Where is Fox 26 KRIV's Chris Stipes?

Fox 26 KRIV's Chris Stipes has been off the air for weeks with a cleaned off desk - what's the deal?

Chris Stipes

Where has Fox 26 KRIV morning anchor Chris Stipes been? First his co-anchor Natalie Bomke takes off to WFLD Chicago and now Stipes is gone too.

Well, the answer is Stipes has been on paternity leave after he and co-anchor in life wife, KTRK abc13 anchor Elissa Rivas, had a baby. Therefore he is missing most of November sweeps. He has also grown a beard.

In the meantime, Stipes and Bomke's anchor chairs have been both filled by Fox 26's capable weekend anchor Rita Garcia.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, emails have been coming to me saying Stipes has cleared out his desk which has people talking.

"Yes indeed, I did clear out my desk because I hadn't really cleaned it in about seven years," Stipes told mikemcguff.com. "I wanted it to be nice and spotless when I return from paternity leave several weeks from now!"

Fox Television Stations also tells me Stipes is on the schedule to return in a few weeks.