ProgressNow.org Daily News Digest

Book digs into hydraulic mining | SummitDaily.com

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20090104/NEWS/901049955/1001/NONE “Golden Gulches,” a book recently published by the Breckenridge Heritage Alliance, shines the spotlight on the area’s hydraulic mining, an antiquated technique in which entire hillsides were washed away in search of gold. Despite its devastating environmental effects, hydraulic mining proved a highly successful method for retrieving gold from areas around Breckenridge like Iowa Hill from the 1860s to the 1930s. “It’s probably one of the best hydraulic mining exhibits in the West,” town historian Rebecca Waugh said of Iowa Hill. “You can walk through and actually see how it worked.” The monitor station, giants and boardinghouse are among features included in the historic-site tour and the book, which describes their functions.

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Toys for Tots toys stolen … not | PostIndependent.com

http://www.postindependent.com/article/20081218/VALLEYNEWS/812179989/1001/NONE It turns out the grinch did not steal Christmas. Instead it was just a big confusion. Toys for Tots volunteers told the Glenwood Springs Post Independent and Grand Junction media Wednesday morning that someone was stealing their toys in Glenwood Springs, Silt and in the Roaring Fork Valley, but they said later in the day it was just a miscommunication. The false story about toys being stolen was even posted on at least one Denver news site Wednesday afternoon. Some of the toys donated locally were picked up by volunteers from Denver and Grand Junction and may not be coming back to get distributed to the needy local families they were supposed to go to. Marie Gasau, a Toys for Tots volunteer and Pastor at the Basalt Community United Methodist Church, said, “The important thing at this point is there were no toys stolen. Some were inadvertently sent to the wrong city. We clarified that.”

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GJSentinel.com: Imposter walks off with hundreds of toys

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/12/17/121808_1a_toys_stolen.html A person posing as the coordinator of the Western Slope’s Toys for Tots program took hundreds of toys from drop-off sites in Rifle, Glenwood Springs and Basalt days before the presents were to be distributed to needy kids. Rich Griffin, coordinator of the Western Slope’s U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots nonprofit program, said either one or more than one man used his name when he picked up toys at sites there. Griffin is the first-year coordinator for the program, and his face may not be recognizable, he said. Also, some toys that were donated to a Glenwood Springs drop-off site at a furniture store were mistakenly taken to Denver for a Toys for Tots program there, Griffin said. “I got a tearful call from a woman in Basalt called me asking why I would take their toys to Grand Junction,” Griffin said. “I didn’t. All I can say is he was passing himself off as me.”

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Fewer print days not foreseen for Denver’s dailies : Money

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/17/fewer-print-days-not-foreseen-for-denvers/ Denver's newspaper owners haven't contemplated copying a dramatic plan to save two newspapers in Detroit, executives with the parent companies of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post said Tuesday. The Rocky is up for sale, and Denver could be a one-newspaper town early next year if a buyer isn't found. In Detroit, the owners took a different route in the face of drastic economic times. They announced Tuesday that they would offer home delivery only three days a week, a first for any metropolitan daily newspaper. "As strange as this might sound, although we have complications and challenges in Denver, Denver overall is a reasonably robust market, especially compared to some other markets," said Rich Boehne, chief executive officer of Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps.

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New Gazette publisher named | Gazette.com

http://www.gazette.com/articles/pope_44950___article.html/gazette_colorado.html After he was introduced Tuesday as the new publisher of The Gazette, Steve Pope talked about the newspaper industry's troubles and the continued importance of newspapers to their communities. Pope, 59, served as publisher of the Vail Daily newspaper and, since 2005, as general manager of Colorado Mountain News Media, a chain of six daily newspapers and 11 weeklies in Colorado's mountain towns owned by Reno, Nev.-based Swift Communications. The strong local focus of the mountain papers is the key to their success, he said, and something Pope hopes to replicate in Colorado Springs. "I think that newspapers really need to be part of the fabric of the community," Pope said. The Gazette, like most U.S. newspapers, has seen its circulation drop as more readers get their information from the Internet and as Web sites like Craigslist cut into advertising profits.

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The Steamboat Pilot - Judge dismisses lawsuits about disputed invoice

http://steamboatpilot.com/news/2008/dec/17/judge_dismisses_lawsuits_about_disputed_invoice/ Lawsuits filed earlier this month by the Routt County Board of Commissioners and Sheriff Gary Wall against each other and the Steamboat Pilot and Today were dismissed by a judge last week. The lawsuits had sought a court determination as to whether the county or the Sheriff’s Office is required to release copies of a disputed in­­voice for $6,700 in legal services provided by Ralph A. Can­tafio, who has acted as legal counsel for Wall in his ongoing disputes with the commissioners. The decision, filed last week by Judge Phillip Roan, states “there is no justiciable controversy before this court” and dismissed the suits for “lack of jurisdiction.” On Dec. 8, newspaper attorneys filed a notice of nonappearance, informing the court that the Steamboat Pilot and Today, parent company WorldWest LLC, and the reporter named in the suit would not participate in the court proceedings and declined to protest the refusal of the county and the Sheriff’s Office to provide copies of the invoice.

