Enjoying a week in New York City

Paula and I enjoyed a 1,109.7-mile week-long journey to fascinating New York City, hitting a lot of sights familiar to others, and maybe a few not so familiar:

1. Took free rides on the Staten Island and Governor’s Island ferries.
2. Went inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
3. Sat on lawn chairs on Broadway (David Letterman has fun with this one on his show). New York City’s version of Cuyahoga Falls’ Front Street.
4. Relaxed in Central Park sunshine with thousands of other people.
5. Strolled the Coney Island boardwalk where I had my usual Nathan’s hot dog. Larry King made Nathan’s famous in the early days of his radio show, long before he donned suspenders for CNN’s TV cameras.
6. Got splendid views of the New York skyline from Governor’s Island and the Brooklyn Esplanade.
7. Had dinner at former West Virginia University and Pittsburgh Steelers running back Amos Zereoue’s Manhattan restaurant, called Zereoue, on 37th Street. We toasted “To the Mountaineers!” since WVU is our alma mater.
8. Found excellent Polish food at Theresa’s in Brooklyn, which reminded me of dining at Babushka’s Kitchen in Northfield.
9. Attended a concert in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park with Columbian and Venezuelan bands. I couldn’t understand a word they sang, but enjoyed the music and the female fans’ reactions (which mostly involved their behinds vibrating).
10. Went inside Trump Tower and its copper world.
11. Visited the United Nations headquarters.
12. Drove to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with its scenic vista on the Hudson River.
13. Got tremendous views of the Statue of Liberty every day.

What we didn’t do was have a planned lunch with former BJ newsroom folks Kathy Goforth and Charles Buffum because work found Buff. Maybe next time.

Next up: A week in Michigan with my friend since first grade at Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Monongah, West Virginia.

To see photos of the trip, click on the headline.

PD alumni to meet July 31

PD alumni gather for lunch on the last Fridays of January, April, July and October Spouses and guests always welcome

NEXT LUNCHEON: Noon, Friday, July 31

PLACE: Nighttown, 12387 Cedar Road, Cleveland Heights
(top of Cedar Hill)

COST: $20.50 includes soup, salad, non-alcoholic beverages, tax & tip

CHOICES: Roasted Duck Breast Salad (baby greens, shallots, walnuts)
Dublin Lawyer (lobster and mushrooms in whiskey sauce)
Chevre Chicken (stuffed with cheese, shallots, walnuts)
Grilled Vegetable Plate

RSVP by July 24:
JoAnn Pallant (440) 734-1923, or japallant@sbcglobal.net

[Sourcer: PD alumni news by margie and rosie]

Gary Post-Tribune staffers want to buy newspaper

Gary (IN) Post-Tribune staffers want to buy their paper from the Sun-Times, Andry Grimm, a Post-Tribune reporter and president of the Gary Newspaper Guild, is optimistic. "We might be the only people in the world who believe in our newspaper right now, and I think we'll get in and get a bargain."

Click on the headline to learn more in the Chicago Reader.

Indy Guild wants members to wear red at meeting

Report from Editor & Publisher

NEW YORK The Indianapolis Newspaper Guild, which overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer from The Indianapolis Star two weeks ago, is asking members to show up in force and wear red during a meeting Thursday with Publisher Michael Kane.

In an e-mail to members Wednesday, Guild President Tom Spalding stated: "The Guild officers and stewards understand that, for whatever reason, we have members who have not felt comfortable showing their support for the Guild by wearing lanyards or displaying signs on their desks in the newsroom. But after seven months of contract negotiations in which the company has refused to negotiate and has presented progressively worse proposals at the bargaining table, after two weeks of unpaid furloughs, after three rounds of layoffs in less than a year in which the company disregarded the seniority provisions of our contract, there comes a time when you have to show the company which side you are on. This is one of those times."

The call for unity also follows last week's companywide layoffs of some 1,400 employees by parent company Gannett. Those resulted in the loss of 14 guild members at the Star, including guild secretary Sylvia Halladay. Spalding has said contract talks are continuing, but no new agreement has been put forth.

Gannett beats forecast with 2Q profit; shares jump

NEW YORK (AP) -- Gannett Co., the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, topped expectations for its second-quarter earnings Wednesday as it reversed a loss from a year ago, even though advertising revenue continues to dive. Its shares jumped 19 percent in premarket trading.

The McLean, Virginia-based company, which publishes USA Today and other daily newspapers, reported a profit of $70.5 million, or 30 cents per share. That compares with a loss of $2.29 billion, or $10.03 per share, a year ago, when the company took a hefty write-down on its declining market value.

Excluding special items, Gannett posted adjusted earnings of 46 cents per share, exceeding the average analyst forecast of 36 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Revenue in the latest quarter fell 18 percent to $1.41 billion, below analysts' projection for sales of $1.46 billion.

Ad revenue in Gannett's publishing division, which includes more than 80 U.S. daily newspapers, dropped 32 percent. That was slightly better than in the first quarter, when the unit posted a 34 percent decline.

