Daily Comic Strip Swap Being Reviewed

Get involved in the decision about The Times daily comics. Sunday's Baby Blues may graduate to a daily run. Are there some strips that should be retired to make room? Are there other titles we should consider?
Cast your vote.
If you have a suggestion not listed, send me a line. Write-in ballots are OK.
We hope to make a decision by the end of the month.
Note: Baby Blues illustration (right) is by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott. Get to know Wanda, Darryl, Zoe and Hammie.
Here are some additional contenders: Cafe Con Leche, Dog Eat Doug, Flo and Friends and On A Claire Day

Gubernatorial race notes

Known candidates for Louisiana governor are St. Bernard Parish businessman Walter Boasso (D), Public Service Commissioner and Bossier Parish farmer Foster Campbell (D), Jefferson Parish businessman John Georges (R) and U.S. Rep. for the First District Bobby Jindal (R).
Other names reportedly in the race are Raymond Brown (D); Anthony Gentile (I); T. Lee Horne III (L); Hardy Parkerson (D).
Names in the mix or considering a run: Richard Ieyoub (D); Chris John, (D); Ray Nagin (D) and Dave Treen (R)
We'll know the official candidates for office after qualifying in September.

Louisiana governor's race candidates are sparring for attention.
--YouTube spots are posted: Boasso, Campbell, Georges and Jindal.
--Polls get people talking: Georges and Boasso.
--Questions about whether New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin will enter the race are being chased by pundits and talk shows.
The La. Gov race is gaining interest nationally.

What topics will interest local voters most?
If the race ends up being about ethics, will candidates take questions head on? Would you support a pardon for former governor Edwin Edwards?
Republican Senator David Vitter's admission to D.C. Madam connections might drive attention to family values. Do you support gay marriage and/or gay couple civil unions?
SEND your questions.

Nagin to weigh in?
If Nagin jumps in, he could add energy to conversations about poverty, crime, race and New Orleans reconstruction. His re-election affirmed his political strength. Some believe his coy answers to a governor's bid are just a precursor to a different campaign. (View his famous "chocolate " city comments that did not seem to harm his political future.)

Endorsement work ahead...
The Times editorial board will be meeting with gubernatorial candidates as the election season heats up. These are endorsement interviews. We'll publish some of the board Q&As.
Don't assume our previous Jindal endorsement means we'll repeat. New players and new issues being reviewed with a new publisher and new community board members offer a clean slate. We expect to endorse a candidate roughly seven days before the election.

Important dates from Louisiana Secretary of State site:
Qualifying is September 4-6, 2007
Gubernatorial Primary Election is October 20, 2007
Gubernatorial General Election is November 17, 2007

Much Ado About A Gator

Loving all God’s creatures may occur in varying degrees.

Comments on the kid “surfin’ the gator” photo today are expected. But think about it. Offer your thoughts on how the kid on the gator is different than your Uncle Hank holding a big mouth bass by the lip for the camera?

• A big gator was caught.
• People were amazed.
• Folks gathered for photos.

The photo captured a slice of Louisiana life. It was a Weegee-like moment and newsworthy. Running it doesn’t mean we promote the behavior. Just because we run a photo of an abandoned building in flames doesn't mean we promote fire as a solution to urban blight.

It is what it is: a jarring and conversation-starting image.

As Times writer Alexandyr Kent puts it, "The dead gator offered them a chance to play the brave dragon slayer, and what is more fundamental to our attitudes about the “demons of nature” than that? That the kids celebrate the death, however inadvertently, is to be expected." (Read his blog notes on the same item.)

Okay. Okay. Callous comments and the running of the photo may reflect a greater issue with society and our attitudes. Yes, fishing and some types of hunting might play to the primal parts of our being. But the bigger question looms: Is it a newspaper’s job to filter community morals and attitudes? Or do we seek to reflect what exists as we find it? (Or hide it from review?) People are confronting the issues this raises today.

See gallery

If the kids playing on the gator bothers you, consider the community values on display ...and don't blame the messenger.

