Email: brianf@patch.com
Phone: 630-359-7800
Hometown: St. Louis
Birthday: Sept. 30

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After stumbling into journalism when the high school paper needed a sports reporter, I quickly began to enjoy the art of crafting an article and as I've risen into higher ranks and positions, I still love the feeling of seeing my byline and knowing the stories I write can have a huge impact on a given community.

That is where Patch comes in. After graduating with my Master's degree from the University of Illinois Springfield, I pored over hundreds of job descriptions that seemed so run of the mill. That is, until I reached Patch. Here, I am afforded the wonderful opportunity to not only cover a great community such as Wentzville, but also participate and work within the community. Essentially I am reporting on the same beast I am a part of.

I've held a number of internships that have given me ample experience, including stints at the State Journal-Register in Springfield, the Peoria Journal Star and the Dallas Mavericks. I've also freelanced for several magazines and covered college basketball for the Associated Press.

My strongest quality, I believe, is my loyalty—one that extends across many different fronts. I remain very loyal to myself, my family and friends, but I also believe in loyalty to strong journalistic standards. Because of this, I have a proven track record of reporting what is important to you, the reader.

When I'm not writing, I can usually be seen updating my fantasy football or baseball team, watching sports at any level or enjoying live music. I also enjoy reading, catching up with old friends and anticipating the next brilliant TV series/mini-series produced by the minds of HBO.

I am very excited to be in the Wentzville, where I have already seen a strong sense of community. I look forward to bringing you the best coverage around—the coverage you deserve. I also welcome any and all comments, suggestions, hate mail, love mail or random ramblings in my email at brianf@patch.com.

Happy reading!

My Beliefs
At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. We also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. In the spirit of simple honesty, we encourage editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license to inject our beliefs into stories or dictate coverage according to them. Rather, we hope the knowledge our beliefs are on the record will cause us to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair and balanced manner. If you ever see evidence we failed in this mission, please let us know.

Politics
My political beliefs tend to be middle of the road. I grew up with a conservative mindset, but as I've grown older, I've started to incorporate some left-leaning thoughts into my political views. I am not registered with a party and will not register in the future as part of my belief that a journalist should be completely impartial.

Religion
I am a casual Roman Catholic and always in the process of trying to become more devout.

Local Hot-Button Issues
As in most communities, budget cuts are always a concern. I am also a firm advocate in reporting as much as possible on schools and city government. And when it comes to local "hot-button" issues, taxes can never be too far up on the list.

I prefer to keep my views on these issues as middle-of-the-road as I can to avoid any potential bias in my writing. That said, I am a human being and do have views on many if not all issues. As a journalist, though, I strive to keep them as far away from my writing as possible.