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Reporter shared her struggles - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_11240774 Kerri Smith, a former Denver Post reporter who struggled mightily, and publicly, with her obesity and then with cancer, died Saturday at her home in Arizona. She was 48. Smith was a quick, tough, accurate and fair reporter who found that her struggles to drop half of her 460 pounds had become too time-consuming and emotionally draining to continue as a beat reporter. So she took a sabbatical from The Post in 1997 and moved to Los Angeles to work with a team of doctors. She wrote a series of personal stories in The Denver Post about her triumphs and failures, entitled "So Much to Lose, So Much to Gain." But two years later, she was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. She later developed trouble with her lymph system, diabetes and finally severe arthritis that partially immobilized her. Her mother, Bonnie Smith, said eventually her entire immune system "began to crash" and she died of congestive heart failure.

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MediaNews Sees Bad Timing on Newspapers, Not Bad Bets - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/business/media/15singleton.html?ref=business Dean Singleton expanded his newspaper empire at the worst possible time, in the worst part of the country he could have chosen, and he has been paying the price ever since in plummeting advertising and shrinking papers. Yet somehow, even in today’s adverse climate, he professes optimism. In 2006 and 2007, as prices for newspapers were peaking, Mr. Singleton’s company, the MediaNews Group, bought this city’s daily, The Mercury News, and more than 30 smaller San Francisco Bay Area papers. He gambled his company on California just as the bottom was about to fall out for newspapers, especially here. “In retrospect, the timing was not good,” said Mr. Singleton, the head of and a major shareholder in the company, which is privately held. “But in our business, you buy newspapers when they’re for sale. If we could have foreseen the current economic downturn in the state, it might have changed our views, but we couldn’t foresee that.” The news about his industry seems to get worse by the day. Last week, the Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection. And Moody’s Investors Service said that MediaNews was approaching the point where its debt, almost $1 billion, would be nine times its annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — technically putting the company in default.

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Journalists at Rocky launch Web site in effort to save paper : Local News : The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/15/journalists-at-rocky-launch-web-site-in-effort/ A group of Rocky Mountain News journalists has launched a Web site to serve as a rallying point for the community to save the paper. The site, IWantMyRocky.com, is meant to draw support for the Rocky after it was put up for sale earlier this month. "It's our hope that people will post comments on the site about what the paper means to their lives and their communities," said John C. Ensslin, spokesman for the group and a Rocky reporter. E.W. Scripps, the parent company of the paper, announced Dec. 4 that it would seek a buyer for the Rocky until mid-January. If a buyer is not found, the paper may be closed. The site was the result of a two-hour meeting Saturday of about 30 Rocky staffers at the Denver Press Club.

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Rocky employees launch website to make their case - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_11233523 The effort of staff members to save the Rocky Mountain News is going public this week. A group of employees has decided to proceed with a website to make their case that the newspaper should be saved. The site, http://www.iwantmyrocky.com, was launched Sunday night. Visitors are asked to post why the paper is important to them. E.W. Scripps Co. announced two weeks ago it was putting its flagship newspaper up for sale. It expects it to lose $15 million this year. Scripps says it might close the newspaper if there is no buyer by mid-January.

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Denver Post owner seeks to slash expenses by $20 million : Updates : The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/12/denver-post-publisher-says-he-needs-20-million-cut/ The Denver Post Publisher William Dean Singleton on Friday asked unions at The Post and Denver Newspaper Agency to reopen their labor contracts immediately, saying he needs to slash expenses by $20 million. "We all know the financial situation is not good in the newspaper industry - he referenced that and requested we begin bargaining (next week)," said Tony Mulligan, a spokesman for Denver Newspaper Guild Local 37074. "It's definitely concessionary bargaining," Mulligan added, meaning wage, benefit and job cuts would be sought. Singleton's request comes a day after Moody's Investors Services said his MediaNews Group faces an increased risk of defaulting on its loans, and a week after E.W. Scripps announced it was putting the Rocky up for sale and seeking an exit to the DNA's Joint Operating Agreement. Moody's downgraded almost $1 billion of MediaNews debt.