Uncle Hank would have this gator over the mantle and the clipping from the paper framed.

The Barksdale Warrior is ready and engaged

When the final edition of the Barksdale Air Force Base publication, The Bombardier, closes shop on Sept 28, a new military publication takes off.

With the same spirit The Times put forth in the campaign to bring Barksdale here in the 1930s, The Barksdale Warrior (prototype front to the right) debuts Oct. 5. The transition from one weekly to the next will sync with the existing newspaper and mirror distribution to base homes and stands: 10,000 copies. The Times stands ready to continue serving our military community with this new weekly edition.

Stephanie Bemrose, presently a reporter for The Bombardier, will lead the new publication for The Times. Her familiarity and experience with Barksdale and the military offer readers a great deal. We will keep many of The Bombardier features while adding more to coverage of deployments, readiness, military families, activities, benefits and retiree issues. You will continue to find content produced by military personnel inside.

This change will also include content from new military news sources and other bases when needed. Times Military Reporter John Andrew Prime will contribute, as will retirees committed to sharing news. Colonel Steve dePyssler, USAF Retired-1978, will write a column and share notes on events.

History note: The Times was a key player in bringing Barksdale Air Force Base to the community. Our editor and publisher at the time, former U.S. Army Capt. John D. Ewing, led a campaign to get the base here. Read Images of America: Barksdale Air Force Base by Shawn M. Bohannon, John Andrew Prime (Times reporter) and H.D. “Buck” Rigg.

Sunday Comics Sized Up

As foretold, there are a few changes in store for your Sunday Times.

• The Celebrations section is being combined with Sunday Living;
• The TV Book is being separated out as a standalone section (again);
• AND the Sunday Comics will return to the format they had a year ago, larger.

For Larry Anderson of Benton, this will be good news. He wrote asking us to run comics larger on Sundays. Here you go.

Previous changes allowed us to offer more local content. Now, we have a way to maintain that initiative and return comics to a size readers have asked to have again. Phew!

Later this month, we will ask readers to help consider new daily comics against some aging daily comic strips. Anderson suggested Mallard Fillmore. Get ready for that review. Watch for a Teddy Allen column on this soon.

Note: Baby Blues illustration by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott. You can follow Wanda, Darryl, Zoe and Hammie every Sunday.

Inside Teddy's World

"Yes, the quote is verbatim. I have it here in my notes."

This is how Teddy Allen really works.
Teddy has the latest technology , requisite laptop and such. But that new-fangled equipment may not be ready for him. His "Day -Timer" (cell phone image at right) reveals his proven method for recording history. Cavemen would be proud.
He recalls the good old days in his recent column.

New Orleans levees still weak?

“Stingy local officials actually helped scuttle a Corps plan to build pumps and floodgates along Lake Pontchartrain, a plan that could have prevented much of Katrina's flooding,” writes Michael Grunwald, author of the Time magazine article on New Orleans. Another “man-made” disaster in New Orleans looms in Time magazine article.
The review on New Orleans recovery and preparedness is pessimistic at best. Repaired levees don’t appear ready for another modest storm. “They're a frigging disgrace," says University of California, Berkeley, engineering professor Robert Bea. Louisiana State University hurricane researcher and author Ivor van Heerden anticipates another storm, "We better start getting ready." More “Katrinas” may be brewing.
Photo: Floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina flow over a levee along Inner Harbor Navigational Canal near downtown New Orleans Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. (David J. Phillip, AP Photo, 2005)

Convention Center Future Dicey

The Shreveport Convention Center’s future is burdened with being oversold as a panacea for downtown. The pitch predated former Mayor Hightower to the administration of Shreveport Mayor Bo Williams. But a 1999 citizen vote under Hightower put the basic plan into action. Hightower attached a burden to haunt taxpayers, the now-connected Hilton hotel.

