Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Gannett Blog: Board elects HP exec Prophet as new member
Gannett Blog: Board elects HP exec Prophet as new member: Corporate said today the board of directors had elected Tony Prophet , chief of Hewlett-Packard's crucial $60 billion printer busines...
Tuesday Night in the Blogosphere
Double rainbow over La Puente yesterday
Why would anyone buy a newspaper? - USA Today
Journalists remember interviewing Lou Reed - Poynter
Thomson Reuters plans to cut 3,000 positions - Romenesko
In new director Prophet, a big political spender - Gannett Blog
Kroeger: BHM 'Interested' In Trib Co. Papers - Net News Check
The importance of self–branding for journalists - Editors Weblog
What Does the Future Hold for Salt Lake City's Newspapers? - Utah Policy
New York Times Struggles to Replace Print Ads With Digital Sales - Bloomberg
Remote Control: How Big Media Uses Shell Outfits to Expand - Frying Pan News
Today in Labor History
October 29 --
Wall Street crashes—"Black
Tuesday"—throwing the world's economy into a years-long crisis including
an unemployment rate in the U.S. that by 1933 hit nearly 25 percent -
1929
(Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to Capitalism: Jim Stanford, an economist in the research department of the Canadian Auto Workers, thinks economics is too important to be left to economists. So, he wrote this concise and readable book to provide nonspecialist readers with all the information they need to understand how capitalism works – and how it doesn’t. This is an antidote to the abstract and ideological way that economics is normally taught and reported. Key concepts such as finance, competition and wage labor are explored, and their importance in everyday life is revealed.)
The Gateway Arch, a 630-foot high
parabola of stainless steel marking the Jefferson National Expansion
Memorial on the waterfront of St. Louis, Mo., is completed after two and
one-half years. Although it was predicted 13 lives would be lost in
construction, not a single Ironworker died - 1965
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Friday, October 25, 2013
Labor book for the week of October 21, 2013
The Lexicon of Labor
By R. Emmett Murray
This is an invaluable resource for all unionists, from rank-and-file
activists to newsletter editors and webmasters to union leaders. It
offers readable, informative descriptions of more than 500 key places,
people and events in American labor history, from explaining who the
Wobblies and Knights of Labor were to reporting on the 1997 Teamster
strike at UPS. It includes dozens of new terms and developments and
introduces a new generation to the labor lexicon.
—Featured in the UCS Labor Books Catalog
By R. Emmett Murray
—Featured in the UCS Labor Books Catalog
Today in Labor History
October 25 --
What many believe to be the first formal
training on first aid in American history took place at the Windsor
Hotel in Jermyn, Penn., when Dr. Matthew J. Shields instructed 25 coal
miners on ways to help their fellow miners. Upon completion of the
course each of the miners was prepared and able to render first aid.
The training led to marked decreases in serious mining injuries and
fatalities - 1899
Some 25,000 silk dye workers strike in Paterson, N.J. - 1934
Some 25,000 silk dye workers strike in Paterson, N.J. - 1934
In what becomes known as the Great
Hawaiian Dock Strike, a 6-month struggle to win wage parity with
mainland dock workers, ends in victory - 1949
The Tribune Co. begins a brutal 5-month-long lockout at the New York Daily News, part of an effort to bust the newspaper’s unions - 1990
John Sweeney, president of the Service Employees Int’l Union, elected president of AFL-CIO - 1995
After a two-year fight, workers at the Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica, Calif., win a union contract calling for pay increases, better breaks and other gains. “They didn’t treat us like people,” nine-year employee Oliverio Gomez told the Los Angeles Times - 2011
After a two-year fight, workers at the Bonus Car Wash in Santa Monica, Calif., win a union contract calling for pay increases, better breaks and other gains. “They didn’t treat us like people,” nine-year employee Oliverio Gomez told the Los Angeles Times - 2011
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Los Angeles Times Employee Reunion 10.27.2013
This Sunday many former, and a few current, employees of the Los Angeles Times will gather at Johnny Carson Park from 10:00 am to 6:00pm to see their former colleagues of many years.
Pam Scott, former plate maker at the newspaper, created the event along with her husband Jeff Scott, a former truck driver for the Los Angeles Times.
From Pam:
Plans for our L.A Times Reunion picnic Party...