Gannett's stock shot up 67 cents, or 19 percent, to $4.16 ahead of regular trading. The shares remain near the low end of their 52-week range of $1.85 to $21.68.

PD staffers debate value of blogs

Impact editor John Kroll tells PD reader representative Ted Diadiun that there are blogs that break news. Steve Outing says: "If there are too many folks in that newsroom with views like Diadiun's that the newspaper is best and other media are inconsequential in comparison, the Plain Dealer doesn’t have a rosy future."

Click on the headline to view a video conversationa bout blogs by PD staffers on Cleveland.com

BusinessWeek for sale

(Bloomberg)
BusinessWeek, the McGraw-Hill Cos. magazine that lost 30 percent of its advertising revenue in the second quarter, is up for sale, according to a person close to the situation.

McGraw-Hill hired Evercore Partners Inc., the boutique investment bank founded by Roger Altman, to sell BusinessWeek, said the person, who declined to be identified because the information isn’t public. Spokesmen for McGraw-Hill and Evercore, which are both based in New York, declined to comment.

The recession and competition from the Internet have cut into ad sales at BusinessWeek and competitors. Condé Nast said in April that it was closing its two-year-old Portfolio business magazine after it failed to meet revenue forecasts.

“Magazines are vulnerable to the same decline in advertising revenue that has been hitting the newspaper industry,” said Tom Corbett, a Morningstar Inc. analyst in Chicago. “Because of that, the environment for sales of magazine properties is going to be pretty challenged.”

Click on the headline to read the full story on Bloomberg.com

Email: Reader who misses old BJ to Chip Bok

Ott Gangl sends us this email conversation between an old friend, Gene Foraker, and former BJ cartoonist Chip Bpk:”

Foraker: I went to his site http://www.bokbluster.com/ and registered for his email list. I left a comment that I missed seeing him in the Beacon and that it is not the same paper after going so far to the left. It must be part of their plan to increase their subscriber base in this declining business
by leaning so strongly only to one side and upsetting the people on the other side.

Chip: Thanks, Gene. I miss being in the BJ but it's not the same paper anymore. I'll put you on the email update list for Bokbluster if that's okay.

Foraker: Thanks Chip. I'm a good friend of Ott Gangl (but much younger), if you remember him. Most all of the ex employees miss the old Beacon.

Chip: Ha. Tell Ott everyone's younger than him. Those were very good times

A few more copy editors might help

Thanks to Marvin Katz for forwarding this nice article. This blog has no copy editors and, therefore, tons of errors in our rush to get something posted. . It is easy to excuse an error like typing Jacon for Jacob. {The N on the keyboard is next to the B) Still we strive to remember a quote from an old master, Joseph Conrad "Any work that aspires, however humbly, to the condition of art should carry its justification in every line."

Fewer Copy Editors, More Errors

By Andrew Alexander Sunday, July 5, 2009
The front of Tuesday's Metro section directed readers to turn to Page B3 for a story about the suspected kidnapping of a Wheaton woman. But no story could be found.

The previous day, a key passage in a Metro feature about gay and lesbian families living in the suburbs ended in mid-sentence, leaving readers hanging.

Errors such as these seem to have increased in recent months. A story referred to the "Democratically" (instead of Democrat-) controlled Congress. Another mentioned the Marine "Corp" (instead of Corps). A story on Arlington County's plans for the old Newseum building misspelled Rosslyn as "Rossyln" four times. A column about plans to fire a federal employee said he had "spitted" (instead of spat) on his boss. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter was described as a "ferocious" (instead of voracious) reader. A photo caption mistakenly referred to a boy with the odd first name of "Jacon" instead of "Jacob" (clue: "b" is next to "n" on the keyboard).

Growing numbers of readers are contacting the ombudsman to complain about typos and small errors.

"As a virtually lifelong subscriber, I am disheartened by the increasingly poor quality of the editing of The Post," wrote Richard Murphy of Alexandria. If typos can't be caught by a spell-checker, "then The Post should restore a couple of copy editor positions. You have cut that staff too much."

The Post's copy editors are among the best I've worked with during nearly four decades in the newspaper business. But they've been badly depleted by staff cuts as the money-losing paper struggles to control costs. Those who remain are stretched thin while The Post expands to a 24-hour news operation in print and online.

Between early 2005 and mid-2008, the number of full-time copy editors dropped from about 75 to 43 through buyouts or voluntary departures. It has declined further since then, but Post managers won't provide precise figures beyond saying that six took a recent buyout offer. The need is so critical that most are being hired back on contract through at least the end of the year, and part-timers are taking up some of the slack.

Copy editors are the unsung heroes of newsrooms. Unknown to the public, and often underappreciated by their colleagues, they're the last line of defense against a correction or, worse, a libel suit.

