News-Record.com

Hi, readers of the Inside Scoop. I'm Margaret Banks, the new city government reporter. I'm taking over for Eric Swensen, who departed recently to edit a medical journal in Virginia.

I've been at the paper for more than 11 years (plus I worked three years at two other papers), and in that time I've covered a little bit of everything. Some of you who remember seeing the picture that ran with my religion column (1998-2001) may be asking this: Margaret, how can you, a mere slip of a child, already have 14+ years of experience in journalism? Simple: I was 12 when they hired me.

But I digress. I'm looking forward to covering city government, and I hope to post frequently on this blog.

We'll have two city-related stories in the paper tomorrow: One outlining the bond projects that will appear on the November ballot, and another that will reveal how much our city property taxes will go up.