Today in Labor History
October 24 --
The 40-hour work week goes into effect
under the Fair Labor Standards Act, signed by President Roosevelt two
years earlier - 1940
(The Labor Law Source Book:
Texts of 20 Federal Labor Laws is a handy collection that puts the full
texts of all the major U.S. labor laws into one book. Includes the
National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, Occupational
Safety and Health Act, Family and Medical Leave Act and 15 more. The
full, actual language of each law is presented—without elaboration by
the editor—and a helpful topic finder at the back of the book tells you
which laws apply to basic concerns and classes of workers.)
U.S. minimum wage increases to 40¢ an hour - 1945
October 23
President Theodore Roosevelt establishes
a fact-finding commission that suspends a nine-months-long strike by
Western Pennsylvania coal miners fighting for better pay, shorter
workdays and union recognition. The strikers ended up winning more pay
for fewer hours, but failed to get union recognition. It was the first
time that the federal government had intervened as a neutral arbitrator
in a labor dispute - 1902
Explosion and fire at Phillips Petroleum refinery in Pasadena, Texas, kills 23 and injures 314 - 1989
Explosion and fire at Phillips Petroleum refinery in Pasadena, Texas, kills 23 and injures 314 - 1989
Postal workers Joseph Curseen and Thomas
Morris die nearly a month after having inhaled anthrax at the Brentwood
mail sorting center in Washington, D.C. Other postal workers had been
made ill but survived. Letters containing the deadly spores had been
addressed to U.S. Senate offices and media outlets - 2001
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Sigalert - Valuable tool for commuters
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Wonderful documentary film about Men at Work
The movie trailer for a wonderful documentary film about Men at Work: immigrants in New York, forever immortalized in the classic old photo of eleven ironworkers sitting on a beam high above the Manhattan skyline.
New York City, 1932. The country is in the throes of the Great Depression, the previous decade's boom of Italian, Irish, and Jewish immigrants has led to unprecedented urban expansion, and in the midst of an unseasonably warm autumn, steelworkers risk life and limb building skyscrapers high above the streets of Manhattan.
In MEN AT LUNCH, director Seán Ó Cualáin tells the story of "Lunch atop a Skyscraper," the iconic photograph taken during the construction of Rockefeller Center that depicts eleven workmen taking their lunch break while casually perched along a steel girder -- boots dangling 850 feet above the sidewalk, Central Park and the misty Manhattan skyline stretching out behind them.
For 80 years, the identity of the eleven men -- and the photographer that Immortalized them -- remained a mystery: their stories, lost in time, subsumed by the fame of the image itself. But then, at the start of the 21st century, the photograph finally began to give up some of its secrets. Part homage, part investigation, MEN AT LUNCH is the sublime tale of an American icon, an unprecedented race to the sky and the immigrant workers that built New York.
New York City, 1932. The country is in the throes of the Great Depression, the previous decade's boom of Italian, Irish, and Jewish immigrants has led to unprecedented urban expansion, and in the midst of an unseasonably warm autumn, steelworkers risk life and limb building skyscrapers high above the streets of Manhattan.
In MEN AT LUNCH, director Seán Ó Cualáin tells the story of "Lunch atop a Skyscraper," the iconic photograph taken during the construction of Rockefeller Center that depicts eleven workmen taking their lunch break while casually perched along a steel girder -- boots dangling 850 feet above the sidewalk, Central Park and the misty Manhattan skyline stretching out behind them.
For 80 years, the identity of the eleven men -- and the photographer that Immortalized them -- remained a mystery: their stories, lost in time, subsumed by the fame of the image itself. But then, at the start of the 21st century, the photograph finally began to give up some of its secrets. Part homage, part investigation, MEN AT LUNCH is the sublime tale of an American icon, an unprecedented race to the sky and the immigrant workers that built New York.