They're skeptics who revel in the arcane. They know the difference between median and mean, and can speak knowledgeably about topics from Methuselah to the Milky Way. They write headlines, design some pages, check facts and make sure assertions are supported. They spend entire careers working horrible night-shift hours.

"By definition, you'll see more errors when there's reduced staffing," said Bill Walsh, the A-section copy desk chief. On a typical weeknight a few years ago, Walsh said, the three copy desks handling national, foreign and business news could rely on perhaps 20 editors. Those desks have since been combined into one desk, headed by Walsh. Today, he said, "there are some shifts where I'm looking at seven or eight people total."

Little mistakes take a huge toll on credibility. A groundbreaking newspaper industry study on credibility a decade ago warned that "each misspelled word, bad apostrophe, garbled grammatical construction, weird cutline and mislabeled map erodes public confidence in a newspaper's ability to get anything right."

"If readers can't rely on our accuracy, why should they even pick up the paper?" asked Chris Wienandt, an editor at the Dallas Morning News and president of the American Copy Editors Society, which has roughly 600 members.

He said technological tools, such as computer programs that check spelling and grammar, are of limited value. "It won't catch the difference between Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan," he said. "A copy editor will."

The Post this week began moving to a new, centralized "universal desk" intended to streamline the editing process for readers to get information in print, online and on mobile devices. Numerous copy editors told me they anticipate more errors will slip through as the kinks are worked out.

Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli did not disagree that more errors have appeared lately. But over time, he predicted, a universal desk will be "more effective" in serving print, online and mobile audiences.

Post managers have few choices but to cut staff while restructuring for the future. To survive, The Post must simultaneously hold on to its print readers while expanding its online audience.

It's a tall order. Small errors will continue. Loyal Post readers should continue to note them when they're small and complain loudly when they're large.

But I hope they also show some patience and understanding.

It was a great newspaper. . . and then some

This is a reproduction of a tattered copy of a full-page newspaper promotion ad which ran Sunday, May 7, 1972 on page A33

In the photo from left are Al Fitzpatrick, city editor; Hal Fry, editorial writer; Don Bandy, metropolitan desk; Charles Buffum, city desk; Joan Rice, fashion writer; Bud Morris, artist; Julius Greenfield, chief photographer.

[Click on image for better view]

The copy block below the photo reads:

The people pictured here are only a handful of the 835 men and women who are the Beacon Journal.

The talents of this diverse group make up a fa/ntastic data bank of information and diverse skills. . . a smooth human machine gathering, sorting, writing and printing millions of words daily.

You can bet your bottom dollar that to turn out an informative, interesting and award-winning newspaper takes unbelievable teamwork. . . by editors, reporters, feature writers, copy editors, make-up men, photographers, artists, proofreaders and copyrunners.

By compositors, stereotypers, keypunchers, paperhandlers, pressmen and printers. By motor route men, truck drivers and carriers. By salesmen, secretaries, operators, administrators and managers.

·We know that the success or failure of the Beacon Journal depends on these people. . . people who are just like you, but who have a special love for the newspaper business.

Because we have so many people with this special dedication, the Beacon Journal is a great newspaper.

And then some.

Blogger Note: We tried to iron out the folds but did not want to apply too much heat to the badly faded and tattered news page.

[From Charles Buffum memorabilia]

Fran Murphey: Newspapers covered her

Murphey asleep in women's room with newspapers for blanket. Click for better view

By Harry Liggett
It is strange to recall that I used to report for work on the old State Desk at the Beacon Journal at 4:30 a.m. My job was to make a budget of the stories for that day and, on many mornings, to knock on the door of the women's room to wake Fran Murphey.

It wasn't always the women's room. Sometimes it was in her car or some other location in the building.. Murphey would leave me a note to wake her at a certain time. As you can see, she often used newspapers for a blanket if it was a bit chilly.

Some viewers might think it insensitive to post such a photo of the dearly departed. If she were still with us, she would probably shout "Go to Hell, Liggett!" That was her insensitve reply when I asked her questions like, "Murphey, when the hell are you going to get your column over?"

There are many stories you all might recall about Murphey. She had a wierd name fetish, for instance. You could write Fran Murphey and she did not mind, but if you wanted to be formal and write Frances Murphey you damn well better use her middle initial. A formal name is formal after all.

I once made a statuette of Fran from a photo Paul Tople shot of her in her coveralls. It was displayed at her funeral and many of you have seen it on bookmarks and elsehwhere.

This photo, however, ranks right near the top in Murphey images. An 8 X10 copy was provided by Charles Buffum. It is priceless because Fran's signature (shown here) is written in pencil on the back with a note "Return to Kathy Goforth." The BJ photo stamp has a date of October 17, 1974, but no photographer name.

Enjoy!

Please keep in touch

The value of the Beacon Journal Alums blog depends on you. We have a backlog of items culled from old Tower Topics, but we need more information on what former and retired BJ types are doing today. We have not heard from many of you and your old friends are wondering what happened to you.

