The T-T's Dave Falchek boozes with the reform Jews up at Lake Scranton

This is a week old, but still priceless stuff. L’Chaim, indeed.

New TL site to go live Thursday

Jerry Lynott reports that the new site will be awesome, and the old site was bad because of Knight Ridder.

The future of Times Leader journalism

Having the business editor's wife take creepy pictures at the bowling alley and then selling them on the newspaper's Web site for $5.25 (for a 4x6!) plus another three bucks for "shipping." Shutterfly, for a 4x6, charges... 19 cents. Yes sir, Mr. Connor, you've got this Internet thing all figured out.

Golias, formerly of the CV, wins an award

Paul Golias, the paper's former managing editor who still writes a column, was honored by some local churches for pushing for regionalization. Kudos.

Marques Harper lands at the Austin American-Statesman

From the inbox....

Hi there,
Hope you're well and having an amazing new year! Here's the announcement
from my newsroom in Roanoke:

Marques Harper will be leaving The Roanoke Times to join the Austin
American-Statesman in Texas as the paper's style reporter/columnist. He'll
cover the local fashion scene, find local twists to national trends,
coordinate and style fashion shoots for the daily paper and the paper's luxe
magazine named Glossy. He'll also write a column every other week. The
opportunity fulfills Marques' ultimate career goal -- to be on the edge of
fashion.

Marques joined The Roanoke Times as staff writer for the Extra section in
June of 2005 after spending five years at the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre,
Pa. While in Roanoke, he wrote about pop culture, TV and radio, fashion and
style and the Mill Mountain Zoo. He also was a videocaster for TimesCast and
helped coordinate The Edge and the Minority Journalism Workshop. Last year
he followed his weight loss and preparation for a bodybuilding competition
in a blog on roanoke.com.

His first day in Austin will be March 26. His last day here will be Feb. 23.

As an aside -- and funny connection for Marques -- the city's namesake,
Stephen F. Austin, was born in Southwest Virginia.

Details on the position Marques leaves will follow.

Connor's Texas column: Peggy Noonan is a great writer, I once had dinner with Anne Coulter

Hey. That sounds familiar....

Connor: KR didn't know shit about the Internets

"Executives at the Times Leader, because of the corporate ineptness, were largely in the dark about the bright new age of information delivery," Connor writes in his Sunday column introducing the paper's new Web site, which rolls out Thursday.

The TL test kitchen serves up more vittles

The stories from Mary Therese Biebel about what her newsroom colleagues think of her cooking are cute and all, but what's with only using first names?

Someone buy the TL an encyclopedia set

Or make wikipedia Sherry Long's home page. A reader pointed out this paragraph in Long's Monday story about antiwar protesters on Public Square: "When colonists began fighting for its independence from Britain more than 230 years ago there was not a foreign country helping us fight on our behalf, they noted." I guess it depends on when you define the war as "beginning," but what about, uh, France?

BREAKING: Quiet Riot to play Woodlands in honor of Rock 107 birthday

Erstwhile friend and CV radio "columnist" Mary Ondrako reports that Rock 107 (also owned by CV owner Times Shamrock) will be throwing a big party at the Woodlands to mark the station's 27th birthday. Except that it's not really the station's 27th birthday, or something like that.

WyVal soldier in Iraq loves reading the CV

Broadsheet newspapers are too hard to read, Chuck Mazzarella writes from Iraq, and he loves those CVs his parents mail him.

What's up with the owl on the Times building in Scranton?

Q&A columnist Lisa Zaccagnino writes this week about the distinctive owls -- keeping watch on the news -- above the doors to the Times building in downtown Scranton.

What is Joe Kieta, formerly of the TL, up to?

Kieta, the onetime presentation editor at the Times Leader -- can you believe that paper once had a presentation editor? -- may be the TL alum who has gone the farthest in recent history. Kieta edits the Merced (Calif.) Sun-Star. And he blogs. Click above for details.

Connor writes a eulogy for a friend

In this week's Ft. Worth Business Press, Richard Connor writes about the sudden death of a close friend.

The TL's Connor: Peggy Noonan is a great writer, I had dinner once with Anne Coulter

Connor says that despite the nutty things Coulter says, the TL is not going to drop her off the op-ed page.

Things are going well for minority Scranton newspaper

That according to the Times-Tribune's Matt Kemeny, who reports on the newspaper and other minority business ventures in Scranton.

Read the Melanian News

Times-Tribune awards for flood coverage, other work

The Scranton paper won state awards for flood coverage, the paper's Web site, and reporter Dave Falchek's business work. Kudos.

A new day, a new message board

In the words of Rodney King, can't we all get along?

