David Ammons, after 37 years covering Olympia for the Associated Press, is stepping down.

Ammons, who will turn 60 in September, will leave the AP to become the new communications director for Secretary of State Sam Reed.

His departure is a significant loss for both AP readers and for Olympia's capitol press corps. Ammons has been a stalwart, managing to wring news out of even the most news-free press conferences, showing newcomers the ropes, and -- as his longtime column showed -- serving as the institutional memory for a place that often forgets too quickly. He's very well-sourced and has a gentle interview style that viewers saw in his frequent appearances as a host on TVW.

We'll still have him to kick around as Reed's spokesman, but he'll be missed.

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