You’ll notice some staff changes on The Olympian’s pages

Regular readers of The Olympian will notice some changes in who is covering what on our pages starting Nov. 9.

Reporter Sara Gentzler, who has been covering Thurston County government and the court system, has been promoted to state government reporter.

She will be covering the state Legislature, statewide officials, agencies and politics as well as Capitol Campus happenings not only for The Olympian, but for its sister publications in McClatchy: The News Tribune in Tacoma, The Bellingham Herald and The Tri-City Herald. I will continue to be her editor.

She replaces James Drew, who left McClatchy after the last legislative session. Please send her story ideas and other communication at sgentzler@mcclatchy.com.

Martín Bilbao will replace Gentzler on the county and court beats. Bilbao recently graduated with honors from UCLA, where he worked as Assistant News Editor for City and Crime for the Daily Bruin. He has been reporting for The Bellingham Herald on protests, coronavirus and other topics since graduating.

Please introduce yourselves to him at mbilbao@theolympian.com starting Nov. 9.

I am excited for these changes. Sara has proven herself covering a variety of sticky topics on the county beat — she is thoughtful, thorough, hard-working, well-respected and smart. She is eager to dig into issues at the state level.

Martín’s boss in Bellingham, Editor Julie Shirley, has described him using many of the same words I’ve used to describe Sara. So sources, please return his calls, and readers, look for his byline.