For years we’ve known that Hightower’s hotel dreams are a gamble, clear and simple. That bet still sits on the craps table of our economy. But, the most recent report on the convention center puts the odds in the dealer’s favor. (We can’t have too many gambling analogies and clichés in a gambling town. Oops, I’m supposed to say gaming town.)
If Hightower is convinced the hotel will be successful and pull everything along, maybe he should buy the hotel property from the city and ease our concerns competing against so many middle-sized markets. The addition of a hotel made this downtown project a high-stakes roll of the dice. Now, we are staring at potential shortfalls. When the Bossier City Boardwalk tax revenue projections came up short, Shreveport’s palms became sweaty waiting for the dice to fall. We hope everything everyone saying just isn’t cr…

Photo: The new Shreveport Convention Center and Hilton Hotel (Douglas Collier, The Times, 2007)

Wired analyzes newspaper Information Centers

Many newspapers are increasing their focus on local news and are shifting resources to the Internet. But are recent changes too late to counter circulation declines?
The August edition of Wired magazine reviews how Gannett newspapers might be better off than some. They are running to address reader shift and circulation declines. "It's adapt or die," said Tom Callinan (right), editor of The Cincinnati Enquirer. Contributing editor Jeff Howe suggests, "Gannett has emerged as the first big publisher to attempt a wholesale reinvention of the newspaper."
Note: The mother sites to our redrivermoms.com site are referenced: cincymoms.com and indymoms.com. You'll read about Gannett investments made in video and other media.
Louisiana Gannett newspapers: The Times, Shreveport;The Town Talk, Alexandria;The Daily Advertiser, Lafayette;The News-Star, Monroe;Daily World, Opelousas

Louisiana headlines converge

Louisiana's newspapers bring the Minnesota bridge collapse story home, pondering the same questions being asked all over the country. This collective thought stamps the state of our transportation infrastructure. Our community should get ahead of issues related to the Jimmie Davis Bridge.
These newspaper fronts reflect where our attention is today, but where will we focus tomorrow?

Review a nationwide breakdown of the percentage of structurally deficient bridges by county or parish. See newspaper fronts across the country at the Newseum site.

Local bridge review underway

News about last night’s Mississippi River Bridge collapse in Minnesota dominated our morning news meeting. The disaster is getting non-stop coverage all over the Internet. Review the Star Tribune or KARE 11 news coverage in Minneapolis. Primarily, we discussed how this news impacts our readers.
Obviously, a review of our bridges is needed. The Jimmie Davis Bridge (right) comes to mind, but that may be an easy target. Send our reporter John Andrew Prime ideas and your list of local bridges of concern. What do you want to know most?

Longtime Baton Rouge Bureau journalist retires

John Hill's exclusive interviews and access to Louisiana's governors provide a rare view inside our colorful politics. After 38 years of covering political storms and real storms, he announces his retirement from the Gannett Baton Rouge Bureau.
His stories on investigations and trials of former governor Edwin Edwards led coverage in Baton Rouge.
"My career is forever intertwined with (Edwards), for which I'm grateful because he is the most colorful person on the planet," said Hill.
We'll miss the way his columns raise the ire of talk show hosts and provide public discourse.

NFL draws industry ire with required advertisment-laden vest

The National Football League is setting fashion requirements for photojournalists: Wear NFL advertisement-laden vests while you work on the sidelines.

The NFL rebuffs concerns that this turns our employees into walking billboards for the NFL. Just let our photojournalists do their jobs without subjugating them.
Chicago Tribune: "We're not doing it," said George de Lama, the managing editor for news. "Absolutely not." If the rule doesn't change, the paper will cover the NFL without visuals.” More coverage boycotts are being considered.
The question goes beyond the fashion statement.
“Seriously, journalists are supposed to be objective. And running around the sidelines with advertisements on our backs could make our credibility look even more questionable in already dubious times.” – Staff Photographer Greg Pearson (The Big Picture blog, The Times, Shreveport, La.)
The Canon camera company logo is a concern. What next? Will we be told what camera equipment to use on the sidelines? See more photos of the vest at Photo District News online. See more photos by Jeanine Fijol.
Along with the letter from the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the sentiments of the Associated Press Managing Editors, we strongly encourage the NFL to reconsider.