One of our retiree viewers says he is getting so old that if he has any friends in heaven, they are going to think that he just didn't make it. As many of you know, the retiree mailing list on our website is from information provided years ago. The Beacon Journal will not provide an update, so there could be a lot of people on the list who have gone to one of those places the USPS does not reach. Check it and let us know if we need any updates.

We would like to know where you have gotten too.

As always, we would like to receive information and photos to let others know about you and your family. If you cannot email photos, let us know, You can send them regular mail and we will arrange to scan them and return them to you. The Commentary section of our web site was added for opinion pieces that needed to be plainly labeled as commentary. If you want to add your own commentary or have content that might interest BJ types, please send e-mail to hliggett@sbcglobal.net.

Bob Paynter: Rent-a-reporter

Former BJ staffer Bob Paynter, who took a buyout from the PlainDelar last year,. says it’s an industry that can no longer support the investigative reporting he did at the Akron Beacon Journal and the Plain Dealer. Sitting outside a coffee house on Cleveland’s west side, he recalls that work was rooted in some ideals that he developed over thirty years ago. Here’s the interview with station WPCN.org

BOB PAYNTER: Keep in mind, I’m of an age, immediately post-Watergate, so I’m one of those people who went, thinking, “Woodward-Bernstein, look what they did. Wow, the sky’s the limit.” Journalists could really play a role, make a difference, save the world. Those kinds of things.

The Plain Dealer...and other large newspapers...still do investigative work...uncover corruption...expose abuses oif power. But, it is expensive. Paynter says he was a “cost center” because his reporting involved hours of digging through public records, finding a thread that connected the thousands of dots in front of him, and writing it all up in a way that the average person could understand. That work often takes months to yield a single story…an investment fewer papers are willing… or able… to make.

BOB PAYNTER: It just became clear to me that the future was limited --- if there was a future at all. And I was 58, and I’m thinking, “I’ve still got some miles on the tires, and I want to try something else.” And there was a modest buyout offer on the table, and I decided to take it.

So, what do you do if you’re a guy who likes to comb through haystacks for facts…piece together details and get to the bottom of something? What’s the next career move for a person with those skills? Would you believe…private investigator?

BOB PAYNTER: I call myself “Investigative Communications, LLC”. It’s a fancy way of saying “investigative reporter for rent.” I’ll look stuff up, I’ll find stuff out, I’ll write it up if you want it.

One of his early clients was an attorney representing someone who had gotten bilked in a real estate scam. Rooting through public records on a case like that wasn’t far removed what he had been doing as a journalist for years. Still, it isn’t the same.

BOB PAYNTER: I guess what I’m doing now is intellectually engaging…it keeps me busy…it brings in some revenue…but it doesn’t engage the soul. And, at the moment, I’m not really missing that. But I think I will.

Read an earlier post on Paynter from January, 2009

Freep exempt from Gannett layoffs

The Detroit Free Press is exempt from the mass layoffs taking place today at McLean, Va.-based corporate parent Gannett Co. Inc.

“We had a staff reduction and expense reduction at the beginning of June,” said Rich Harshbarger, vice president of consumer marketing for the Dedtroit Media Partnership, the Gannett-controlled company that handles the joint business operations of the Free Press and The Detroit News, which is owned by another publishing company. MediaNews Group.

The Freep, News and the partnership collectively cut 125 positions in early June.

Gannett is reducing the staff in its U.S. community newspaper division, which has more than 80 daily papers, by 1,000 to 2,000 jobs today out of a work force of about 41,500.

The publisher cut 4,600 jobs last year.

The Free Press is in a separate unit with Gannett flagship USA Today and isn't subject to the community newspaper division's headcount reduction mandates. However, Gannett newspapers in Lansing, Battle Creek and Port Huron are expected to be affected.

The newspapers in recent years have steadily trimmed staff through buyouts, early retirement incentives and layoffs, including 220 jobs in December. The Free Press was exempted from other rounds of cuts because of its plan to reduce home delivery to three days a week while increasing its online presence.

The two Detroit newspapers and the partnership operation have, combined, nearly 1,800 employees.

The cuts stem from continued print advertising revenue declines throughout the newspaper industry. In the first quarter, Gannett's net income was down nearly 60 percent to $77.7 million compared with the same period last year.

Gannett, which reports second-quarter earnings in mid-July, had $3.7 billion in debt at the end of the first quarter, the Wall Street Journal reported.

[Source: Crain's Detroit Business]

Reuters Handbook of Journalism goes online

The handbook is "the guidance Reuters journalists live by," and until now, it hasn't been freely available to the public. Reuters editor-in-chief David Schlesinger says "the handbook is a living document, one that preserves rules that have guided Reuters journalists through a century and half but also one that may change when the times change." He adds that "it's produced by humans who aren't infallible -- and it's used by humans who aren't infallible, so sometimes we make mistakes."

Click on the headline to see it.

Her presence recalled lunch tribute one year ago.

