From commanding the anchor desk at KVOA-TV Channel 4 to a recent bid for a congressional office, Patty Weiss isn't afraid of challenges.
She now finds herself with a new task — getting acclimated to cold Wisconsin weather.
The 57-year-old Tucsonan — a familiar face in Southern Arizona — is leaving the Old Pueblo.
She plans to move to Madison, Wis., this week with husband Dr. Alan J. Gelenberg, who resigned as the head of psychiatry at the University of Arizona.
He plans to take a new position with a group of psychologists in Madison and work on clinical research.
What new job awaits Weiss, though, isn't clear.
"I am looking forward to an adventure and a new chapter in my life," said Weiss, who was busy packing up her Midtown home last week. "It's important to challenge one's self and go somewhere you can put down new roots in a community. That's going to be a wonderful challenge."
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The decision to leave wasn't easy, she said.
Political decisions at the local and state level were some heavy factors, Weiss said.
"I'm disappointed in the lack of vision and follow-through, from the UA to the city and county governments into the state," she said. "It's hard for Arizona to compete with states where people have a different attitude for moving forward."
And that makes it hard for Arizona to compete, Weiss said.
"We don't have a Legislature funding education and social infrastructure," she said. "I am jaded. It probably is best to take a look at a new place."
Weiss plans to spend Thanksgiving in Tucson with family and to catch a plane to Wisconsin the following day.
She's also heading to her new home with a new look.
Her familiar short, dark, brown hair has grown long and is lighter blond and gray.
"I'm no longer on TV and I'm no longer running for Congress," she said. "So I let it grow long. . . . It's fun."
Weiss, who is credited as Arizona's first woman evening newscaster, has been in the public eye since 1971. That's when the UA graduate landed an anchor position at KOLD-TV.
A couple years later, she left Tucson and took a job at KCST in San Diego.
She returned to Tucson in 1975 to begin her nearly 30-year career at KVOA.
Bidding goodbye to KVOA was bittersweet for Weiss.
In 2004, KVOA management told Weiss it planned to replace her on the 10 p.m. newscast.
The move did not sit well with many viewers, who denounced KVOA's decision to replace her with current anchor Kristi Tedesco, who is about 20 years younger than Weiss.
Though KVOA offered Weiss a new contract, she declined the offer and left the station in 2005.
Weiss says she will miss her former KVOA colleagues and wishes nothing but the best for the staff.
After hosting a few television segments for the Tucson Unified School District, Weiss set her sights on political office.
She ran for Congress in 2006 but lost to fellow democrat Gabrielle Giffords in the primary.
After the defeat, Weiss joined Western Progress, a nonpartisan think tank, where she served as the group's communications director.
"I had a great time doing policy work, and I might continue with the job," she said. "But my first job is to learn how to live in cold weather."
