Lolita Baldor to cover Pentagon

The Associated Press (AP) has named Lolita Baldor, a native of Laconia, as one of its two correspondents assigned to the Pentagon.

"It must be a slow news day in Laconia," Baldor remarked yesterday when asked about her new assignment. A veteran of the capital press corps, Baldor joined AP two years ago after serving in the Washington bureau of the Connecticut Post and New Haven Register. Earlier she worked in Hartford as capital bureau chief for the Connecticut Post.

Baldor said that although covering the Pentagon would be an exciting challenge, she has been pursuing a number of major stories in the areas of national defense and foreign policy, including the administration's base closure plans, allegations of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay and the nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. She has reported extensively from southern New England as well as from the presidential campaign trail where she traveled with both Joseph Lieberman and John Kerry.

"I look forward to traveling with the secretary," Baldor said, referring to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. "The Pentagon reporters do travel around."

Baldor graduated with the class of 1974 at Laconia High School, where she recalled that her early efforts at journalism were recognized by The (Laconia) Citizen, and completed her education at Michigan State University in 1978.

Baldor's mother, Virginia, is a familiar face in the City Clerk's office and her late father Mike served with the Police Department for 21 years, reaching the rank of sergeant.