Doug White (Poinography.com) flagged an important story yesterday concerning drug test results for UH athletes, including a few cases leading to suspensions. After reviewing the data, he writes:

I can’t say that I follow the sports sections of the local media very closely, but I do not recall any mention of athletes suspended for positive drug tests recently (much less athletes suspended for postive drug tests four years ago!). Do the local media typically push such stories under the rug, or are these kinds of questions simply not asked?

Aha. Another area where “unasked-unanswered” is the order of the day.

I see that McClatchy’s Sacramento Bee is now following the lead of the Fresno Bee and outsourcing a chunk of its ad production work, eliminating the jobs of more than half of the artists in the newspaper’s ad department.

I see that Gannett stock is at a 52-week low, with shares hitting their lowest point in a decade at one point in the week. The company predicts continued difficult conditions into 2008. I wonder how that translates into decisions in the Advertiser’s newsroom?

In Colorado, a support group calling itself “The Jump” has been formed to offer advice to reporters axed by the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post. The group, as well as the situation at the Denver newspapers, is described in an interesting Denver Westword News story.

Yesterday started gray and threatening but the weather soon cleared, leading to the first sunny day in a while.

Somehow I ended up with pictures of the gloomy start and none of the sunny finish.

Go figure.