NAHJ ELECTIONS: The National Association of Hispanic Journalists opened its elections this week for seven national officer positions and its Region 4 director.

Elections opened July 7 electronically (paper ballots are available by request, by contacting membership manager Rhadames Avila at ravila@nahj.org or by calling 202-662-7430).

Electronic voting concludes July 25 at 2 p.m. 

Candidates on the ballot for national officers include:

President: Ricardo Pimentel, 54, editor of the editorial page of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Pimentel has worked as a reporter for various newspapers, including the San Bernardino County Sun,  Fresno Bee,  San Diego Union, Sacramento Bee and McClatchy Newspapers.

Vice President Print: Elizabeth Zavala: deputy city editor of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Vice President Broadcasting: Manuel de la Rosa, Rep. KIII-TV Corpus Christi. Hugo Balta, vice president of news for Telemundo 47 in New Jersey

Secretary:  Verónica García, copy editor at the national news desk of the Los Angeles Times

Financial Officer: Dino Chiecchi, editor of Hispanic publications for the San Antonio Express News.  

General Officer at Large: Brandon Benavides, producer, KSTP-TV in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. 

Online at Large Officer:  Robert Hernández, director of development for The Seattle Times and seattletimes.com. 

Region 4 Director: Ybeth Bruzual Ortiz, anchor, Central Florida News 13. (Regional directors are elected on odd years. This candidate is running to fill a vacancy.)

For more information, visit www.nahj.org.

To vote, visit http://nahj.org/election.

 ELSEWHERE, At  NBC’s Bay Area station, KNTV, Daniel Garza was laid off after having worked for 18 years at the station.