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Moody’s issues rating downgrade for Post parent MediaNews : Money

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/12/moodys-issues-rating-downgrade-for-post-parent/ Moody's Investors Services on Thursday said that William Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group faces increased risk of defaulting on its loans, as it downgraded almost $1 billion of the debt for the parent company of The Denver Post. Moody's said it is concerned that the "downturn of the company advertising sales will be significantly more protracted than previously anticipated, further straining the company's liquidity profile and heightening the probability of a covenant default." The rating downgrade comes a week after E.W. Scripps announced that it is placing the Rocky Mountain News on the sales block, as well as its 50 percent interest in the Denver Newspaper Agency.

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Scripps’ shift to television spurs Rocky move - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_11189856 E.W. Scripps Co.'s attempt to sell the Rocky Mountain News or possibly shut it down reflects "convulsion and change" occurring in the newspaper industry, Scripps' chief executive said Wednesday. Scripps' long-term strategy is to reduce its holdings in large-market newspapers and expand its ownership of larger-city television stations, CEO Richard Boehne told a group of analysts in New York at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference. The Cincinnati-based publisher said last week it will attempt to find a buyer for the Rocky Mountain News by mid-January, at which time it will "examine other options" that could include closing the paper, officials said. Scripps said the News has lost $11 million in the first nine months of 2008. "We're very focused on limiting our exposure in newspapers to small and midsized markets," Boehne said.

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Mont. media firm potential bidder for Rocky : Tech

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/09/mont-media-firm-potential-bidder-for-rocky/ The first potential bidder for the Rocky Mountain News to emerge publicly is a former newspaper reporter who runs a small media company in Montana. Shawn White Wolf issued a news release Friday saying his media group and investment partners were working to prepare a bid for the Rocky, whose owner, E.W. Scripps Co., put it up for sale last week.

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News Corp. unit ordered to pay Dish - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_11171940 Dish Network said a unit of News Corp. was ordered to pay it $8.3 million in legal fees and costs stemming from a lawsuit over hacked smart cards. "We are pleased that Judge (David) Carter ordered NDS to pay $8.3 million in fees and costs," Kathie Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Douglas County-based Dish, said Monday in an e-mail. "We will continue to take all legal measures to fight piracy and fraud." A federal jury in Santa Ana, Calif., in May awarded $1,591 in damages to Dish, which had sought more than $1 billion. The jury found that News Corp.'s NDS Group Plc wasn't liable for a 2000 Internet posting with information on how to hack Dish's access cards.

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Newspaper merger primer : More Business : The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/06/newspaper-merger-primer/ News of the sale of the Rocky Mountain News has focused a spotlight on the Newspaper Preservation Act, commonly called joint operating agreements, and the JOA governing the Rocky and The Denver Post.

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Closure not only option, CEO says : More Business : The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/06/closure-not-only-option-ceo-says/ The CEO of the company that owns the Rocky takes exception to assertions by Dean Singleton that the only plan on the table is to close Colorado's oldest operating newspaper. Singleton, CEO of MediaNews, which owns The Denver Post, fired the salvo in a memo late Thursday to Post staffers, claiming that at a Nov. 19 meeting he was notified Rocky owner E.W. Scripps Co. planned to close the Rocky "as soon as practical." Scripps put the Rocky up for sale Thursday, citing losses that could reach $15 million this year. Rich Boehne, Scripps CEO, said the company's 50 percent share of the cash flow from the joint operating agreement with MediaNews "is no longer enough to support the Rocky, leaving us with no choice but to seek an exit." Boehne contends that could include trying to sell the Rocky: "As we told you Thursday, it is not a foregone conclusion that the Rocky will be shut down. Why put everybody through this, if that was the only option?"

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Breaking up can be hard to do for papers - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_11142052 For two newspapers to form a joint operating agreement, something the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post did in 2001, is difficult. Even more complicated can be trying to dissolve one. "There is no real standard. It has varied from city to city," said Stephen Lacy, a professor in the School of Journalism at Michigan State University and one of the country's top experts on media competition. E.W. Scripps' announcement Thursday that it was looking to sell the News by mid-January casts a big cloud over the future of the Denver JOA. Scripps and MediaNews Group, publisher of The Post, won U.S. Department of Justice approval nearly eight years ago to share circulation and advertising revenues in Denver. "What a JOA does is exempt the companies that own the newspapers from the anti-trust laws," said Hugh J. Martin, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Georgia's Grady College.

