Front page blues

Lockport Union Sun & JournalSometimes, I get frustrated by the local paper. I’ve been known to rag on their errors – typos, misspellings, and technical errors – but by and large, they are like most businesses that are trying to survive on a small local scale against the mega-conglomerate competition. The fact that they continue to try, day after day, in this heroic struggle, is often under-appreciated and taken for granted by us, who see only the flaws.

Scott Leffler, local talk-show host and former US&J reporter, has been putting the thumbnail-sized images of all the local papers on his blog on a daily basis. It’s interesting to see the similarities and differences between them as they often cover the same stories.

It’s especially interesting when you consider that three of the papers, the Lockport paper, the Niagara Gazette and the Tonawanda News all are owned by the same company and share much of the same staff and infrastructure. They often carry the same stories by the same reporter, but the placement on the page is interesting to note. Top of the front page in Lockport might be a sidebar in the Tonawandas… Continue Reading…

No wonder they’re confused…

US&J Gave DTV Delay Thumbs Down
This article appeared in the Lockport Union, Sun & Journal on February 7th, 2009 in their Cheers and Jeers column on the editorial page. It appears to be contributions from their editorial staff, but no specific editor was credited.

While I certainly agree with the writer’s conclusion that the delay to the DTV switch is unnecessary, the article illustrates how people are not only confused enough on their own, they have the media to thank for it.

The flaw in the article comes when it says “If they miss MSNBC for a few days, the world will not end.Continue Reading…

When headlines go wrong

Crackdown on Child Labor in the Agriculture IndustryI saw this headline in the local paper today and thought to myself, “Wow, I didn’t know they had a problem with child labor in greenhouses…”

Blowing in the New Year…

A week agoA week ago, we were having a perfect, snowy December. There had been snow on the ground almost continuously since before Thanksgiving, but no major storm to speak of. The ski areas were having the best start in years.

But that all changed after Christmas. We’ve had rain and almost all the snow has melted here. There’s still enough down south in the ski areas, but they’ve got to be concerned.

Click any photo for a larger image.

Today: high winds knock down trees.
Today, high winds came in this morning and it’s more like March coming in like a Lion, than December. Gusts more than 50 mph woke us this morning along with the sound of sirens as the local Fire Department kept busy answering calls. Continue Reading…