Steve Sbraccia of Channel 5

[ADAMNW@aol.com]

from Inside track.
 
Sbraccia: G'bye N.E. 
Dogged  street reporter Steve Sbraccia of ``NewsCenter 5'' is packing up and  
heading south to North Carolina at the end of the month, a move he says is  
``bittersweet.'' 
``My wife  (attorney Susan Rist) had colon cancer - she's clean at the moment 
- but  I got to thinking during her illness, `What the hell am I doing 
working 90 hours  a week?' '' the Channel 5 veteran told the Track. ``I have to slow 
 down.'' 
So the  Rist-Sbraccias are putting their Newton home up for sale this week 
and will  drive down to the Raleigh-Durham area June 25, the day after their 
daughters,  age 10 and 5, get out of school. 
They don't  have digs yet in Durham, but dad has found a gig at WB22 
reporting for  the 10 p.m. news. 
``I was  fully prepared to go down there and work at Home Depot, but the job 
came  out of the blue,'' said Sbraccia, who has worked at WCVB since 1989 
after  a long career in radio. ``And the workload isn't as grueling.'' 
Sbraccia,  whose last day on the job is June 18, admitted this winter's wild 
weather may  have had a little something to do with the move south. 
``There  were 22 storms and I was out there in every one of them,'' he said. 
``I know  because I counted them by making little slashes and drawing clouds 
on my  Dayplanner.'' 
Maybe Steve  should have tried out for a weather gig!