The Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator have brought on two staff members with connections to the Mahoning Valley to fill editor positions.

Ed Puskas, who most recently oversaw newsroom operations as editor of the Star Beacon in Ashtabula, has taken the same role at the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.

Also, Dan Hiner has come from The Herald in Sharon, Pa., to lead the Valley’s newspapers’ sports department as sports editor.

Puskas, a Rock Creek native who has called Howland home for nearly 25 years, got his start in journalism in 1985 as a part-time sports reporter at the Star Beacon. He became full time in 1987, and stayed there until 1991. From there, he worked in sports reporting at the News-Herald in the Cleveland suburb of Willoughby and the Meadville Tribune in Meadville, Pa., before landing in 1995 in the Tribune Chronicle’s sports department, which he later led as sports editor from 2005 to 2012. From there, he became sports editor of The Vindicator until 2019, when he took the role of editor at the Star Beacon.

Along the way, Puskas won multiple Associated Press awards for reporting and editorial writing, and covered high-profile local sports teams and events, including Youngstown State University’s 1997 Division I-AA national championship run and the school’s runner-up finish two years later, Warren G. Harding High School football and basketball, and Ohio State University football during the coach Jim Tressel years, including the 2002 national championship season.

“I grew up as a journalist in this building while covering the people, athletes and teams of the Mahoning Valley. I’ve also spent almost half my life living here, so it means a lot to be able to return to this newsroom and to help the talented people who now cover the Valley continue to do it well,” Puskas said. “Readers of the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator have been letting us into their homes for generations and they’ve trusted us to tell their stories. I’m grateful to have been part of that previously and to be involved here again is very special. The Valley has been a great area for news and that is never going to change.”

Said Ted Synder, general manager for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator, “I’m very excited to have Ed return to lead the newsroom for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator, the newspapers where he spent the bulk of his career. He has many accomplishments during his career and I feel very fortunate to have been able to bring him back.”

Hiner’s journalism career began as a freelance sports reporter in 2014 at the Tribune Chronicle while attending Youngstown State University. He moved over to The Vindicator as a freelancer in 2015 and joined their staff part time in 2017. Within a few months, he was promoted to a full-time sports reporter.

There, he covered everything from Little League playoffs to the 2019 MLB All-Star game in Cleveland, to YSU to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers and Youngstown Phantoms.

He later joined the staff at the Star Beacon as a reporter and page designer, and in 2022, was named sports editor at The Herald.

“Dan has written for both papers in the past and we are pleased that he has accepted the challenge to lead our award-winning sports department,” Snyder said. “He has worked with Ed in the past and I know that he and Ed will continue to work well together.”

Said Hiner, “It’s a pleasure to be able to make my way back to the Youngstown-Warren area. The talent and passion for sports of all levels is just a little different in the Mahoning Valley. It isn’t just a love for athletics, the communities have a high sports IQ as well. It’s a luxury to not only take over the sports department, but also oversee some of the most talented and informed staffers and freelancers in the region.”