Eagle-Tribune Blogs: In the News

It’s been almost a week since The Salem News named its student-athlete of the year (congratulations, Courtney Colantuno), and our special Web section on the event is still getting a lot of traffic.

The interest is encouraging because it brings attention to a group of high schoolers who could teach us all a few things about focus, determination and simple, common decency.

There’s another group that deserves attention, though — the photo, Web and design staffers who brought the section to life, both in print and on the Web.

For a much better explanation of the process than I could give, check out Dan Ryan’s entry on our photo blog here.

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Readers of The Salem News aren’t shy. Every day we get dozens of phone calls, e-mails and letters to the editor from folks letting us know how they feel about our stories and editorials. We think that’s a good thing | it tells us people care about what’s going on in their community and at their newspaper.

Now, we’re giving you another way to weigh in, this time at SalemNews.com. At the end of every story, editorial and letter to the editor is an area for you to share your thoughts and opinions. We also want readers to talk to each other, so there’s a reply button that lets you respond to someone else’s post.

There are a few rules: We ask that you be respectful to one another and use appropriate language when posting on the site.

We look forward to the conversation.

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Going to Opening Day? Do want to share your thoughts as the Red Sox are crowned 2007 world champs?

We are looking for commentary on the Opening Day ceremonies from North Shore residents who will be at the game.

If you would like to be contacted for a story, please call Salem News reporter Ethan Forman at 978-338-2673 or email him at eforman@salemnews.com. Thanks.

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The Salem News and the members of the Greater Salem Boys & Girls Club are teaming up to make another student newspaper available online.

Beginning today, the club’s youth-run newspaper, What’s the Word, will be available to readers across the North Shore through a link on The Salem News Web page. What’s the Word is written by members of the Media Club, a group of 11- to 15-year-olds that meets each Tuesday afternoon.

This is the second collaboration for The Salem News. The Witches Brew, the Salem High School student newspaper, debuted earlier this year; the second edition is due this spring.

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Just in time for spring, we’ve teamed with Barbara Barger, who writes our hugely popular North Shore Gardener column, to publish back issues on salemnews.com.

For access to several photos and a year’s worth of columns, click here and follow the link to Barbara’s Web site.

And happy gardening.

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The Salem News has a new features editor, and he should be a familiar face to readers of this paper and music lovers on the North Shore.

Larry Claflin Jr. worked for the News in the late 1990s, helping design our pages and writing about outdoor activities like hiking, biking and canoeing. We’re glad to have him back in the fold.

Our features pages are already full of local stories, photos and columnists. Larry’s goal — The Salem News’ goal, really — over the next several months is to bring even more of a local touch to those pages.

We’re confident that as a local guy — a Marblehead native who lives in Salem and is co-founder of the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival — Larry can do just that.

Anyone with ideas for or comments on the features pages can reach Larry at 978-338-2681 or lclaflin@salemnews.com

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The Salem News today endorsed Democrat Lori Ehrlich in the race for state reprentative for the 8th Essex District, which includes Marblehead, Swampscott and parts of Lynn.

The endorsement, and all editorials for that matter, reflect the opinion of the newspaper’s editorial board.

Readers, of course, are free to disagree with us, which is part of the reason why we’ve posted the video of full, unedited version of the paper’s meeting with the three candidates for the seat.

The video is long — it clocks in at around an hour — but if you’re a Marblehead, Swampscott or Lynn resident, it’s your last chance to see the candidates square off before Tuesday’s election.

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We had a very newsy print edition today, with a dramatic fire in Peabody and the release of the school audit report in Salem.

We also had a very newsy Web edition. For those who haven’t seen it already, check out photo chief Mark Lorenz’s dramatic video of Peabody firefighter Steve Franzosa being pulled down a ladder by fellow firefighters.

And anyone interested in the Salem school budget woes should check out the full text of the auditor’s report here. It adds another layer of depth to the reporting that we couldn’t get in the front-page story.

That’s not to mention day two of Building Brobot 1.0, reporter Stacie Galang’s video series featuring 11 Peabody High School students trying to build a robot.

All in all, a lot going on.

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Reporter Stacie Galang has spent the last several weeks following the efforts of a special group of Peabody High School students.

The eleven students are working on the school’s entry into the “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” robotics competition. As computer science teacher Dennis DeBay explains, this is “a rookie team” — this is the high school’s first-ever entry into the competition.

The event is special for us as well, as Stacie is following the project over several weeks through stories, photos and video.

You can find the project here.

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Mitt Romney is abandoning his campaign for president, at least for now.

But if he decides to get back in the national game, say in 2012, he should have a solid base here in Essex County, as our chart shows.

For a wider view of the race, click here.

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