Sandi Levenson, Dave Boerner, Tom Moore and Harry Liggett

Printers Carl Nelson, Calvin Deshong, Gene McClellan, Al Hunsicker and Joe Catalano

Attendance at the Beacon Journal retrees lunch on Wednesday tied last month’s total of 10 which was the best attendance since the July 8 lunch in 2008 in memory of Sanford Levenson and Robert Pell. There were 28 at that lunch.

Levenson’s wife, Sandi, was among those attending this luncheon which was almost a year to the day retirees paid tribute to her husband and Pell.

Levenson worked for more than 35 years at the Akron Beacon Journal where he began as a reporter in 1966 and later served in a variety of roles including Beacon Magazine Editor and features writer. He retired as Copy Desk Editor. He then worked as News Editor of the Medina Gazette.

Pell began as a typesetter at the Barberton Herald, but within a few years moved to the Akron Beacon Journal, where he was a loyal employee for 37 years until his retirement in 1991.

On one side of the table this week at Papa Joe’s restaurant were the four most loyal lunch attenders: retired printers Calvin Deshong, Al Hunsicker, Gene McClellan and Carl Nelson. Joe Catalano, another retired printer, rounded out the total of five for printers.

News types at the lunch were Dave Boerner, Tim Hayes, Harry Liggett and Tom Moore. The news types could claim Sandi to bring their total to five to tie the attendance of printers.

Photos provided by Tom Moore. There was no photo of Tim Hayes.

San Francisco Chronicle presses stopped

Stop the presses.

The San Francisco Chronicle got out of the newspaper printing business today after more than a century of producing the paper in-house, shifting tonight's production to new presses in Fremont owned and operated by Canada's Transcontinental Inc.

Faced with aging presses and strapped for cash to replace them, the move will significantly cut costs at a paper that lost $50 million in 2008, and allow it to focus on news gathering, Publisher Frank Vega said. The new presses, he said, will also enable The Chronicle to deliver high-quality color reproduction that is unparalleled in the newspaper industry.

"Our presses are about 50 years old," Vega said. "Several years ago we made a conscious decision that we need to be in the news and information business, and that printing was better left to professional commercial printers."

The shift means the paper will be able to print magazine-quality photos on crease-free pages.

It comes amid an industrywide downturn that has seen readers and advertisers migrate to the Internet. It also marks the end of an era for the paper's pressmen.

That working tradition at the paper, often passed from generation to generation, began not long after the first Daily Dramatic Chronicle was churned out on hand-cranked presses in 1865. In-house printing had been interrupted only briefly, including after the 1906 earthquake, when flames torched the Chronicle building and production shifted to Oakland, and again during a 52-day strike in 1968 when the paper was cobbled together by typesetting it in pieces and pasting it onto office paper.

More than 200 union workers - press operators and related staff- are losing their jobs as The Chronicle's Union City printing plant closes down.

Paper signs were taped beside the entrance to the plant, telling workers to turn in their badges to security.

Click on the headline to read the full story in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Blame another flu season for this caption

The caption on this photo of Sen. Byrd is a bit of a stretch. You cannot really make yourself an orphan. They might have been referring to the death of his mother when he was one year old and was given to the custory of an aunt and uncle. That was a while ago.during another flu epidemic. Byrd will be 92 on November 20.

Byrd was born Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr., in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in 1917. When he was one year old, his mother, Ada Mae Kirby, died in the 1918 Flu Pandemic. In accordance with his mother's wishes, his father, Cornelius Calvin Sale dispersed the family children among relatives. Sale Jr. was given to the custody of an aunt and an uncle, Vlurma and Titus Byrd, who renamed him Robert Carlyle Byrd and raised him in the coal-mining region of southern West Virginia.

Byrd was valedictorian of Mark Twain High School[7] and, in 1937, he married his high-school sweetheart, Erma Ora James. And that’s only if wipipedia is a bit more accurate than the 1974 BJ caption.
[Clip from the Buffum memorabilia]

Regina Brett receiving Silver Gavel award

Click on the headline to see a video of Regina Brett receiving the 2009 Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association

The Silver Gavel Awards recognize entries from communications media that have been exemplary in helping to foster the American public's understanding of the law and the legal system. Past winners include To Kill a Mockingbird, Hitler's Courts: Betrayal of the Rule of Law in Nazi Germany, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court and Guantanamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power, to name just a few. Regina won the 2009 Award for the columns she wrote about Open Discovery. Regina is a metro columnist for The Plain Dealer. For more information, please go to www.reginabrett.com and www.cleveland.com/brett

BJ trio: Another photo from the past

Here's another photo from the past in the Beacon Journal newsroom. Seated with his back to camera is Abe Zaidan with Charles Buffum and Richard McBane. Guy standing with back to camera could be Albert Fitzpatrick. The photo by Paul Tople is dated September 18, 1973. Doing the math for you: The photio was taken 36 years ago. Tople is still shooting photos for the BJ. Zaidan is still in town, Buffum lives in New York City and McBane is retired in Georgia. The photo is among memorabilia supplied by Buffum

Click on the image for a better view.

