What does that mean, you rewrite the story from the wire services with info and quotes from local Wal-Marters?

It means I have to stop jerking off and do something today (although I've filed 1500 words of copy already).

But yeah, you have the right idea. PA attorney general was involved ... they want background on the case and info about arrests in east Pennsylvania (there were 2 or 3).

It started in 1998 as a money laundering investigation in central PA. A year later they started connecting dots to other states (Ohio ... um, NY ... Fla) - which is when they called the feds. No money - but a paddy wagon full of ruskies.

Can't get INS on the phone though ... I have 10 minutes or they're pulling the plug on my rewrite. Thank God. PLEASE EVERYONE keep me occupied!

I like that Cellar has her own news feed now, very cool. Make sure we get the early good stuff when PA office holders melt down. :)

So this theoretical piece would go out in Saturday's edition, or Sunday? This stuff is fascinating to me even if it seems routine to you.

My story was cut (phew!). Wire story will run tomorrow, maybe cops and robbers will follow up with PA stuff on Sunday.

I'm interested in the alien worker aspect (I'm a business reporter, btw). If there is larger ongoing investigation (sure there is), I may pursue as a labor story. I'll keep y'all posted.

Oh, and you have no idea the kind of political dirt that gets tossed around here all day long. You might think the inquirer is better connected, but they're all fucking snobs and have serious corporate vanity issues. We are level-headed middle-class grindstone workers.

I am totally amazed, in this internet world, how little news the Inqy actually covers; what little information is considered enough content for this massive media beast; what crap passes for quality opinion...

Around here the local daily is still the only way anyone is going to get any information about their local pols. The questions remain - my brain reels at them - how to maybe use the net to close the gap. How to monetize that local stuff. What tipping points there are. How stuff can be sold.

What is a blog, UT?

We're not a phenomenal government news source, but our cops and courts reporters get some damn good stories. Harrisburg correspondants do decent coverage, and we cover the community like mold on french cheese.

I think our specialty is municipal absurdities. When shit hits the fan - like the Woodhaven Road extension, sewer authority disagreements - we're there and give a good consistent recant of what kind of dumb shitheads run Bucks county.

I like my position because I don't get caught up with stupid company stock updates like inquirer beat writers - we run stories a day or two late, but with a solid trend story with local appeal. Sad thing is, i'm looking at the inky for my next job - hard to get away from big name press. :(

As a natural career progression (mo money) or to try to improve their paper?:confused:

Blog is too broad a term - it covers both 13-year-old diarists, and major news organizations.

News blogs share news and opinion, and, some people feel, may eventually replace the old media or at least become a major part of the mix.

The problem is that blogs don't make enough money to fund people like you, gathering information and writing. They can only take advantage of the fact that almost every major news information makes a few cents by putting their stories online. If there was no WaPo for them to link to, they would quickly become irrelevant.

On the other hand, bloggers almost never link to Inquirer stories.

I don't know what the Inqy's business writing is like right now. A few years ago, it was awful. Just foul.

It still sucks. They're very straight-laced, conversative and uptight. They haven't caught onto most papers going for the progressive Newsweek-style biz sections.

Courier-Times or Intelligencer?

Courier Times.

Gun store, eh? I wrote a brief earlier this summer about some guy who confessed to stealing a whole arsenal of guns from a Bristol store (with like 10 other guys) and using them to rob a bunch of Wawas.

I read the Courier-Times on occasion--pretty decent paper. Their paper boxes look retarded though.

What, those nasty yellow trash cans?

If you saw the dinosaurs that work in circulation and business, you'd understand why we look like a newspaper from 1960.

Although that's all changing ... they're building a new automated press plant (only 10 years behind that trend) and reducing the physical size of the paper to Philly Inky size. Therefore, our photos will actually be aligned (not blurry), and one will have to hold his/her hands about, oh, four inches closer to read the Courier.

Going after the short arm market?:D