North of 96th welcomes a new face

Welcome to the new “North of 96th.” I say “new,” because it’s new for me. I took over the beat on Monday. I’m excited, but also a little intimidated.

When reporter Andrea Muirragui Davis said goodbye to North of 96th last month, she was confident the next person would keep it going strong, and I’m determined to live up to that standard.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be traveling throughout the North of 96th area, meeting with government and business officials, and trying to bring myself up to speed.

But before that, you deserve to know a few things about me. I’m a proud Indiana University graduate, Michigan native, half marathon runner (two so far, and a third one planned), Pinterest addict and lover of dogs, although mine lives in Michigan.

Prior to coming to the IBJ, I was known for being part of the “Govtracker” team. It’s the government blog of The Herald-Times in Bloomington, where I worked for about a year and a half covering city government with a side of state and federal politics. So, I’m no stranger to news blogs.

I’m also used to navigating new cities. I once lived in four different states in a matter of four months. Sure, one of those cities was my hometown of Bay City, Michigan, and one was my college town of Bloomington, but they still count. When I moved to Kentucky in August 2012, I didn’t know a single person in the state and had never visited it, so I’m already ahead of where I was back then.

It will naturally take me time to learn and really get control of this beat, but I promise to do my best. I hope you’ll keep reading the blog and following along on Twitter. There’s a lot of news happening in the North of 96th area, and I hope to keep bringing it to you in interesting ways.

If I’m missing something, tell me. If you have a helpful news tip, send it my way. If you have a suggestion for how we could do things differently, please reach out.

As readers, residents and employees of these fast-growing communities, you have a great sense of what’s important. Don’t be afraid to share it.

You can find me on Twitter (@lerdody or @NorthOf96th), via email (lerdody@ibj.com) or the old-fashion way of using a telephone (317-472-5369). I’m looking forward to diving into the northern suburb coverage and hopefully being known someday as “North of 96th” instead of “Lindsey."