Today in Labor History
October 22 --
Bank robber Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy"
Floyd is killed by FBI agents near East Liverpool, Ohio. He was a hero
to the people of Oklahoma who saw him as a "Sagebrush Robin Hood,"
stealing from banks and sharing some of the proceeds with the poor -
1934
October 21
Wisconsin dairy farmers begin their third strike of the year in an attempt to raise the price of milk paid to producers during the Great Depression. Several creameries were bombed before the strike ended a month later. The economy eventually improved, allowing the farmers to make more money - 1933
Wisconsin dairy farmers begin their third strike of the year in an attempt to raise the price of milk paid to producers during the Great Depression. Several creameries were bombed before the strike ended a month later. The economy eventually improved, allowing the farmers to make more money - 1933
Tuesday Night in the Blogosphere
The Schools of the future today
Labor dispute holds up Boston Globe sale - Poynter
Virtual Schools: Cyber Pie in the Sky? - Frying Pan News
More love for Washington Post’s Don Graham - Romenesko
Struggling Newspapers Sell Off Old Headquarters - NY Times
How Prosecutors Rig Trials By Freezing Assets - Advice Goddess
Honolulu news consolidation inspired eBay founder - Gannett Blog
Circulation increases among Spanish-language newspapers - Portada
Newspapers On Track To Lose $1 Billion In Ad Sales This Year - Huffpost
Changing mindsets still hardest part of media transformation - Editors Weblog
LA’s Most Influential Black Leaders Honored by Wave Newspapers - EURWeb
Monday, October 21, 2013
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Today in Labor History
October 17 --
A huge vat ruptures at a London brewery,
setting off a domino effect of similar ruptures, and what was to become
known as The London Beer Flood. Nearly 1.5 million liters of beer
gushed into the streets drowning or otherwise causing the deaths of
eight people, mostly poor people living in nearby basements - 1814
Labor activist Warren Billings is
released from California's Folsom Prison. Along with Thomas J. Mooney,
Billings had been pardoned for a 1916 conviction stemming from a bomb
explosion during a San Francisco Preparedness Day parade. He had always
maintained his innocence - 1939
"Salt of the Earth" strike begins by the
mostly Mexican-American members of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union
Local 890 in Bayard, N.M. Strikers' wives walked picket lines for seven
months when their men were enjoined during the 14-month strike against
the New Jersey Zinc Co. A great movie, see it! - 1950
Twelve New York City firefighters die fighting a blaze in midtown Manhattan - 1966
Int’l Printing Pressmen's &
Assistants' Union of North America merges with Int’l Stereotypers',
Electrotypers' & Platemakers' Union to become Printing & Graphic
Communications Union - 1973
Industrial Union of Marine &
Shipbuilding Workers of America merges with Int’l Association of
Machinists & Aerospace Workers - 1988
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Arkitex Cloud - cloud solution for newspaper publishers
Newspapers today are continuously seeking ways of improving efficiencies whilst meeting the challenges of the future with digital publishing. They are examining the promise of managed services and dedicated cloud infrastructure to enable them to streamline their production flows whether for paper or mobile devices. The :Arkitex Cloud from Agfa Graphics is such service dedicated to newspapers.
Congratulations to Cory Booker
Sign our Petition - Restore the L.A. River
Official Resolution in Support of the Selection of Alternative 20
WHEREAS, the Los Angeles River is the lifeblood of our community and a vital resource to be restored and protected; and
WHEREAS, in 2006, the Los Angeles City Council approved an agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study (Study); and
WHEREAS, in 2013, the Corps has developed a final array of four alternatives for the Study, and only Alternative 20 includes both significant restoration at the Los Angeles River's confluence with the Verdugo Wash near the City's border with the City of Glendale, and the only substantial western bank connection-providing a profound hydrological link between the Los Angeles State Historic Park and the river; and
WHEREAS, these two areas provide critical wildlife habitat connectivity to the Verdugo and Elysian Hills, respectively, and are included in the five key opportunity areas of the City Council-adopted Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, which the US Congress directed the Corps to consider; and
WHEREAS, Alternative 20 provides the most robust ecosystem restoration outcomes while also providing four times more jobs than the Corps-preferred alternative, and will thereby most appropriately redress historic environmental injustices that resulted from the river’s channelization—providing new public access to natural open spaces, improving public health, stimulating regional and local economies, and enhancing the quality of life in Los Angeles
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the undersigned supports the selection and full implementation of Alternative 20 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers to restore our Los Angeles River.
By signing,
you agree to submit your name as an official public comment regarding
implementation of the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration
Feasibility Study.
