Lou Raguse

The best part about working in the news is you always have something to talk about. Those floods in Aberdeen? I was there. That South Dakota inmate executed last year? I actually interviewed his dad a few hours beforehand, and asked the victim’s mother questions following it.

Current events give us watercooler talk and dinner conversation. And I love being the one who gets to tell everyone what happened.

That’s what I’ve had the opportunity to do at KELOLAND News since moving here in 2005. I’m now the weekend anchor and cops & courts reporter.

My love for current events began with a game called “Current Events Challenge” in high school, where having a clue about the news led to extra-credit points in social studies class.

I grew up in Wheaton, Minn., which happens to be one of the north-most towns in KELOLAND viewing area. It’s pretty neat that friends and family get to see me work every night.

My journalism experience began at the Wheaton High School newspaper The War Whoop, continued at the University of Minnesota newspaper The Minnesota Daily, and brought me to KVRR-TV in Fargo, N.D., before finally landing me in South Dakota.

Some of my most memorable news stories have been those that exemplify the best of human spirit.

Photographer Terry Kjergaard and I won South Dakota and Minnesota awards for our coverage of a mother in White River who’s done amazing things to find meaning in her son’s drunk driving death. You can check out the story here on keloland.com.

A more recent example is that of Dominic Moore, a young man dying of cancer whose last wish was simply to give a gift to his mother. Photographer Kevin Kjergaard and I were lucky enough to help Dominic’s wish come true. If you haven’t seen the story, give it a look.

When I’m not anchoring or reporting, I enjoy working out, reading, finding excuses to gather my friends together, and trying to beat my personal record time for solving the Rubik’s cube. (Currently, it’s one minute, ten seconds.)

If you have an idea that’d make a good story, I’d like the opportunity to tell it. Send me an email at lraguse@keloland.com.