Boston Herald offices to move 13 miles to Braintree

The Boston Herald, founded in 1846 by a group of Boston printers, will be leaving Boston in November or December.

Publisher Kevin Corrado told employees in a memo that the newspaper will be moving its offices to Braintree, 13 miles south of Boston, later this year.

The Herald filed for bankruptcy in December 2017 and later was bought by Denver-based Digital First Media, which owns hundreds of publications.

The Herald has 8 Pulitzer Prizes. It was converted to a tabloid in 1981.

The Herald absorbed the Boston American Eagle and the Boston Daily Times in 1847 and the Boston Journal in 1917.

Post-Gazette to print only 5 days a week

Pittsburgh will hold the distinction of being the largest city in the U.S. without a daily print newspaper after the city's Post-Gazette informed readers it will cut its production schedule from seven days a week to five beginning this weekend.

 

The Plain Dealer is down to 4 days of delivery. Although The Plain Dealer will still be published 7-days a week the paper has cut back home delivery to just Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays

 

Average minutes per visit for the top 50 U.S. daily newspapers, based on circulation, is about two-and-a-half minutes.

Younger generations get their news from their SmartPhones. Ouch!

Ray Redmond’s widow passes away

Nea Redmond, former BJ Portage County bureau chief Ray Redmond’s widow, passed away Sunday, August 19.

Nea Redmond

Ray was the guy who got the FBI's damaging report on the National Guard’s actions in the May 1970 killing of four Kent State students and the wounding of nine others. The FBI said the shootings were unwarranted.

The Portage County prosecutor left the report on his desk, walked out of the room, so that Ray could read it, take notes, etc. That's the kind of trust and relationship Ray built as a reporter.

That led to another Pulitzer Prize for the BJ for its coverage of Governor James Rhodes’ actions that led to the killing of America’s children and hastened the end of the Vietnam War amid growing national outrage.

Ray was an information officer in General George “Blood and Guts” Patton’s 3^rd Army and was with Patton on D-Day in 1944 for the rescue of France from the Germans.

Ray was with the BJ for 34 years, retiring in 1975. He was born in Warren, Ohio.

Bill Lilley quoted me in his BJ tribute obituary when Ray passed away in 2008:

''He WAS the Portage County Bureau forever it seemed,'' said retired Beacon Journal assistant state desk editor John Olesky. ''He handled everything out there and did a great job. He also was a great guy.''

Ray and Nea were regular volunteers at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church on Union Street.

Nea’s obituary:

Nea Redmond

Nea Redmond, age 95, passed away on August 19th.

A lifelong resident of Akron, Ohio, she was preceded in death by her parents, Tom and Emelia Mack; loving husband, Ray Redmond; brother, Nick Mack and devoted cousins, LTC. George P. Manos and Chris Manos. She is survived by cousin, Jeanette Manos and many second and third cousins.

As a 1941 Akron East High School graduate, Nea became a secretary at Goodyear Tire and Rubber. She retired after 44 years as a legal secretary. During her time at Goodyear, she worked for notable attorneys.

Nea and Ray enjoyed traveling and loved visiting Paris, Italy, Hong Kong and Greece. She enjoyed floral gardening and spending time with her cat, Chevette.

Nea was a member of the Akron Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church and the Philoptochos Society. She volunteered with the Church Sunday School, Greek Festival, and the Gyro Luncheon.

Calling hours will be held at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church at 10 a.m. on Friday, August 24th. The funeral service will follow at 11 a.m. Interment at Rose Hill Burial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church Building Fund, 129 S. Union St., Akron Ohio 44304. To share a Memory, Send a Condolence or Light a Candle, visit the Tribute Wall at www.billo wfuneralhomes.com . Billow FAIRLAWN Chapel

Sallie Cook, a BJ correspondent who helped cover Wayne County, passed away Wednesday, August 8 in Wooster after a long illness. She was 76.

Sallie covered courts, police and government for the BJ.
 
Former BJ Metro Editor Tim Smith recalls:

“I hired Sally as a correspondent for the BJ in the 70s. She was an outstanding asset and did yeoman work. She’ll be missed. A great lady.”

Later, she was deeply involved in GeekWire, a Seattle-based national technology news site co-founded by her son, John Cook.

John Cook, Todd Bishop and Jonathan Sposato created GeekWire. GeekWire has a weekly radio show on Seattle’s KIRO-97.3 FM.

Son Dave Cook also works at GeekWire.

GeekWire civic innovation editor Monica Nickelsburg called Sallie “a powerful presence at GeekWire.”

Sallie’s widow is Roger Cook. They also have another son, Dan Cook.

Sallie was ran for Wooster City Council and losing narrowly in the general election. She worked with the League of Women Voters, served as a non-profit board member and canvassed and phone-banked for Democratic candidates including Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential election.

The Ohio Wesleyan graduate was born Sallie Dicke on Nov. 9, 1941 in Lima, Ohio.

Her father, Vernon Dicke, was a farmer in western Ohio and her mom, Anne Dicke, was a social worker. The family later moved to Findlay, Ohio, where Vernon bought an insurance company.

For the GeekWire article on Sally’s passing, go to https://www.geekwire.com/2018/sallie-cook-1941-2018-longtime-journalist-guiding-force-geekwire/

Mizell Stewart received a Journalism and Mass Communication Gerald Sass Award for distinguished service to journalism education.

Mizell met Sass, who preceded Mizell in his Gannett position, at the ceremony.

Former Beacon Journal managing editor Mizell, a Twinsburg native and Bowling Green State grad, worked in Tallahassee, Florida before coming to the BJ in 2006.

Mizell succeeded Debra Adams Simmons as the BJ’s top newsroom management. Bruce Winges followed Mizell in that position.

Wife Valerie and Mizell live in West Chester Township, which is near Middletown and Hamilton and Cincinnati.

Giffen a natural for Akron Hall of Fame



Tom Giffen with Tom Moore, Mike Williams

Former BJ sports editor Tom Giffen is among 14 who will be inducted into the Greater Akron Baseball Hall of Fame during the August 10-12 celebration weekend.

While working in Ol’ Blue Walls in 1990, Tom purchased the Roy Hobbs baseball program and built it into a nationwide home for thousands of players who never want to quit. In addition to operating the business, Giffen often umpires, cares for the fields and scores the games.

For 30 years Tom has run the Roy Hobbs seniors baseball tournament in Fort Myers, Florida. BJ newroom retiree Tom Moore and advertising retiree Mike Williams have helped Tom with a tournament newsletter, among other duties.

Roy Hobbs is the fictional hero of Bernard Malamud's novel, “The Natural,” and the movie starring Robert Redford as Hobbs.

Giffen’s mother, the late Elsie Ream Giffen, was a Chicago publish house editor and Mineral Wells (Texas) Independent newspaper editor. His father was Cecil Giffen.

Tom is married to Ellen. He has a brother, Charles, in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Derf gets Cleveland Arts Prize award

Former BJ artist John Backderf won the Cleveland Arts Prize Mid-Career Award.

His autobiographical graphic novel “My Friend Dahmer,” the story of his junior high and high school friendship with future serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was turned into a movie, released last year and filmed partially at Dahmer’s childhood home in Bath.

Derf grew up in Richfield.

Poet and Akron native Rita Dove won the 2018 Cleveland Arts Prize Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dove won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for “Thomas and Beulah,” poems about life in Akron as witnessed by her grandparents.

She was named Poet Laureate of the United States in 1993, the youngest ever at age 40 and the first African-American.

She is Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia.

The 58th annual awards ceremony will be October 21 at the Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art.