Today in Labor History
October 16 --
Queen
Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, is beheaded during the French
Revolution. When alerted that the peasants were suffering due to
widespread bread shortages, lore has it that she replied, “Let them eat
cake.” In fact she never said that, but workers were, justifiably, ready
to believe anything bad about their cold-hearted royalty - 1793
Abolitionist John Brown leads 18 men,
including five free blacks, in an attack on the Harper's Ferry
ammunition depot, the beginning of guerilla warfare against slavery -
1859
October 15
President Woodrow Wilson signs the
Clayton Antitrust Act—often referred to as "Labor’s Magna
Carta"—establishing that unions are not "conspiracies" under the law. It
for the first time freed unions to strike, picket and boycott
employers. In the years that followed, however, numerous state measures
and negative court interpretations weakened the law - 1914
Courthouse News Service - Veteran Columnist Sues Los Angeles Times
Courthouse News Service
LOS ANGELES (CN) - Veteran sports columnist T.J. Simers sued the Los Angeles Times for discrimination and wrongful firing, claiming he was warned to "go easy" on former Dodgers' owner Frank McCourt because of McCourt's relationship with the newspaper's publisher.
LOS ANGELES (CN) - Veteran sports columnist T.J. Simers sued the Los Angeles Times for discrimination and wrongful firing, claiming he was warned to "go easy" on former Dodgers' owner Frank McCourt because of McCourt's relationship with the newspaper's publisher.
Wednesday Night in the Blogosphere
Former pressman Victor Banuelos
Why NowThis News Has Traditional Media Scrambling - Mashable
Newspapers are a great bargain — until they're gone - The Providence
Why Google May Be Journalists’ New BFF - Newspaper Death Watch
L.A. Times will no longer print letters that deny climate change - Poynter
Times, Tribune sued by former sports writer T.J. Simers - Los Angeles Times
International Herald Tribune becomes International NY Times - Editors Weblog
Patch editor realizes there’s hanky-panky going on in pumpkin photo - Romenesko
Delivery costs, declining readership buffet African-American newspapers - Crain's
Newspaper's Display Box Vandalized Following Alleged Swap Incident - Daily Voice
Gannett Blog: Louisville | Document in age-discrimination case c...
Gannett Blog: Louisville | Document in age-discrimination case c...: More than a year after one of Gannett's most highly paid former circulation executives charged in a lawsuit that his dismissal constit...
Chicago Tribune launches Blue Sky Innovation
New website offers insight into Chicago's innovation scene
Published: Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 - 8:29 am
CHICAGO, Oct. 16, 2013 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago Tribune
Media Group announces today the launch of Blue Sky Innovation, a
premium website and newsletter aimed at the growing community of
innovation-minded professionals in the Chicago area.
Blue Sky Innovation (www.blueskyinnovation.com) will offer news and information about Chicago's burgeoning business innovation, high-tech and entrepreneurial scene.
Blue Sky Innovation's goal is to educate and inspire, bringing together innovators from small and large companies alike through interviews, profiles, case studies, an exclusive calendar of events and Blue Sky gatherings.
"Blue Sky is for an audience interested in business innovation—from startup entrepreneurs to innovative executives in established companies,'' said Tony Hunter, CEO and Publisher of Chicago Tribune.
"Chicago Tribune is constantly developing new ways to meet the needs of consumers,'' Hunter said. "We are focused on relevant, differentiated content areas for niche audiences.''
The site officially launched Wednesday, Oct. 16, with United Airlines as the exclusive presenting launch sponsor.
Blue Sky will be offered on chicagotribune.com. A sampling of Blue Sky content will also appear in the Chicago Tribune print edition in the Monday business section.
Developed after extensive research with consumers and thought leaders in the innovation community, Blue Sky looks at how innovation affects business--and life--through its own reporting, curating content from other respected sources, and hosting of events to connect local innovators.
"There are great things happening all over Chicago, and we see a need and opportunity to capture and chronicle it,'' Gerry Kern, Editor of Chicago Tribune said. "We intend Blue Sky's news and information, events, profiles and case studies to provide both data and inspiration for the next set of big ideas."
For more information, visit www.blueskyinnovation.com.
