Press Standards

I started reading this article because I visited Sandia Peak this past summer and rode on this very tramway:

It's not uncommon to catch a typo or a grammatical error in a news article online, despite the "layers and layers of editors and fact-checkers".  I grew frustrated, however, after finding multiple errors in the above article--what kind of education does this reporter have?

Lt. Robert Arguellas, a Bernalillo County Fire Department spokesperson says the team was able to rescue the first 20 people from one car, The Associated Press reports. The 21st person, who remained stuck on another car by their lonesome, was rescued several hours later. 

"[B]y their lonesome"?  Sure, that's vernacular that even I use on occasion, but I expect news reports to be even just slightly more highbrow.  How about "alone"?

Over several hours, the search and rescue team lowered the employees about 85 feet to the ground, where they were later taken to a nearby landing zone. From there they were taken by a helicopter in smaller groups at a time to the base of the mountains. 

The last sentence is awkwardly worded.  Sure, I know what was meant, but I had to read the sentence a couple times.  What is "a time to the base of the mountains"?  In fact, just eliminating the words "at a time" makes the sentence eminently clearer with no loss of detail.  

The first group of 20 employees were on their way down to end their work shifts when the malfunction occurred. On the other hand, the 21st employee was on their way up for an overnight security shift when the shut-down happened. 

"Group" is singular.  Thus the first group of 20 employees was on their way down.  And the 21st employee is certainly singular and so was on his or her way up.  I know it's popular to use the plurals "they" and "their" for individuals today--and again, in common speech I sometimes use such faulty grammar--but I expect more from the writing of people whose living comes from writing.

The Sandia Peak website issued an alert that they will remain closed on Sunday after shutting down operations on Saturday after people were stuck on the cable cars. The site promises to provide updates once they know more about resuming operations.

The Sandia Peak website will remain closed?  The site will eventually know more about resuming operations?  This is just sloppy writing, the kind which wouldn't earn a very high grade at all from my high school English teachers back in the olden days of the 80s.