Seattle biz weekly loses reporter to Newsday

Puget Sound Business Journal health reporter Valerie Bauman has left the paper and starts a new political reporting position at Newsday next week.

In a farewell post, she wrote, “In my nearly three years with the paper, I’ve found myself inches away from a human brain; I’ve rubbed elbows with the elite of Seattle’s health industry; and spent six delicious weeks researching Tom Douglas and his restaurants.”

Before joining the American City Business Journals paper, Bauman worked for the Weber Shandwick public relations firm for 17 months.

She formerly reported for five years for the Associated Press in Albany, N.Y., and other locations. She was at the Business Journal for three years and was highlighted by Columbia Journalism Review’s Trudy Lieberman in June for her great reporting.

Lieberman wrote that Bauman’s reporting about alleged misconduct in the state commissioner’s office had “made this convoluted saga comprehensible, offering readers dogged and thorough coverage of this fascinating and far-reaching tale.”

She has a degree from Western Washington University.