About Chicago Tribune Media Group: Chicago Tribune Media Group is a media and business services company that publishes the Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune. CTMG also produces related print and interactive media serving Chicagoland like RedEye, Hoy, Chicago magazine, Naperville Magazine, TribLocal, The Mash, chicagotribune.com, chicagonow.com and metromix.com. Reaching 4.8 million adults each week in the greater Chicago area, CTMG is the leading news and information destination in Chicagoland.
SOURCE Chicago Tribune Media Group
Blue Sky Innovation (www.blueskyinnovation.com) will offer news and information about Chicago's burgeoning business innovation, high-tech and entrepreneurial scene.
Blue Sky Innovation's goal is to educate and inspire, bringing together innovators from small and large companies alike through interviews, profiles, case studies, an exclusive calendar of events and Blue Sky gatherings.
"Blue Sky is for an audience interested in business innovation—from startup entrepreneurs to innovative executives in established companies,'' said Tony Hunter, CEO and Publisher of Chicago Tribune.
"Chicago Tribune is constantly developing new ways to meet the needs of consumers,'' Hunter said. "We are focused on relevant, differentiated content areas for niche audiences.''
The site officially launched Wednesday, Oct. 16, with United Airlines as the exclusive presenting launch sponsor.
Blue Sky will be offered on chicagotribune.com. A sampling of Blue Sky content will also appear in the Chicago Tribune print edition in the Monday business section.
Developed after extensive research with consumers and thought leaders in the innovation community, Blue Sky looks at how innovation affects business--and life--through its own reporting, curating content from other respected sources, and hosting of events to connect local innovators.
"There are great things happening all over Chicago, and we see a need and opportunity to capture and chronicle it,'' Gerry Kern, Editor of Chicago Tribune said. "We intend Blue Sky's news and information, events, profiles and case studies to provide both data and inspiration for the next set of big ideas."
For more information, visit www.blueskyinnovation.com.
About Chicago Tribune Media Group: Chicago Tribune Media Group is a media and business services company that publishes the Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune. CTMG also produces related print and interactive media serving Chicagoland like RedEye, Hoy, Chicago magazine, Naperville Magazine, TribLocal, The Mash, chicagotribune.com, chicagonow.com and metromix.com. Reaching 4.8 million adults each week in the greater Chicago area, CTMG is the leading news and information destination in Chicagoland.
SOURCE Chicago Tribune Media Group
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
Gannett Blog: Richmond | Daily reportedly put on remote control
Gannett Blog: Richmond | Daily reportedly put on remote control: First, the general manager-editor of the Palladium-Item retired six weeks ago. Now, according to one of my readers, two of the senior-most...
All about Wrigley Building - Text 2 Audio transformation using Flite
All about Wrigley Building. This is another Text 2 Audio transformation using Flite. Below is the transcript for the recording:
The Wrigley Building is a skyscraper located directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower on the Magnificent Mile. It was built to house the corporate headquarters of the Wrigley Company. When ground was broken for the Wrigley Building in 1920, there were no major office buildings north of the Chicago River and the Michigan Avenue Bridge, which spans the river just south of the building was still under construction. The land was selected by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. to headquarters his gum company. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White using the shape of the Giralda tower of Seville's Cathedral combined with French Renaissance details. The south tower was completed in April 1921 and the north tower in May 1924. Walkways between the towers were added at the ground level and the third floor. In 1931, another walkway was added at the fourteenth floor to connect to offices of a bank in accordance with a Chicago statute concerning bank branch offices. The two towers, not including the levels below Michigan Avenue, have a combined area of . The two towers are of differing heights, with the south tower rising to 30 stories and the north tower to 21 stories. On the south tower is a clock with faces pointing in all directions. Each face is in diameter. The building is clad in glazed terra-cotta, which provides its gleaming white façade. On occasion, the entire building is hand washed to preserve the terra cotta. At night, the building is brightly lit with floodlights. The Wrigley Building was Chicago's first air-conditioned office building. If one walks through the center doors, they will find themselves in a secluded park area overlooking the Chicago River. The Wrigley Building was sold in 2011 to a group of investors that includes Zeller Realty Group and Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell.
