Lawson is new editor of The Davenport Times

DAVENPORT-Drew Lawson, formerly a reporter for the Davenport Times and Cheney Free Press, is now editor of The Davenport Times full-time.

Local readers may recognize Lawson's name, as he has reported on Reardan news, Lincoln County prep sports and other community/news items for the Times part-time since June 2020. Lawson, of Cheney, will now be concentrated solely on bringing reliable, community-oriented coverage to Davenport, Reardan and the rest of the Times' readership.

"I have greatly enjoyed learning about and integrating myself into the Davenport and Reardan communities through my part-time reporting in the last six months, as I worked with former editor Jamie Henneman to help make The Times a local paper again," Lawson said. "I am now doubly thrilled to try and continue that work, learn more about the community and give the Davenport and Lincoln County readers the local paper they want and deserve."

Lawson originates from Vancouver, Washington, where his parents and three younger siblings still live. He moved to Cheney to attend Eastern Washington University, where he got a sports reporter job at the university's student newspaper, The Easterner. He spent two years at the school paper and three years at EWU overall, holding positions of sports reporter, sports editor and co-managing editor.

"It was here that I discovered my love for journalism, and through two years at The Easterner I began to realize I wanted to make this my career," Lawson said.

Lawson graduated from EWU in 2020 and took a job with Free Press Publishing, which owns The Times.

"Drew has been committed to covering local sports and news since joining our team last year," Publisher Roger Harnack said. "He's effective, approachable and community-oriented. In short, he understands what it takes to produce a good newspaper."

Lawson will be working out of Davenport consistently on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays to begin his editorial career. He will be working from Free Press Publishing's office on Wednesdays to help produce the weekly print paper. Readers can visit him during business hours on the days he is in town and email him at dteditor@centurytel.net any time.

"Under his direction, coverage of Davenport, Harrington and Reardan will surely continue to improve," Harnack said.