news-record.com

We can write all we want about the conditions of the economy, but little hits home to as many people as a story like this.

Ham's has been in business for nearly 75 years, and over that time, I suspect that millions of meals have been served there. It's as much of a Greensboro institution as Yum Yum. (Sorry, I can't think of any other eatery that ranks up there.) While the restaurant rep says that it will be business as usual, you've got to wonder.

We heard rumors of this a few weeks ago, but couldn't verify it. For obvious reasons, we didn't want to publish until the court papers were filed.

As one of my daughter said when she heard the news: "Save the chips!"

We began a weekly feature today plotting all of the city's burglaries for the past week on a map.

It got a quick response from an early-bird reader: The map on home burglaries in the paper today isn't very helpful to anybody but the ones doing the burglary! You just showed the criminals where to go in Greensboro. The northwest side. Yes, criminals read the paper, too!

Putting aside last week's post about a conversation I had with a reader who said that criminals don't read the paper, I question the logic here. The map shows few burglaries in the northwest quadrant of the city. Is the idea that thieves look at the map and think, "Aha! Unexplored neighborhoods! Who knew people lived up there?"

I don't think so.

I was in Boston last week, watching a local television newscast, when I realized one way the mainstream media could better serve the public good.

We spend a lot of time covering stupid people doing stupid things. What if we covered more smart people doing smart things?

Someone called me the other day and asked why we were writing so much about the recent rash of break-ins. Among other things, he said, it has the effect of glorifying the thieves. In return, I said the stories were clearly of interest to our readers and that, maybe, the publicity would deter the crimes.

"Criminals don't read the paper," he responded.

I told that story to an old journalist friend who said, "No, but the police do. And it's more important that the police see the publicity than the criminals. These aren't masterminds, after all. The more attention you put on these idiots, the more pressure law enforcement feels to catch them."

I suspect that the police feel enough pressure as it is, but still, it can't hurt.

Are there related stories you want us to do?

The day was cold and drizzly. You remember it, last Monday.

Our main art for the front page had fallen through, and Lynn Hey scrambled to find something to anchor the central position on A1. Out the door she went. It's tough to get a good photo when it's raining and a gray day is already hitting dusk.

Soon enough, she returned with this shot. Check it out, the woman's silhouette against the gray pavement and the striking yellow of the umbrella. I mention it  specifically because Editor & Publisher chose it as Photo of the Week. (Scroll to the bottom of the site, on the right.)

Congrats, Lynn.

What is the world coming to?

First, copy editing and ad building was were sent overseas. (Thanks for the fix, OldReporter.)

Now, you can write a sports story without struggling over organization or word choice. (You certainly don't need to be at the actual sporting event.)

And, you can take a photo without a camera or even a scene or subject.

As a wonderful aside, the writer of that post marked the announcement of this photographical advancement this way: An event that will be remembered forever in the History of Humanity as the day in which a million dorks were finally able to put themselves in X-rated positions with Megan Fox.

I'm old-fashioned enough to like people doing stuff the old way, with pencils and interviews and cameras.

We published four full stories on our front page today.

1. A rise in home burglaries

2. 20 inmates to go free

3. A bank robber pleads guilty

4. Local prison closes.

Aside from the OD on crime and punishment, is there a disconnect between rising crime and convictions, and releasing prisoners and closing a correctional facility?

Too much? We wanted to leaven the mix with stories on other topics, but these all are important. And FYI, our choices for crime stories were many.

Remember this?

Last summer, the Chandra Ann Levy case ushered in what some called a low in television journalism. Hour after hour the cable news networks featured lawyers, retired detectives and even psychics discussing Ms. Levy's disappearance.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks abruptly ended the all-Chandra-all-the-time coverage. Caught in a much more earnest era, the same news executives who presided over the Levy frenzy publicly flagellated themselves and declared a new day in news, in which public interest would trump ratings.

That was from a New York Times story in 2002. It's a distant memory. Certainly seems like another time.

After four days of almost non-stop coverage of balloon boy -- it led the news shows again this morning, 80+ hours after he was found safe on planet Earth -- I suspect those news executives forgot their words. From today's L.A. Times:

In the "balloon boy" case, TV news was rewarded for sticking with the story: As the drama unfolded Thursday afternoon, the cable news networks logged ratings roughly double their usual averages, according to the Nielsen Co. Some of the coverage was deemed so crucial it aired without commercial interruption.

Thank goodness we're at peace, have full employment and universal health care. 

Related: Thoughts from the Lenslinger.

The City of Greensboro and the Sunshine Center of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition have scheduled two workshops dealing with public records and open meetings for Oct. 22 at the Greensboro Historical Museum auditorium. The workshops are free and open to the public, and they will feature multimedia presentations on best practices in making and responding to requests for public records.

Check out the details here.

Given that today is the first day of early voting for the municipal elections, it seems appropriate to check in on the candidates.

Inside Scoop does just that with the first in a series of candidate statement fact checks. This one touches base with Mary Rakestraw and her opposition to economic incentives, and Joel Landau's unfortunate rounding up of $27,000 $40,786 to $100,000.

So, don't vote too early. Want them to fact check something? Just ask.