The Wrigley Building is a skyscraper located directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower on the Magnificent Mile. It was built to house the corporate headquarters of the Wrigley Company. When ground was broken for the Wrigley Building in 1920, there were no major office buildings north of the Chicago River and the Michigan Avenue Bridge, which spans the river just south of the building was still under construction. The land was selected by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. to headquarters his gum company. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White using the shape of the Giralda tower of Seville's Cathedral combined with French Renaissance details. The south tower was completed in April 1921 and the north tower in May 1924. Walkways between the towers were added at the ground level and the third floor. In 1931, another walkway was added at the fourteenth floor to connect to offices of a bank in accordance with a Chicago statute concerning bank branch offices. The two towers, not including the levels below Michigan Avenue, have a combined area of . The two towers are of differing heights, with the south tower rising to 30 stories and the north tower to 21 stories. On the south tower is a clock with faces pointing in all directions. Each face is in diameter. The building is clad in glazed terra-cotta, which provides its gleaming white façade. On occasion, the entire building is hand washed to preserve the terra cotta. At night, the building is brightly lit with floodlights. The Wrigley Building was Chicago's first air-conditioned office building. If one walks through the center doors, they will find themselves in a secluded park area overlooking the Chicago River. The Wrigley Building was sold in 2011 to a group of investors that includes Zeller Realty Group and Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell.
Today in Labor History
October 14 --
Int’l Working People's Association founded in Pittsburgh, Pa. - 1883
The Seafarers Int’l Union (SIU) is
founded as an AFL alternative to what was then the CIO’s National
Maritime Union. SIU is an umbrella organization of 12 autonomous unions
of mariners, fishermen and boatmen working on U.S.-flagged vessels -
1938
Gannett Blog: Newspapers' revenue dive enters 8th straight year;...
Gannett Blog: Newspapers' revenue dive enters 8th straight year;...: As digital advertising sales soared 18% to a record high in the first six months of this year, publishing revenues of the publicly traded n...
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Thank You Officer Hector Marquez, Jr. from New Mexico
SOURCE: Frank Somerville KTVU
I thought this was a nice story to start the week off right.
This is Officer Hector Marquez, Jr. from New Mexico.
He was responding to a family fight.
Inside the home was a 63 year old woman who was raising her six grandchildren.
After getting everyone to calm down he learned that the grandmother was the sole provider and was on a fixed income and food stamps.
And the problem was, everyone was hungry.
"I don't know how we got onto the topic of the welfare of the kids and if she needed anything. She had told me that they had last eaten in the morning, that grandma made pancakes, but she couldn't get her food stamps until the 19th, which was eight days away."
So Officer Marquez decided to take action.
He went to the grocery store and used his own money to buy the family groceries.
He bought milk, bread, cheese, and lunch meat.
The officer tried to do it quietly.
He didn’t make a big deal out of it.
But another officer told their boss, and the department then publicly honored him.
I remember once being in a grocery store and seeing an elderly woman buying one can of beans.
I debated back and forth whether to offer to buy her food and in the end in I convinced myself not to do it. I thought maybe that was all she needed and I didn’t want to embarrass her.
Looking back I was wrong. I wish I’d followed my heart and done what Officer Marquez did instead of over thinking it.
It’s estimated that more than 1 out of every 5 children in American is hungry. http://feedingamerica.org/
But thanks to Officer Marquez at least 6 children didn’t go to bed hungry for at least one night last week.
I thought this was a nice story to start the week off right.
This is Officer Hector Marquez, Jr. from New Mexico.
He was responding to a family fight.
Inside the home was a 63 year old woman who was raising her six grandchildren.
After getting everyone to calm down he learned that the grandmother was the sole provider and was on a fixed income and food stamps.
And the problem was, everyone was hungry.
"I don't know how we got onto the topic of the welfare of the kids and if she needed anything. She had told me that they had last eaten in the morning, that grandma made pancakes, but she couldn't get her food stamps until the 19th, which was eight days away."
So Officer Marquez decided to take action.
He went to the grocery store and used his own money to buy the family groceries.
He bought milk, bread, cheese, and lunch meat.
The officer tried to do it quietly.
He didn’t make a big deal out of it.
But another officer told their boss, and the department then publicly honored him.
I remember once being in a grocery store and seeing an elderly woman buying one can of beans.
I debated back and forth whether to offer to buy her food and in the end in I convinced myself not to do it. I thought maybe that was all she needed and I didn’t want to embarrass her.
