About McKinneyNews.net

McKinneyNews.net is an online community portal, providing local news and information, as well as an interactive message board, to the fastest growing community in the country. We are the only news outlet in McKinney to offer exclusively Internet coverage, enabling us to provide our readers up-to-the-minute news, as well as more feature articles covering a wider variety of topics, including Crime and Courts, Education, city and county Government, Entertainment, Business and Family issues.

McKinneyNews.net seeks to provide McKinney with fair, accurate news stories and photographs of the city’s events and newsmakers. Our goal is to build lasting relationships with the community by maintaining the highest standard of integrity in all of our endeavors. Originally founded as McKinneySports.net in August 2005, the site expanded to include news coverage in August 2006.

McKinneyNews.net Staff

ANGIE BADO
President/Founder
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Prior to founding McKinneySports.net and McKinneyNews.net, Angie worked three years as Administrative Assistant to the Campus Coordinator and Head Football Coach at McKinney North High School. While at North, Angie’s connection with the athletes and coaches invigorated her passion for sports and gave her valuable insight into the world of athletics and fueled a desire to be more involved with the world of sports. She has put her leadership skills to work as founder of McKinneySports.net, allowing her the opportunity to blend her love of sports with the business world and share her passion for sports with the community.

A McKinney resident for 17 years, Angie has spent time in leadership roles in the many volunteer organizations. She has chaired various parent groups at the ACT Academy, Glen Oaks and Valley Creek Elementary Schools, Dowell Middle School and at McKinney North High School. When McKinney North opened in 2000, she was directly involved in creating, organizing and chairing the PTSO, the Bulldog Athletic Club and the Gridiron Club.

STEVE KIRK
Sports Editor
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Steve joined McKinneyNews.net in August 2006 as a staff writer and became sports editor one year later. He is a veteran of sports journalism who has spent the past 16 years as an editor and beat writer. Most recently, he finished his second stint at The Birmingham News covering the University of Alabama beat for the state’s largest newspaper. The News awarded him its highest honor in 2001 the "Big N" Award for his yearlong coverage of an NCAA investigation, the firing of Crimson Tide football coach Mike DuBose and subsequent hiring of Dennis Franchione.

As an editor, Steve worked at The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, where he served as Assistant Sports Editor and directed the newspaper’s coverage of colleges, high schools and NASCAR. He was also involved in the Super Bowl XXXIX host city’s planning and execution of its vast coverage.

Previously, Steve served as Sports Editor of The Decatur (Ala.) Daily and The Meridian (Miss.) Star. He also covered the Clemson University beat for The State in Columbia, S.C., and the Auburn University beat for the Birmingham Post-Herald.

JOE ARRIOLA
Sports Writer
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Joe joined McKinneyNews.net in August 2007. He is attending the University of North Texas and was a 2007 graduate of McKinney High. While at MHS, Joe was an offensive lineman for the Lions’ football team. He also contributed stories for the school yearbook, The Lion, during which he was awarded Writer Of The Year.He also won Best of Show for yearbook headlines at the SIPA West Convention.

Additionally, Joe received the Grace Rivera Scholarship Award for being the first person in his family to graduate.

BRETT RYDER
News Writer
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Brett holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Bethany College and a master’s degree in theological studies from Texas Christian University. In 2005-2006, Brett spent nine months working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) tasked with helping hurricane Katrina victims secure federal financial assistance to rebuild their lives. Prior to FEMA, Brett worked in dual capacities as a small business owner and operator in Fort Worth while ministering part-time to a rural Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregation in Italy, Texas. Brett’s intellectual mentors include: Paul Tillich, Rollo May, Ernest Becker, Rudolf Bultmann, Erich Fromm, Sam Keen, and Martin Heidegger. For fun, Brett enjoys playing guitar, reading, writing (sorry, no arithmetic), sipping tequila and chatting about just about anything (hopefully not by himself).

RODNEY WILLIAMS
News Writer
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Rodney is an original staff member at McKinneyNews.net. He was previously an award-winning editor and writer at the McKinney Courier-Gazette and McKinney Living Magazine. He served as a writer for the McKinney Courier-Gazette’s sports department for one year before being promoted to sports editor.

Under his guidance, the Courier-Gazette sports page was voted best sports page by the Texas Press Association for daily newspapers under 7,000 circulation. Rodney spent three years as the beat writer for McKinney High School and one year covering McKinney North High School. He directed coverage for nine area high schools and chronicled Celina’s march to two football state championships and a baseball state title. Rodney also served as the beat writer for the McKinney Marshals in their inaugural season.

ELISE ANDERSON
Photographer
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Elise Anderson is an original staff member at McKinneyNews.net. She is a graduate of McKinney High School and its journalism department. Elise spent three years working at the McKinney Courier-Gazette, two of which were spent as the newspaper’s photo editor.

Elise’s experience ranges from shooting current events to sporting events. She has covered every sport for local and area high schools and was the only photographer asked to take an aerial shot of the inaugural Crosstown Showdown football game between McKinney and McKinney North.

In 2005, Elise won first place in the Texas Press Association’s Division III News Photography category in its annual Better Newspapers Contest.