WLNS-TV's Sheri Jones saying goodbye after decades-long broadcast career
LANSING — Long-standing Lansing TV news anchor Sheri Jones is saying goodbye.
Jones, a veteran journalist and member of both the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, is ending a 35-year career at WLNS-TV Channel News on May 9.
She has covered many of the region's biggest stories: East Lansing riots, Michigan State University Spartans winning a national basketball tournament in 2000, the Larry Nassar scandals and the 2023 mass shooting at Michigan State University.
Jones did not respond to phone and email messages for comment sent to her station but said in a WLNS press release that she plans to write, travel, and spend more time with her father and family.
The former MSU student said WLNS has been her "second home for nearly 4 decades."
'I am deeply humbled to have had the privilege as an anchor/reporter to deliver stories thatinformed and inspired Mid-Michigan," Jones said. "I have overwhelming appreciation for the hundreds ofcolleagues I've worked alongside creating the friendships and memories I have made sincewalking through the doors of TV6 as an intern.
"Thank you to everyone who believed in me and shaped my career and life in more ways than I could have ever imagined. It has been a privilege of a lifetime and one I will carry in my heart forever.'
Jones also has spent nearly 30 years as the spokesperson for Mid-Michigan Crime Stoppers Program, appearing in a weekly video segment that has been credited in helping to apprehend hundreds of wanted felons.
She also wrote the script and narrated an Emmy-winning documentary, "We Can Do It! A Celebration of Michigan Women," which chronicled the first 24 years of the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame and can be seen in 800 Michigan school research libraries, WLNS said.
Her state Hall of Fame entry highlights her calm demeanor and humanizing instincts.
Jones said that she has earned many meaningful awards in her career but being named as the Crime Victim's Rights Outstanding Advocate from the state of Michigan was the best recognition.
WLNS News Director Jam Sardar said, in a statement, that Jones is off-camera just how she is on-camera.
"She treats everyone from the governor to the custodian with interest, respect and grace," Sardar said. "Sheri Jones has - in so many ways - told stories and taken actions that have made an actual difference in this community and made the lives of mid-Michiganders better. No one will fill Sheri's shoes."
Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: WLNS-TV's Sheri Jones saying goodbye after decades-long broadcast career
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Beyoncé wishes Jay-Z happy Father's Day, honors dads during fifth show in London
Beyoncé wishes Jay-Z happy Father's Day, honors dads during fifth show in London Beyoncé Knowles-Carter delivered her fifth show on her "Cowboy Carter" tour in London, and she took a moment to wish husband Jay-Z happy Father's Day and honor all the fathers in the building before the night ended. The Grammy-winning singer kicked off her June 14 show at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium around 7:41 p.m local time. The show marked her fifth of six shows at the stadium on her Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin' Circuit Tour. Her last show in London is set to take place June 16, before Beyoncé heads to Paris for three nights. She started the show thanking fans for their loyalty and support for her nearly three-decade career. "Every time I see all of you guys dressed up and your beautiful signs, I just feel so much gratitude inside," she told the roaring crowd as she opened the show. As fans know, Beyoncé first debuted her "Cowboy Carter" tour at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on April 28 with 39 songs on the set list. Her shows have been filled with family, fashion, different music genres, and most notably country music and cultural commentary. And Saturday's concert was no different as she debuted more looks and delivered a high-powered show. Toward the end of the show, Beyoncé made sure to honor Father's Day, which takes place June 15. "I want to wish all the fathers a very, very happy Father's Day," she said, and then she took a moment to give the hip-hop mogul a special shoutout as she held up the Roc diamond hand symbol, as a reference to Jay-Z and his entertainment company Roc Nation. During her fourth show in London, Beyoncé also took a moment to wish her twins, Sir and Rumi Carter, a happy birthday onstage. She promoted fans to join in the sweet moment as Rumi stood on stage. The nine-city tour will span the U.S. and Europe with the grand finale taking place in Las Vegas on July 26. Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network's Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay.
San Francisco Chronicle
7 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Sold-out musical about Luigi Mangione adds new S.F. date
San Francisco's sold-out musical about Luigi Mangione has extended its run due to popular demand. ' Luigi: The Musical,' inspired by the social media frenzy surrounding the 27-year-old suspect in the murder case of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has added a July 13 performance at the Independent. The music venue on Divisadaro Street has a capacity of 500, roughly five times that of the Taylor Street Theater, where the show premieres Friday, June 13. All five of the production's originally announced June performances at the Taylor Street Theater, the former Exit on Taylor in the Tenderloin, sold out more than a month ago. 'Luigi: The Musical' was developed by Nova Bradford, Arielle Johnson, André Margatini and Caleb Zeringue, and is staged in the style of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical 'Chicago.' The satirical show is set at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center and features Mangione alongside a fictional group of prison mates including Sean 'Diddy' Combs, whose sex trafficking and racketeering trial began last month, and fallen FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. 'Luigi the character, as we've written him, is dead serious about his thoughts and goals,' Johnson previously told the Chronicle. 'There's something campy about the whole 'good guy with a gun' premise.' As Johnson and his colleagues prepared for the stage production's June 13 premiere, the real Mangione pleaded not guilty to four federal charges against him for the murder of Thompson in December. He is next set to appear in court June 26. During the appearance, a trial date may be set. Mangione spent his 27th birthday last month at the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he has been held without bail since Dec. 19. To mark the occasion, he sent a list of 27 things he's grateful for to various people who have been writing him letters while he has been locked up. The list has since gone viral on social media and features entries such as 'memes' and 'Latinas for Mangione,' both nods to the internet discourse around his arrest. Mangione also revealed that around 30,000 people donated more than $1 million to his legal fund, and expressed gratitude for the various books and letters that he has received.
