Basics: The best way to reach Tanya is by phone at (925) 212-4518 or via e-mail at tanya.rose@patch.com. You can also follow Pleasanton Patch on Twitter or on Facebook to catch the latest headlines.

Hometown: Garden City, KS

Current city: Pleasanton

Birthday: June 11

Bio: Tanya is a Midwesterner who moved to the Bay Area in 2001. After a two-year stint in the Washington, D.C. area, she's back and never wants to leave again.

She has worked as a journalist for the past ten years, five of them for the Contra Costa Times where she covered the cities of Concord, Clayton and Brentwood. Before that, she worked at the Tracy Press covering county government and an enterprise reporting beat. While at both papers, she earned writing awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

Favorite things to do: Yoga, hiking, reading and writing.

Beliefs: At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible and human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal certain key beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable.

Politics: Independent most of the time, especially when it comes to local politics.