‘It’s time for a reset’

A familiar face on the 11 p.m. weeknight newscast for decades, WLNS-TV anchor Sheri Jones hasn’t had a Friday night off, with the exception of some vacation days, since 1989.

That will change this Friday (May 9), when she signs off for the final time.

“My family — my dad, my husband, my kids, their significant others — will be here Thursday and Friday,” she said. “On Friday, for my final show, my news director, Jam Sardar, has some special things planned for me. It’s possible he’ll have something to say about our time together.”

Jones will go live at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. but won’t anchor the 11 p.m. newscast, getting a jump start on retirement.

“I’ll be pretty emotional, so I’ll leave it to my co-anchor, Chivon Kloepfer,” she said.

Courtesy Sheri Jones Jones works on the 11 p.m. newscast in the WLNS-TV newsroom circa 1992.

Jones has been a mainstay at WLNS since 1988, when she began as an intern.

“Someone asked, ‘37 years? Don’t you want to go 40?’” Jones said. “This has never been about a number for me. I didn’t chase the mighty dollar. I’ve gone to school with people in this community. I fell in love with mid-Michigan, and mid-Michigan fell in love with me.”

Mara MacDonald, who worked at WLNS from 1995 to 1998 and at WDIV-TV in Detroit from 2004 to 2024, said, “Sheri never just read the news. She was the heart of that newsroom and has helped jump-start the careers of hundreds of people, including mine.”

Throughout her time at WLNS, Jones, an inductee of both the Michigan Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, has covered many of the region’s biggest stories, including the East Lansing beer riots, the Larry Nassar scandal and the 2023 mass shooting at Michigan State University.

“I remember the riots at MSU,” she said. “My photographer was standing on top of the live van, and I was reporting in the area. A canister of tear gas was thrown underneath our van. I told him to get down, and I drove the van. I couldn’t see anything from the effects of the tear gas. I got to the nearest road, pulled over, and we all fell onto the ground. It was scary.”

Courtesy Sheri Jones Jones fills in for Jane Aldrich as anchor of “Lansing Live” in 1994.

Jones also covered 9/11 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We never had a day off. We worked harder during the pandemic,” she said. “It was surreal. I would leave here after the 11 p.m. newscast and drive down Saginaw or I-496. There were no other cars on the road, and I thought, ‘This is so weird.’”

During 9/11, Jones was the only one reporting. Anchor Jane Aldrich was stranded in Alaska. Sports director Dave Akerly had to rent a car to get back to Lansing from Seattle since planes were grounded. Anchor Terry Stanton’s contract wasn’t renewed.

“It was overwhelmingly exhausting. You didn’t know what was going to happen from one moment to the next,” Jones recalled. “I remember doing the cut-ins. I was on TV all the time, doing hour-on-the-hour updates and then the normal news. We did a telethon for the Red Cross, then another cut-in, then the 11 p.m. news, then I got home and just cried.

“Emotionally, I had to be objective the whole time for everyone. You’re done, you’re emotionally battered, and you realize you have to do this again tomorrow.”

The most gut-wrenching story Jones covered was the mass shooting at MSU on Feb. 13, 2023, when Anthony Dwayne McRae killed three students and injured five others. Several hours later, he killed himself when confronted by police off campus.

“It was so difficult to get through. I went to school at MSU, and my heart is there,” Jones said. “I went live at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. when they had the ceremony at the MSU Auditorium. Everything was so quiet. I knew I had to start talking. Everyone was standing, holding candles, being somber and reflective.

“I started to talk, and the people around me sat down, then more sat down. There was a wave of people just sitting down. My cameraman followed this whole sea of people sitting down and then going to the Rock, and I was talking very softly, trying to embody the heartache and hurt in that moment for those students, myself and the community.”

This was one story where Jones couldn’t remain objective. As she spoke about it, she choked up and wiped away tears.

Courtesy Sheri Jones Jones reports on the street in 1993.

“As you can see right now, it’s still with me,” she said. “Before I did that broadcast, I called my college roommate Kristin Remondini Flanagan, who came. We took flowers to the Rock. We visited the Sparty statue, the Red Cedar, our dorm, and we just cried. I got a lot of it out of my physical being — all that emotion — before I had to do my job and be there for the community. She really helped me through that.”

Since 1994, Jones has been the spokesperson for WLNS’ Crime Stoppers program, producing segments that have assisted in capturing many of the area’s most wanted fugitives.

