Alexis Huicochea named Star editor

The Star also will continue looking for ways to meet readers where they are, including on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and X.

“We were a print publication first, and we still are a print publication. We take a lot of pride in that,” she said. “But we want to deliver the news that they need in the way that they want. … I think it’s just really important that we continue to meet people where they are, provide them their news in the way they want, and make sure that we’re presenting as comprehensive a picture of what’s happening in Tucson and how it’s impacting people in Tucson as much as possible.”

Huicochea, who has been with the Star since graduating college in 2005, spent the first half of her career as a reporter before becoming an editor, overseeing the Star’s news, business, features and, more recently, sports coverage.

She grew up on Tucson’s south side, raised by a single, working mother who introduced her to the Star. The family, which included a younger sister, got the newspaper every Sunday.

While her mother was mostly interested in the coupons, Huicochea was interested in the news.

“I would always read the stories, and I can recall being in high school and specifically reading the crime stories,” she said

In those pages, Huicochea became enamored by the reporting from former crime reporters Leslie Anne Newell and Becky Pallack.

“They would always write these really compelling crime stories where they would talk about some really devastating situation that occurred, and they would take you really deeply into it,” Huicochea said. “But they did it in a way where they would identify trends and what this means for the community, and it was just such a big picture look. I just knew I wanted to be the person who knows all of this information and shares it with the community and makes a difference in that way.”