This week's sign of the apocalypse: Lane Filler named third-best columnist in America

Filler won third-best "Local Interest Column on a Variety of Subjects" in the National Headliner Awards, administered by the Press Club of Atlantic City. Filler, formerly of the Times Leader of Wilkes-Barre, is now an assistant city editor at the Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal. Enjoy a selection of his offerings below:

Filler admits he doesn't floss

Filler holds forth about how newspapers used to be in the 90s

Filler brings $50 in pennies home to the wife

You, I don't know. Um, I don't know that I would have, I don't know.

The Citizens' Voice published on Saturday an interview transcript with Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran. It's an interesting insight into the interview methods of Dave Janoski and Larry Holeva. And it also makes Moran look like a blithering idiot.

The Times-Tribune adds another blog, this one by Chad Jennings

Jennings will blog about the AAA baseball team, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Best of luck.

The T-T's Dave Falchek calls out the state on faulty data

It was the Times-Tribune and Falchek that discovered NEPA's unemployment numbers weren't as bad as portrayed, the T-T reported Tuesday. Kudos.

Connor: I love the smell of West Texas in the morning

TL Editor Richard Connor writes about stalking in the dark in his weekly Fort Worth Business Press column.

Nexstar stock going up, up, up

Things go well for the Texas-based TV company, James Haggerty of The Times-Tribune reports. NExstar owns WBRE and runs WYOU.

Times-Shamrock interactive media boss named president of Irish group

Matthew Haggerty, a member of the family that owns the Times-Tribune, will be the next president of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. The keynote speaker -- a shocker -- is Bob Casey.

TL takes home award in APME contest

The newspaper won a second-place award for battling the city of Kingston to see crime reports. Kudos, and an extra kudos to the newspaper for noting the role of the now-deposed Dave Iseman.

Ouch: The TL's Richard Connor misspells -- twice -- the name of the longtime chamber boss

Barruok?! The best part: Connor is on the chamber's board of directors! Sunday was not the TL's finest hour. An above-the-fold Page One story had an obvious to/too error, and a simple story about the newspaper winning an award dropped a period off the end of a paragraph.

Sunbury paper launches quarterly Pa. lifestyle magazine

Inside Pennsylvania Magazine will circulate from Scranton to State College and comes from "a newsroom that has transformed itself to a multi-media information company," which is certainly how everyone thinks of The Daily Item in Sunbury.

Check out the magazine's Web site

Scranton's Electric City fires back at Philadelphia Magazine

Scranton "alt-weekly" Editor Matt Smith replies to a Philly story that referred to Electric City as a "wannna-be hip weekly." It's worth it just to read the phrase "insubstantial and clichéd" in EC. Catty in the extreme. Our apologies for not passing this along closer to its March 1 publication date.

Hazleton paper wins APME award

The Standard-Speaker of Hazleton won second place in a Pennsylvania APME contest for its coverage of immigration issues in the commonwealth's highest city.

Scranton Times-Tribune cartoonist invites readers to his blog

Cartoonist John Cole's blog has had three comments in two weeks, but it is among the most interesting and insightful in northeastern Pennsylvania. Check it out.

CORRECTED: Four Times-Tribune staffers win AP Sports Editors awards

Scranton Times-Tribune sports staffers Donnie Collins, Joby Fawcett, Mark Coons and Scott Walsh all were recognized for their work. Kudos.

(The post originally stated these were APME awards. They were AP Sports Editors. Apologies.)

Philadelphia Magazine mentions Josh McAullife, takes shot at Electric City

The magazine wrote a sendup of Scranton's love of The Office. Good reading all around. "Wanna-be hip weekly Electric City?" Meow! McAullife, of the Times-Tribune, also rates a mention.

Rich Connor: What happened to winter?

This is passed on without further comment.

Former TL sports reporter Doug Pape named Luzerne County transportation boss

Maybe he can hire former editor Allison Walzer as a substitute bus driver.

Heidi Roccograndi named TL night editor

More changes at the Times Leader of Wilkes-Barre. Somewhere, Mike Liechty is crying. Kudos.

Tom Bigler is dead

Bigler, who wrote a "column" for the Times Leader for years -- is it so terrible to say, now that he has passed on, that the column was unreadable? -- is dead. Says a colleague: "Local media pioneer signs off?" Stay classy, TL.

P.S. Brian Tierney wants his royalty check

The Voice also redesigned the paper, and Page One looks nothing like the Daily News in Philadelphia. Nothing at all.

Inshallah: The Voice adds a second section to the daily paper

Every morning, the missus and I brawl over who gets the CV. It's like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. But today fortune smiles on us because the Voice is moving some news to a separate inside section! "We hope the new section will settle the 'Who gets to read The Citizens’ Voice first?' controversy that occurs at thousands of kitchen tables every morning," the Voice reports today. "Now, two people can enjoy The Citizens’ Voice at the same time." Thank the maker.

Looking for hot girl-on-girl action? Check the Weekender

Other than former TL editor Allison Walzer's litigation, not much going on. If you're interested in some girl-on-girl action or other skin, check out the galleries toward the bottom of the Weekender page.