Looking back I was wrong. I wish I’d followed my heart and done what Officer Marquez did instead of over thinking it.
It’s estimated that more than 1 out of every 5 children in American is hungry. http://feedingamerica.org/
But thanks to Officer Marquez at least 6 children didn’t go to bed hungry for at least one night last week.
Another Los Angeles Times Pressroom Departure
Many will be tapped on the shoulder suggesting they leave or face the same punishment as was dealt on Friday, as the company is desperate to cut costs any way possible.
I wish my former colleagues the best as things will be getting ugly at the newspaper.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Today in Labor History
October 12 --
Company guards kill at least eight
miners who are attempting to stop scabs, Virden, Ill. Six guards are
also killed, and 30 persons wounded - 1898
Fourteen miners killed, 22 wounded by scab herders at Pana, Ill. - 1902
Some 2,000 workers demanding union recognition close down dress manufacturing, Los Angeles - 1933
More than one million Canadian workers demonstrate against wage controls - 1976
October 11
The Miners’ National Association is
formed in Youngstown, Ohio, with the goal of uniting all miners,
regardless of skill or ethnic background - 1873
Nearly 1,500 plantation workers strike Olaa Sugar, on Hawaii’s Big Island - 1948
Friday, October 11, 2013
Los Angeles Blogs
Los Angeles Blogs: List of the top Los Angeles blogs on the Internet, based on traffic as well as influence over the subject online. Bloggers ...
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Thursday Night in the Blogosphere
Register parent buys Press-Enterprise - Mark Lacter
The empire of media and mind - The International News
Both newspapers have rich legacies - The Press-Enterprise
Into the night, they bring you your newspaper - The T and D
Register adds Mark Heisler as NBA columnist - Kevin Roderick
Sinclair reportedly tried to grab Belo from Gannett - Gannett Blog
Past comes alive through newspapers - DC Democrat and Chronicle
Online Content Moderation, Emerging Best Practices - Editors Weblog
Consolidation and layoffs are the order of the day - Nieman Journalism Lab
Third of millennials watch mostly online video or no broadcast TV - Poynter
Today in Labor History
October 10 --
Six
days into a cotton field strike by 18,000 Mexican and Mexican-American
workers in Pixley, Calif., four strikers are killed and six wounded;
eight growers were indicted and charged with murder - 1933
The largest agricultural strike in California history, involving more
than 18,000 workers, occurred over the course of the 1933 harvest in the
California agricultural industry. Strike actions moved across the state
through the harvests of cherries, pears, peaches, sugar beets and
grapes, culminating in the cotton fields of the San Joaquin Valley in
October.
Organized in large part by the Cannery and Agricultural Workers’ International Union among workers protesting pay cuts at the height of the Great Depression, labor actions grew throughout the summer. The Cotton Strike saw 12,000 workers walk off the job. Striking workers were evicted from company housing, and growers were deputized. A violent attack left two workers dead and eight wounded in the town of Pixley, California.
CAWIU organizers Pat Chambers and Caroline Decker were arrested and charged under the California Criminal Syndicalism Act for their labor organizing activities. When the National Labor Relations Act was passed in 1935 by the Roosevelt administration, agricultural workers were excluded from protection.
Raymond P. Barry noted that: “Ninety-five percent of the cotton pickers in the San Joaquin in 1933, it has been estimated, were Mexican.” This union wanted change, and according to Raymond P. Barry: "At the opening of the 1933 cotton picking season we find the Cannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union providing militant leadership for the Mexican pickers, drawing up and presenting their demands to the growers, and threatening a valleywide strike if these demands were not met. The demands of the union were three-fold: 1. - A wage rate of $1.00 per hundred pounds of cotton picked. 2. - Recognition of the union. 3. - Abolition of contract labor.
It only took a matter of days for the events of the strike to go from bad to worse.