“I’ve been the crime beat reporter since 1990,” Jones said. “I started this special called ‘The Missing Link.’ I wanted to take a deep dive into unsolved homicide cases the Lansing Police Department had. I worked with Detective Michael Debnar, who’s still one of my dearest friends to this day. We looked at all the unsolved cases and really made an impact with our storytelling.”

In 2018, Crime Stoppers had an 80% success rate of getting fugitives off the street. With tips that came in through Crime Stoppers, hundreds have been apprehended, including Antonio Evans, who was on the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list.

“This is a partnership where law enforcement and the media can really work together,” Jones said. “Once I had done a story, and the next day, my phone rang: ‘Sheri, I had that guy in my barbershop and shaved his head.’ ‘So, he has no hair?’ ‘Yeah!’ ‘Okay, I’ll call the police and tell them he’s bald.’ I put that person on hold and called the LPD, so I was on two phones at once.”

The late U.S. Sen. Carl Levin named Jones “Michigan’s crime-fighting mom.”

“What an awesome title that was, right?” she said. “I have a phenomenal working relationship with law enforcement in this community: State Police, sheriffs, local police, township police. Crime Stoppers helped cement me in that very symbiotic relationship between law enforcement and the media. Sen. Levin appreciated that.”

Jones wrote and narrated the Emmy-winning documentary “We Can Do It! A Celebration of Michigan Women,” which chronicles the first 24 years of the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. The Zonta Club of Lansing, of which Jones is an honorary member, purchased 800 copies of the documentary and sent them to every public school in Michigan.

“I’ve seen Sheri offer so much to the Greater Lansing area off the air through appearances and acts of generosity. She’s a very giving person, and we’ve all benefited from her multiple talents,” MSU Professor Emeritus Sue Carter, who produced and hosted “Heart of the City” at WLNS in the mid-1990s, said.

Kloepfer, who’s worked at WLNS  for 13 years, agreed. Since 2023, she’s co-anchored the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts with Jones.

“Sheri has touched so many lives through the countless stories she’s told, the initiatives she’s championed, the partnerships she’s created, the journalists she’s mentored and the many, many hours she’s volunteered in her community,” Kloepfer said. “She’s used her TV platform for so much more than journalism and is an inspiration to so many people, including me. I have the utmost respect for Sheri and the legacy she leaves behind at WLNS. She will be greatly missed.”

Before joining WDIV-TV, anchor Jason Colthorp worked for 15 years at WILX-TV, WLNS’ rival.

Courtesy Sheri Jones Jones with Jerry Jodloski (left), the founder of Lansing-based JAMMIN’ DJs, and Dave Henderson, the late co-owner of JAMMIN’ DJs, at an event at East Lansing’s Harrison Roadhouse in the mid-’90s.

“I think Sheri’s secret to a long and successful career is her relatability,” Colthorp said. “We co-hosted many events together and, in addition to wishing we could host the same newscast someday, I quickly realized she’s the same charming, witty person off air as she is on. Viewers can always spot a phony, and Sheri’s always been the real deal.” 

Asked why she’s retiring, Jones laughed.

“The station was like, ‘You can change your mind.’ That’s really amazing and heartfelt and makes me feel wonderful. It’s just time for a reset and a refresh. A lot has changed in the industry,” she said. “I still have such a passion for storytelling and care about my community. My dad is 87. I want to have more flexibility to be there for him if he needs me since my mom died in 2021, and my sister’s in Florida. I want to make sure I’m flexible.”

Jones intends to travel. She also plans to do voiceover work, media training and would like to write, particularly an updated edition of “Covering Violence: A Guide to Ethical Reporting about Victims and Trauma,” co-written by the late MSU journalism Professor Bill Coté, one of her mentors.

“I’ve had some job offers, but I’m not saying yes to anything right now. I’m just going to take a pause and really enjoy a Michigan summer, which I love so much,” Jones said. “I’ll miss my friendships. Journalists write the first version of history. I’ll miss breaking news. I still have all the passion for storytelling. I’ll miss the performance aspect of a newscast. I still feel I have the energy and the ability to draw people in, only it’ll happen in a different way.”

Jones offered some advice to future journalists. 

“Stick to your ethics,” she said. “My philosophy has always been that I want to be right and not first because if you’re first and wrong, that destroys your credibility. We need factual, ethical, unbiased reporting.

“Good journalists are needed now more than ever,” she continued. “If you want to be a journalist, don’t give up on your dream. The world needs you. It’s the most incredible career you can have. This career has been beyond my dreams, beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined.”