WCCO anchor and reporter Pauleen Le announced Wednesday that she is leaving the station, with her last show airing Friday at noon.
Le grew up in Eagan and interned at the Twin Cities television station while attending the University of St. Thomas. She spent time working in Fort Wayne, Ind., La Crosse, Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wis., before returning to WCCO in 2022.
She reports for the morning newscast starting at 5 a.m. and anchors the 8:30-9 a.m. show on the CBS News Minnesota steaming service. In April, Le executive-produced, edited and reported an hourlong documentary on the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.
The special told the stories of Minnesotan and Vietnamese soldiers, as well as the war’s refugees. In the documentary, Le, who is the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, shared her own family’s journey escaping the fall of Saigon and settling in America.
In an Instagram post announcing her departure, she thanked the late Darcy Pohland, a trailblazing WCCO reporter and mentor of Le’s who died in 2010.
“From interviewing me as a high school senior 20 years ago, to later letting me interview her for a college paper and then helping me land an internship at WCCO, I am forever grateful,” she said.
Le did not mention the reason for the departure or any future plans, instead saying “more on that later.”