Interesting article on Aetna

Wendell Potter, Senior Fellow on Health Care for the Center for Media and Democracy in Madison, Wisconsin, takes aim at Aetna Insurance's jobs-slashing and dropping companies whose employees file too many claims.

The title of the article is

Obama's False Friends of Health Reform

The insurance companies see the probable program as a chance for them to have millions more customers and their eyes glaze over at the thought of billions more in profits.

Click on the headline if you want to read Potter's article.

For a CNN article on Potter's testimony before a Senate committee, go to:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/02/insurance.purging/

This is scary stuff. Include the scare-words that billion-dollar companies, through their camoflaged surrogates, throw at the public to keep more billions rolling in.

Oh? Canada, eh?

Since I've hit the Aetna Medicare donut hole already, which means I pay ALL the costs of my brand-name drugs, I've made my yearly trek to Canada, by Internet.

Aetna charges $316.49 for 90 Celebrex 200 mg capsules.
Magicpharma.com charges $36 plus $5 mailing costs ($41 total) for 90 Celebroxine capsules. Celebroxine is the generic drug for Celebrex, but it's not available in the United States.
That's a savings of $275.49 for 90 days.

Even before I hit the donut hole, my co-pay through Aetna is $80, almost twice what the generic for Celebrex cost.

Once I'm in the donut hole, Aetna charges $271.55 for 90 Uroxatral 10 mg capsules.
Before I hit the donut hole, my Aetna co-pay is $40 for 90 Uroxatral 10 mg capsules.
Magicpharma.com charges $61 plus $5 mailing costs ($66 total) for 90 Afluzosine 10 mg capsules. Afluzozine is generic for Uroxatral, but the generic is not available in the United States.
It's cheaper to get Uroxatral from Aetna as long as I'm not in the donut hole.
Once I hit the donut hole, I save $205.55 for 90 days.

So, once I hit the donut hole, I save $481.04 every 3 months by getting both the Celebrex and Uroxatral generics through Canada, even if I order them separately and pay $5 mailing costs for each.

All of this is done online. You need your doctor's prescription, which you can scan with your computer and then attach it to the order form that you also get online. Give your credit card number and save. Or you can write a check and mail it with the forms, if you prefer.

Questions? Email me or call me at (330) 388-4466.

For those who don't understand the donut hole: Once you hit a specified amount -- $2,700 this year -- for the actual cost of the prescriptions (your co-pay plus Aetna's payments) -- you're in the donut hole. Then it switches to your actual out-of-pocket (the totals of your co-pays, but not the actual cost of the drugs) and you stay in the donut hole to buy brand-name drugs till you spend $6,153.75 of your own money (your co-pay for generics remains the same in or out of the donut hole). That guarantees that Aetna isn't paying any more for my Uroxatral or Celebrex for the remainder of the year. And it's barely July. Last year, I didn't hit the donut hole till September. Maybe that's because the pharmaceutical lobbyists helped write the law that set up the donut hole.

Click on the headline to go to Magicpharma.com
If you want to try another non-USA online pharmacy, go to CanadaDrugPharmacy.com

McClatchy looks perilously close to bankruptcy

An agreement between McClatchy Co. and its banks puts the country’s third-largest newspaper chain at risk of defaulting on its debt by the end of the year, according to credit analysts. If that happens, Bank of America and other creditors could either show leniency and rework the terms of their agreement or push the publisher of 30 daily newspapers, including the Miami Herald and Sacramento Bee, into bankruptcy.

In the current environment, banks are less likely to sustain companies on life support, said Shelly Lombard, an analyst at Gimme Credit. She pointed to the example of Idearc ( IAR - news - people ), a Yellow Pages publisher, which breached debt agreements and filed for bankruptcy in March. “Banks are starting to pull the plug on companies,” she said. “It used to be that banks worked with the clients because they were better alive than dead. Some of them may not be worth it.”

Elaine Lintecum, the company’s treasurer, declined to comment, citing a quiet period before its earnings announcement. Lintecum said McClatchy ( MNI - news - people ) will address its financial health during the earnings call in late July.

Like other newspaper owners, McClatchy, based in Sacramento, Calif., has suffered from declining advertising sales, which dropped 30% in the first quarter from a year earlier. What’s different about McClatchy is that it shoulders $2 billion in debt, much of it a result of the $4.6 billion acquisition of Knight Ridder in 2006.

Gary Pruitt, McClatchy’s chief executive, has slashed costs through laying off about a third of employees, cutting the dividend on its stock and trimming pay (see McClatchy Aims To Have The Last Newspaper Standing).