San Francisco Chronicle
7 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Jazz Festival makes bold debut with expanded format, big ambitions
With a New Orleans style brass band blasting out a second line over the traffic roaring down Franklin Street, the revamped San Francisco Jazz Festival introduced itself to Hayes Valley as a trial run for bigger parties to come. Friday the 13 th isn't an auspicious date to launch a new, three-day festival, particularly when a wave of national protests coincides with the next day's programming. But SFJazz offered a glimpse of what the future might look like in the venue-rich neighborhood given a little luck and a lot of great music. With three shows in the SFJazz Center's Robert N. Miner Auditorium, four sets in the intimate Joe Henderson Lab, and another four performances in a tent covering a parking lot on Oak Street, Friday's roster offered a successful proof of concept. The cars zooming through the intersection of Franklin and Fell streets didn't seem to faze festivalgoers, many of whom moved back and forth between the building and the nearby tent throughout the day. Playing the opening Minor Auditorium set with the SFJazz Collective, Grammy Award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling greeted the half-filled room by welcoming 'everyone playing hooky from something.' Premiering newly minted arrangements by SFJazz Collective Music Director Chris Potter, Elling delivered a bravura program of his lyrics set to tunes by the great fusion band Weather Report. Most of the venue's seats were full by the time he concluded. At the same time in the Joe Henderson Lab, velvet-smooth jazz crooner Sachal Vasandani performed in a stripped down trio with guitarist Charles Altura and Dayna Stephens on tenor sax and bass-line-supplying Electronic Wind Instrument. Whether interpreting Sade or his confessional originals, he offered a fascinating counterpoint to Elling's fine-grit tone and thickly orchestrated, percussion-driven charts. Don Was, the recipient of the SFJazz Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization's gala on Thursday, June 12, led his powerhouse Pan Detroit Orchestra through a torrid set of originals and extravagantly reimagined Motor City material. He's not a flashy bassist, but he powered the ship with authority. SFJazz Executive Artistic Director Terence Blanchard has made it clear that his vision for the festival extends far beyond the current footprint. The festival tent on Oak Street — closed to make room for several food trucks, a merchandise table, a beer garden and a dining area — was reimagined with a different programming focus. It featured acts aimed at broader and possibly younger audiences, including a quartet led by Snarky Puppy guitarist Mark Lettieri and a hip-hop-inflected quintet led by drummer and emcee Kassa Overall. The strategy seemed to work. Among those drawn in were 17-year-olds Keira Kennedy of Oakland and her friend Michael Norris, who said he'd never been to an SFJazz event before. Standing near the back of the festival tent during Overall's set, the two teens lit up as the drummer gave a shoutout to Bay Area legend E-40. 'It's been amazing,' said Michael, a hip-hop fan eager to check out related musical styles throughout the festival, which wraps up Sunday, June 15. Burkhard Hopper, SFJazz's director of artistic programming, was strolling the Oak Street midway with his wife, Australian pianist and jazz vocalist Sarah McKenzie, and their toddler son. Friday's ticket sales were the lightest of the weekend, while day two might stretch the Miner Auditorium's capacity, 'particularly for the Stanley Clarke and Gonzalo Rubalcaba show,' he said. There were a few first-day hiccups, starting with an understaffed check-in table. At 2 p.m. Friday, the line was slowly creeping along, but by mid-afternoon the bottleneck had been resolved. As the evening turned chilly, heat lamps by the dining tables would have been welcome. Miner Auditorium was nearly full by the time tenor sax legend Charles Lloyd took the stage with his Sky Quartet, featuring pianist Jason Moran, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Eric Harland. Nearly six decades after his landmark 1966 Monterey Jazz Festival set, which yielded the million-selling 'Forest Flower,' Lloyd's presence felt like a benediction for the newly reimagined festival. After dropping out of the jazz scene in the 1970s Lloyd toured with the Beach Boys and recorded in Brian Wilson 's home studio. Much as he'd beautifully evoked the spirit of his former Sangam bandmate Zakir Hussain at the SFJazz Gala the night before, he mourned the recent loss of another singular creative force by opening the set with a prayer-like rendition of 'God Only Knows.'
