Fox41 viewers and fans of good reporting will miss Dick Irby, the veteran TV reporter known for turning up misdeeds in the city's Planning and Zoning department, MSD and other government divisions.
Irby, whose last day at Fox41 is Friday, has been at the station since 1991. Before that, he was the WAVE-TV troubleshooter from 1976-84. That's about 26 years of reporting experience in town.
Irby is moving to Arkansas for personal and family reasons. He doesn't have a job lined up there, but said he may see if a small-town paper or TV station could use a good reporter.
Irby's investigations uncovered the questionable actions surrounding the BOZA approval of the Javanon soccer facility earlier this year, and has been a key player in the coverage of developers abusing a tree ordinance recently.
"I've been proud to report on the Planning and Zoning process and two flawed and weighted toward development it is," he said.
Irby found his own stories, and you never saw him chasing fires and murders.
Of course, I'll always remember him for the incident mentioned in the attached video, in which a property owner attacked Irby and cameraman Dave White for taping footage near his land. Irby had uncovered the fact that Michael Gordon hadn't followed zoning laws in re-habbing a historic property.
He's made plenty of public officials look bad, but has always been the kind of reporter that makes enemies along the way, but those enemies realize he's just doing his job and respect him.
Irby, who lives in Old Louisville, says he'll miss the city and his neighborhood. And the city's news consumers will miss him.
Fox41 viewers and fans of good reporting will miss Dick Irby, the veteran TV reporter known for turning up misdeeds in the city's Planning and Zoning department, MSD and other government divisions.
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Rick Redding