Amie Schaenzer
Amie Schaenzer links food news to broader business and community coverage in the Illinois suburbs, following how restaurants, grocery chains and local institutions affect everyday life. She has worked as an editor with Patch since the company launched in 2010, and her reporting combines local business openings and closures, consumer updates and family‑oriented community stories.
Business and food coverage across Illinois
Schaenzer’s core focus is local business reporting, often anchored in food and retail stories that show how the suburban economy is changing. Her work includes statewide business roundups such as a digest that highlighted Major League Baseball choosing a theater for free July 4 entertainment alongside other top Illinois business stories. She compiles local digests that pair restaurant news with community recognition, including coverage of a Crystal Lake restaurant closing alongside a feature on a recognized local author. In her food beat, she reports on consumer‑facing expansion stories like a popular ice cream shop moving into Chicago suburbs, treating brand growth and market reach as neighborhood business news rather than lifestyle fluff.
Her business lens extends beyond individual storefronts to broader economic trends. Schaenzer covers statewide shifts such as Illinois layoffs topping 8,000 in recent months amid major store closings and job cuts, framing unemployment figures in terms of their impact on workers and local economies. She tracks grocery and retail developments, including Trader Joe’s expansion and other fresh market items that appear in her Illinois business news digests. Across these pieces, she tends to use brief, service‑driven formats—roundups, digests and short explainers—that pull together several business and food stories so readers can scan what matters in their area in one place.
Libraries, books and family-focused community news
A recurring thread in Schaenzer’s work is attention to institutions and resources that serve families, particularly libraries and reading programs. She writes list‑style pieces recommending “Some of the Best Halloween Books for Kids,” featuring titles with ghosts, ghouls and wizards aimed at school‑age readers. In a related vein, she publishes “The Bully Menace: 13 Reads For Parents, School‑Aged Kids,” curating books that help families address bullying and inviting readers to share additional suggestions by email. She also conducts Q&A interviews with children’s authors, such as a conversation with an Algonquin writer about a book on being “the boss” of one’s body, reflecting her interest in child‑focused content and practical resources for parents.
Her coverage of libraries combines service information with community safety. Schaenzer reports on the St. Charles Public Library cancelling in‑person events for two weeks, explaining that scheduled programs were paused and outlining how patrons would be affected. She follows that story as conditions escalate, covering the library remaining closed following threats and describing a near altercation tied to masking policy that contributed to the shutdown. She also writes lighter family‑life features, such as a Libertyville story on a “Twosday” baby born on a palindrome day, which was highlighted in a roundup of good‑news stories across Patch. Taken together, these pieces show her tendency to situate food and business reporting alongside coverage of the spaces—libraries, schools, community programs—where families spend time.
Crime, safety and public services in the suburbs
Schaenzer routinely covers crime and public safety stories that intersect with the institutions she reports on. She has written about a former library board trustee arrested on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge after an incident at his home in Elgin, connecting governance roles with personal conduct when they affect public trust. In Des Plaines, she reports on a woman facing kidnapping charges after tying up a man in an attempt to force him to attend relationship counseling, detailing the circumstances and charges in straightforward terms. Her crime coverage also includes cases in which a family friend is accused of sexually abusing a teen after offering her a place to stay, emphasizing both the alleged offense and the community context.
She does not limit safety reporting to conventional crime beats. Schaenzer writes on incidents shaped by bias, such as charges filed after a woman was beaten in a homophobic attack, placing the case within broader concerns about threats against LGBTQ+ residents. She covers weather‑related risks as well, including a piece on more winter weather on the way, where she explains that up to 11 inches of snow could fall on the Chicago area and warns of bitter cold conditions. Across these stories, her style is direct and factual, prioritizing clear descriptions of what happened, who is affected and how public services—from police to libraries—respond.
Long-running Patch editor with a regional lens
Schaenzer’s longevity with Patch shapes the breadth of her coverage. She has been with the outlet since its launch in 2010, taking on editing responsibilities across multiple Illinois communities over time. At various points she has stepped back from local editorships while colleagues temporarily handled specific town sites, underscoring that her role has extended beyond a single neighborhood or city. Her current work often appears under broad Illinois branding and statewide digests, reflecting a regional perspective that moves easily between business and food stories, library updates, crime reports and family‑friendly features.
Across subjects, Schaenzer’s distinguishing trait is the way she threads local food and business coverage through the fabric of suburban life—libraries, schools, families and safety—so that openings, closures and expansions sit alongside the resources and risks that define community experience.
4 more food journalists.
Aaron Guerrero
Aaron Guerrero is head of the digital department at Miami’s Community Newspapers, where he pairs restaurant coverage with community-facing content. He focuses on how Miami-area restaurants evolve, celebrate, and experiment through new concepts, menus, and neighborhood-focused dining experiences. He reports on restaurant openings, such as an Italian food hall at Plaza Coral Gables, new executive lunch menus, and wood-fired Latin steakhouse brunches, explaining what sets each venue apart. He also covers awards, like a Wine Spectator honor for an Italian chophouse, and events that turn dining rooms into social hubs. His bylines extend to features on sports-themed gatherings, civic renamings, local visits to restaurant programs, sponsored community pieces, and official notices. His work is straightforward and descriptive, helping readers and local businesses connect around specific openings, promotions, and dining experiences.
Alice Mannette
Alice Mannette blends service journalism with narrative reporting about everyday life, using local food and gathering places to tell broader stories about community. She writes for the St. Cloud Times, focusing on practical guides to ice cream shops, wineries and other neighborhood businesses. Her coverage turns questions like where to eat and what to do this weekend into portraits of local entrepreneurs, weekend plans and the social life of her area. She reports food and drink as usable guides while tracing local history, culture and public safety. She also covers how people record their lives, writing features on diaries, family history and new books that examine archives and memory. Alongside this, she reports civic and public safety news and produces USA TODAY Network service pieces that compile clear, concrete resources for people dealing with storms and other emergencies.
Amanda Mactas
Amanda Mactas links food news, pop culture, and practical consumer advice, showing how brands, products, and personalities appear in everyday eating. She is an associate editor at Delish, reporting news and feature stories that span celebrity-driven launches, competitive eating, value-focused roundups, and taste tests. Her beat covers food culture, event-driven food deals, brand campaigns, product testing, grocery finds, and shopping guides, all with a clear service angle. She reports through specific products, personalities, and major sports days or holidays, using them to explain broader trends, marketing tactics, and consumer value. Beyond Delish, she works as a freelance writer and editor across food, travel, health, and lifestyle outlets, profiling founders, public markets, restaurant culture, wellness, and travel, and tying everyday eating to place, wellness, and routine in accessible, utility-focused prose.
Amelia Jones
Amelia Jones is a Fox 4 News reporter who makes major moments in Texas life feel close by centering ordinary people, often through food, fandom and everyday routines. She now reports across web, on-air and social video, keeping the camera and narrative on fans’ faces, crowd noise and local venues as she covers World Cup visitors trying Tex-Mex, FIFA fan festivals and standout supporters whose energy defines the stadium mood. She explains state legislative debates on issues like abortion pills in clear, practical terms, breaking down complex bills and legal analysis into real-world consequences. She reports on trials, crime, explosions and traumatic incidents through witnesses, victims and families, and spends time with small business owners and neighborhood groups in East Dallas. She joined Fox 4 News in 2023 and links daily life to the larger forces that shape Texas.