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Rocky Mountain News for sale - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_11142453 Publisher E.W. Scripps Co. is putting its flagship newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, up for sale in a move to stem major financial losses. Newspaper analysts said that the prospect of selling the News may be slim and that Thursday's announcement could be a prelude to shutting the paper down. Cincinnati-based Scripps said it will try to sell the newspaper until mid-January, at which time it will "examine its other options for the future of the Rocky Mountain News." Scripps president and chief executive Richard Boehne said in an interview Thursday that the newspaper company no longer can absorb the News' losses, which he estimated at $11 million through the first nine months of 2008.

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Surprise announcement rattles newsroom staff : More Business : The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/04/staffers-greet-sale-news-cynicism-tears/ Last month the Rocky Mountain News' managing editor swept through the newsroom to assure employees that no layoffs were planned. So the word shock is probably an understatement to describe the mood in the newsroom Thursday, when the Rocky's owner announced that it was putting the newspaper up for sale. "Let's see," columnist Mike Littwin said, looking at his watch. "It's 12:20 and no jumpers yet." Littwin, who loves to quote Animal House, later had some staffers laughing with his rendition of John Belushi's infamous, "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" speech. But the news clearly rattled veterans and newcomers alike. Some cried. Some called sources to ask about jobs. Some did both.

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Paper latest to feel sting of ‘new reality’ : More Business : The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/05/paper-latest-to-feel-sting-of-new-reality/ A protracted and severe slump in advertising and classified revenues. Declining circulation and deteriorating financial numbers. The economic downturn, falling stock prices and, of course, the Internet. The Rocky has been hit by the same forces roiling the newspaper industry nationwide, which is facing its greatest challenges ever. "The short answer to what's going on in the industry is that advertising revenues are declining at a really alarming and unprecedented rate," said Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank. "Newspaper companies all over are trying to cut their cost structure to fit a new reality."

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Scripps execs say paper a bargain : More Business : The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/05/scripps-execs-say-paper-a-bargain/ The Rocky Mountain News needs a savior. Or at least someone more optimistic about its future than its current owner, the E.W. Scripps Co. Sitting down with reporters from a half dozen local media outlets and fielding phone calls from an equal number of national publications, the two men sent from Cincinnati to break the news of the Rocky's sale said Thursday afternoon it is their greatest hope a buyer will be found. They spoke repeatedly of their pride in the Rocky, and insisted its demise is not a given, despite the long odds. "This is an opportunity for someone to pick up one of America's very great newspapers at a great price," Rich Boehne, president and chief executive officer of Scripps, told reporters. Boehne and Mark Contreras, senior vice president/newspapers, flew to Denver on Wednesday night.

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Rocky might prove a hard sale : More Business : The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/05/rocky-might-prove-a-hard-sale/ Finding a buyer for the Rocky Mountain News will be extremely difficult, experts said Thursday. "The newspaper industry has these structural problems that are long-term and you add to that a recession, and it's a bit like someone with diabetes catching pneumonia," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. "Deals that might have looked appealing in the summer, look less appealing (now)." Rosenstiel said he believes the most likely candidates are local investors who think the Rocky is too vital to vanish, entrepreneurs who might want to elevate their civic profile in the same way owners of sports teams do or private equity groups that think they can exploit the business in ways current owners haven't.

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Newspaper talks in Nov. gave hint sale was coming : Updates : The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/04/newspaper-talks-november-gave-hint-sale-was-coming/ Thursday's announcement by Scripps about the potential sale of the Rocky Mountain News caught MediaNews CEO Dean Singleton off guard, but negotiations between the two companies foreshadowed it, Singleton and Scripps executives say. Scripps CEO Rich Boehne and other company executives flew to Colorado Nov. 19 to discuss with MediaNews the mounting losses at the Denver newspapers. Singleton characterizes the message that day as Scripps saying it had "made the decision to close the Rocky as soon as practicable." Boehne said Scripps requested the meeting. "We came into town and said, 'Look at the numbers; look where we are. We don't believe there's an easy solution, and we intend to seek an exit.' " That exit, Boehne said, meant exploring a sale.

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The Steamboat Pilot - Utu wins 9 News award

http://steamboatpilot.com/news/2008/dec/03/utu_wins_9_news_award_honored_community/ It wasn’t surprising that Pio Utu was oblivious to the hundreds of people walking into Kelly Meek Gymnasium at Steamboat Springs High School on Tuesday. It also wasn’t surprising Utu had no idea he’d won the 9Who Care Award for December from Denver’s 9 News. No, Utu was busy doing the same thing he’s been doing the past 25 years. While everyone was filing into the gymnasium to honor him, Utu helped a group of 15 student/athletes train. The workouts were much like the ones Utu has done with Steamboat youths for the better part of two and a half decades. He helps them after school, before school, during the summers and whenever anyone gives him a call. And Utu does it all for free.

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