Tyler Lopez

We feel like we were chosen to come to join the WEEK team in Central Illinois.

For my wife, it's a homecoming as a Metamora high grad.

She'll be inducted into their sports Hall of Fame later in September!

And for my kids, it's a chance to be near family and a cousin who - weeks before a 6th birthday - lost his battle with significant medical problems, despite the help of the St. Jude Midwest affiliate and the Children's Hospital in Peoria.

Professionally, this represents an opportunity to work with a talented, vibrant news team that wants to bring you all the aspects of the issues and stories that challenge our families each day.

I joined WEEK-TV in mid-July of 2015 and now co-anchor 25News at 5, 6 and 10pm alongside Amber Krycka.

Having spent over 20 years in broadcast news in Colorado, I've worked for several stations:

850 KOA radio in Denver. KRDO (ABC) and KOAA (NBC) in Colorado Springs/Pueblo. KWGN (WB), KDVR (Fox) and KMGH (ABC) in Denver.

My career started with a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Long Beach State in Southern California.

I'm functionally bilingual in Spanish and spent several years on the Board of Directors with Ralston House, a Colorado child advocacy center that tripled its reach over that time period.

Because I worked with talented people, I also had the good fortune of winning four Emmy awards during the Colorado years.

But we've quickly adjusted to the active lifestyle here in the River City region.

We enjoy the changing of the bean, corn and pumpkin fields and have already determined that it's tough to beat fall in Illinois!

This is my 6th state of residency: California, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Cali (again), Pennsylvania, Cali (again!) and Colorado.

When not working, these are some of the things that interest me: college and pro basketball & football, hiking and following our kids around.

We have a college sophomore now working on his injury rehab and a high school sophomore now enjoying her time with the color guard.