The newspaper chain’s agreement with the Bank of America ( BAC - news - people )-led group requires it to keep its debt below a ceiling of seven times one measure of its earnings (earnings before interest tax, debt and amortization). With declining revenues and $2.05 billion in debt, McClatchy’s debt ratio will sit at 5.7 after the debt exchange, according to estimates. From there, it’s a short slip to breaking its bank covenants: trailing 12-month EBITDA would only need to drop from $362 million to $294 million.

An analysis by the research firm CreditSights says a 40% drop in EBITDA each quarter--a more optimistic scenario than some estimates--would put McClatchy in violation of its bank agreement by the fourth quarter.

Banks may see little reason to give the newspaper owner more time to raise earnings or trim its debts, especially after its exchange offer failed to sway many bondholders. Its 7.125% notes currently yield 92%. From a bank’s perspective, that cash rewarding bondholders could be better used paying down its loans, Lombard said.

CreditSights estimates that McClatchy's assets are worth $750 million, less than the $950 million in bank loans. Banks may worry that these assets will sink further given more time.

McClatchy's fate looks increasingly out of its hands, Lombard said. “A lot of it depends on the economy.” If Internet advertising and print advertising rebounds before McClatchy manages to avoid tripping its covenants, then maybe it’s one newspaper chain that survives the recession. “It’s certainly within the realm of possibility,” she said.

Click on the headline to see the story on Forbes.com and links to related stories.

Gannett plans another round of layoffs

The Gannett Company, owner of the nation’s largest newspaper chain, will go through another round of layoffs soon, with an announcement possible in the next few days, executives said Tuesday.

The company’s United States and British newspaper divisions eliminated more than 10,000 jobs in 2007 and 2008, including about 2,000 layoffs last fall, and Gannett executives have said repeatedly that they expect more downsizing, including layoffs. The company, which also owns a chain of television stations and Internet ventures, ended last year with 41,500 employees, including 35,800 in its newspaper divisions.

On Gannett Blog, a former Gannett editor who closely follows the company, Jim Hopkins, quotes an unnamed person in the company as saying that it will announce on July 8 that it is eliminating 4,500 United States newspaper jobs, and cutting salaries in its broadcast division.

Gannett executives, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, said the number of jobs affected would be significantly smaller than that, and the news would probably come sooner than July 8.

How long has Charlie been gone?

Who is this crazy couple? Where are they now? Minnesota maybe? How long has Charlie Buffum been gone from Akron?

For a hint on these and other questions, click on the headline to find some more puzzlers.

What was the Beacon Journal job of the gal with Sharon Shreve smoking a cigar?

Where are the three guys with the stuffed animal now? One is a professor and another is a managing editor, but where are they and what is the third guy doing?

Who are the three people seated behind Buffum and Liggett? One of the girls is Maryilyn, an AP staffer, and another is a photographer names Marci. But who is the guy?

Put your answers in a comment or send us an email. Winning entries will be announced sometime. Sorry no prizes.

Thrity Umrigar honored as creative artist

Former Beacon Journal staff writer Thrity Umrigar is one of three creative artists whose work has made the region a more exciting place to live at the 49th annual Cleveland Arts Prize event, 6 p.m. Thursday at the Hanna Theatre, 2067 E. 14th St., Playhouse Square.

Umrigar, jazz musician Ernie Krivda and Charles Fee of the Great Lakes Theater Festival are among this year's winners.

Umrigar, born in Bombay, has won a mid-career award for literature. She earned her doctorate in English from Kent State University and a master's in journalism at Ohio State. Her works include her latest novel, The Weight of Heaven, as well as If Today Be Sweet and The Space Between Us. Her memoir is First Darling of the Morning. Umrigar is an associate professor of English at Case Western Reserve University.

Vote scheduled on new Boston Globe pact

The Boston Globe and its largest union reached a tentative agreement last night on $10 million in wage and benefit cuts, following three months of bitter labor talks that threatened to close the 137-year-old paper.

The deal - which, if ratified, could make the paper more attractive for buyers - differs in only a few areas from the package that union members voted down on June 8.

It provides a smaller pay cut - 5.9 percent - in exchange for deeper benefit reductions. But the main concessions originally demanded by The New York Times Co., the Globe’s owner, remain in place: $10 million in total savings, elimination of lifetime job guarantees for about 170 veteran Boston Newspaper Guild employees, and freezing the pension plan.

“Our aim throughout our negotiations has been to achieve the necessary savings in a way that causes the least hardship for our employees,’’ said Globe publisher P. Steven Ainsley in a statement. “We’re very pleased to have reached an agreement that accomplishes those goals.’’

Said union president Daniel Totten: “It’s been an exhausting process and a very difficult process for the members.’’

The agreement still needs to be approved by nearly 700 editorial, advertising, and business office employees. A vote has been set for July 20, and approval seems probable because, unlike the earlier offer, union leaders agreed to recommend it. The first offer failed by 12 votes out of more than 500 cast.

Beth Daley, a Globe reporter who voted no on the initial offer, said she expects the new agreement to be ratified. Guild leaders will present the details of the offer to members tonight.

