hallenbeck said. “We’re coming off an unexpectedly close governor’s race that’s still technically unsettled. Next year promises plenty of intrigue in Montpelier. I’m looking forward to delving into it for Vermonters.”
A Middlebury graduate, Remsen spent 20 years at Maine’s Bangor Daily News. There, she worked her way up from general assignment reporter to managing editor. Remsen joined the Free Press as assistant metro editor in 1996 and began reporting from the Statehouse the following year.
She will cover health care and medicine at Seven Days in a part-time capacity. She also plans to serve as a special correspondent for WCAX-TV.
“Although I have been a reporter for 40 years, I wasn’t ready to put down my pen and notebook when my gig with the Free Press ended abruptly,” Remsen said. “Seven Days and other Vermont media are giving me opportunities to stay in journalism. Thank you. I especially welcome the challenge Seven Days has offered to cover one of the most important issues of the day — health care.”
According to Routly, Seven Days is moving to fill the void left by Vermont’s embattled daily newspapers, which continue to shed jobs and reporters. “As the media landscape continues to shift, we’re seeing opportunities where we can step up, increase our coverage and continue to provide something different from everyone else,” Routly said.
She said she’s excited by the opportunity to pick up two of the Statehouse’s top political reporters. “Terri and Nancy bring an unusual combination of experience and knowledge,” Routly said. “They’ll really hit the ground running.”
As part of the expansion, Fair Game columnist Paul Heintz has been promoted to political editor. He’ll supervise Seven Days’ Statehouse coverage, while continuing to write Fair Game most weeks.
Da Capo Publishing Inc., dba Seven Days, was founded by Pamela Polston and Paula Routly in 1995. In addition to its five free publications, the company also produces two annual events: Vermont Restaurant Week and the Vermont Tech Jam, a job fair and tech expo.
In 2000, the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce selected then-5-year-old Seven Days as Business of the Year. Eight years later, the Burlington Business Association did the same, citing the company's exemplary business practices, contributions to the community and promotion of a positive image for Burlington, as well as business success. In 2013, Editor & Publisher selected Seven Days for inclusion in its annual feature “10 Newspapers That Do It Right.”