Click on the headline to read the full story on Boston.com

OK, here's another site we will have to watch

Stolen from a Facebook wall:

Terry Oblander says he will begin a new career on Monday. He will begin working for an online newspaper covering Medina County. Terry doesn't expect to get rich writing stories for www.medinacountylife.com -- but who knows. Terry signed up for Social Security last Friday and should begin collecting benefits in September. So, a new Medina Count Life is beginning for Terry. Give us a couple of days and look in on how we're doing.

BJ Alums checked early and found this nice scene and hopeful welcome:


Welcome to MedinaCountyLife.com!

It's the new online gathering place where you'll share in the inspiring stories of everyday people in our community. Follow local bloggers and award-winning journalists whose work will enlighten and entertain -- sometimes making you laugh, and sometimes making you cry. At MedinaCountyLife.com we'll use multimedia storytelling and the latest social networking tools to help you meet neighbors, connect with friends, and find information you need about local businesses and services. Join us as we begin our journey to inform and inspire, using the technology of the 21st century to connect the residents of Medina County in a small-town way. Welcome home to MedinaCountyLife.com!

Click the headline to check it our yourself

Chicago Tribune to halt weekly magazine

The Chicago Tribune said today it is discontinuing its weekly Sunday magazine, replacing it as of July 5th with Sunday, a new section that will combine some of the magazine's features and puzzles with content that had been in the paper's Smart and House & Homes sections.

Chicago Tribune Magazine, which traces its roots to 1914's Chicago Tribune Pictorial Weekly and took on its current form on Oct. 4th, 1953, will continue as a series of themed sections published roughly once a month beginning in September.

Gerould Kern, the Chicago Tribune's editor, said in a memo to staff that the change involving the magazine was made "because declining advertising and high costs made weekly publication unsustainable."

Other changes coming to the Sunday Tribune next month involve the introduction of new sections and consolidation of others. "To succeed in this economic climate, we must continually evaluate and adapt our offerings to meet reader and advertiser needs and to improve profitability," Kern wrote.

Click on the headline to read of other changes.

BJ staffers win awards at Press Club of Cleveland

Beacon Journal staff report
The Akron Beacon Journal and Ohio.com won a number of first and second-place awards during Friday's Press Club of Cleveland Excellence in Journalism ceremony.

The Press Club recognized the paper for its layout, its Web site, photography, writing and investigative work.

Several awards went to individuals and the staff involved in the yearlong American Dream project, which explored the economic pressures facing the middle class.

The staff also won first place for multiple-page design for Reclaim the Dream. Executive news editor Mark Turner directed the layout, with the assistance of photo and graphics director Kim Barth. Turner, Barth and photographer Ed Suba Jr. also placed second in the same category for the layout of an installment for the same project, Middle Class Health Care.

Betty Lin-Fisher placed first for business columns for her Reclaim the Dream series challenging readers to manage their finances better.

The staff won a second place for public service for the yearlong American Dream project.

Turner also won first place for front-page news design for all daily and nondaily newspapers.

The Beacon Journal's online news service. Ohio.com, won first place for Web site design. The site also won second place for newspaper Web design.

Food writer Lisa Abraham took first and second place for separate lifestyle columns.

Reporter Phil Trexler received first place for breaking news on consecutive days for his coverage of the Bobby Cutts murder trial.

Staff writer Rick Armon received a first-place general news award for Losing Our Home, about the process of foreclosure.

Pop culture writer Rich Heldenfels won first place in reviews and criticism for his Other Side of Polansky Case. He also won second place, Best in Ohio, for reviews and criticism.

Former Beacon Journal columnist David Giffels won first place, Best in Ohio, for his body of essays.

Reporter and columnist Dennis Willard placed second in Best in Ohio, column writing, for his column, Squirrel Ferrets Out Partisan Publicity.

Other awards went to:
• Copy editor Elissa Murray, second place, Best in Ohio, for a collection of headlines: ''Sun sets on college bar,'' ''Going to mall? Don't forget Mom,'' ''Mars bites into Hershey's,'' ''Price of recyclables is down in the dumps'' and ''Bah, humbug! Internet Scrooges try to spoil holidays.''
• Copy editor David Scott, second for single newspaper headline: ''Billy goat's owner is still on the lam.''
• Willard and reporter Stephanie Warsmith, second, investigative, Ohio State ticket scandal.
• Photographer Mike Cardew, second, sports action, Sole sister; second, portrait/personality, Freedom.
• Suba, second, sports feature, game winner; second, general feature, A Mother's Love.
• Former Beacon Journal health writer Tracy Wheeler, second place for medical and health writing, Stem Cells Mature.

Terry Pluto column for Father's Day

Tery Pluto, a former Beacon Journal sports writer who now writes sports–and religion–fir the Cleveland Plain Dealder has a nice column for Fathere’s Day headlined

10 ways to make fatherhood a gift to children

Click on the headline to read it.