On October 9, 1933, the New York Times posted: “Violence flamed in the cotton strike areas covering four California counties today, with Tulare growers running agitators out of the county, following a free-for-all right, and farmers in other counties ousting pickers and arming themselves for further trouble […] In Kern county alone today it was estimated that 200 strikers and their families had been ousted from their cottages. Their belongings were dumped on the road and they were told to ‘get.’” Tensions reached there ultimate peak on October 10, 1933 in Pixley when a gathering of protestors and ranchers led to the deaths of a few strikers. An article in the New York Times states that " Ranchers who heard of the proposed meeting [between strikers] organized a caravan of about thirty automobiles, drove into Pixley and surrounded the meeting. Suddenly there was a shot from the caravan, then a volley. Three men fell dead and many were wounded [...] but bloodshed at Pixley did not break the strike."
Oct 26, 1933 The strikes closing results: “The state of California, cooperating with the Federal Government, tonight ordered the cotton strike officially ended. The order was issued with the mailed fist of authority behind it. Cotton picking is to be resumed under armed protection of State authorities. Agitators must leave the area. All strike unemployment relief work is to be discontinued and violence must cease. Eighty percent of the growers have acceded to the suggested wage of 75 cents per 100 pounds.”
Although the ultimate goal of the unionized cotton pickers was not reached, they still gained more pay, and although this was a gain for the workers, the striking process led to many evicted families and many Mexicans were led back to Mexico.
![Photo: Today in #LaborHistory : October 10 -- via -- www.unionist.com
Six days into a cotton field strike by 18,000 Mexican and Mexican-American workers in Pixley, Calif., four strikers are killed and six wounded; eight growers were indicted and charged with murder - 1933 ~De
The largest agricultural strike in California history, involving more than 18,000 workers, occurred over the course of the 1933 harvest in the California agricultural industry. Strike actions moved across the state through the harvests of cherries, pears, peaches, sugar beets and grapes, culminating in the cotton fields of the San Joaquin Valley in October.
Organized in large part by the Cannery and Agricultural Workers’ International Union among workers protesting pay cuts at the height of the Great Depression, labor actions grew throughout the summer. The Cotton Strike saw 12,000 workers walk off the job. Striking workers were evicted from company housing, and growers were deputized. A violent attack left two workers dead and eight wounded in the town of Pixley, California.
CAWIU organizers Pat Chambers and Caroline Decker were arrested and charged under the California Criminal Syndicalism Act for their labor organizing activities. When the National Labor Relations Act was passed in 1935 by the Roosevelt administration, agricultural workers were excluded from protection.
Raymond P. Barry noted that: “Ninety-five percent of the cotton pickers in the San Joaquin in 1933, it has been estimated, were Mexican.” This union wanted change, and according to Raymond P. Barry: "At the opening of the 1933 cotton picking season we find the Cannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union providing militant leadership for the Mexican pickers, drawing up and presenting their demands to the growers, and threatening a valleywide strike if these demands were not met. The demands of the union were three-fold: 1. - A wage rate of $1.00 per hundred pounds of cotton picked. 2. - Recognition of the union. 3. - Abolition of contract labor.
It only took a matter of days for the events of the strike to go from bad to worse.
On October 9, 1933, the New York Times posted: “Violence flamed in the cotton strike areas covering four California counties today, with Tulare growers running agitators out of the county, following a free-for-all right, and farmers in other counties ousting pickers and arming themselves for further trouble […] In Kern county alone today it was estimated that 200 strikers and their families had been ousted from their cottages. Their belongings were dumped on the road and they were told to ‘get.’” Tensions reached there ultimate peak on October 10, 1933 in Pixley when a gathering of protestors and ranchers led to the deaths of a few strikers. An article in the New York Times states that " Ranchers who heard of the proposed meeting [between strikers] organized a caravan of about thirty automobiles, drove into Pixley and surrounded the meeting. Suddenly there was a shot from the caravan, then a volley. Three men fell dead and many were wounded [...] but bloodshed at Pixley did not break the strike."
Oct 26, 1933 The strikes closing results: “The state of California, cooperating with the Federal Government, tonight ordered the cotton strike officially ended. The order was issued with the mailed fist of authority behind it. Cotton picking is to be resumed under armed protection of State authorities. Agitators must leave the area. All strike unemployment relief work is to be discontinued and violence must cease. Eighty percent of the growers have acceded to the suggested wage of 75 cents per 100 pounds.”
Although the ultimate goal of the unionized cotton pickers was not reached, they still gained more pay, and although this was a gain for the workers, the striking process led to many evicted families and many Mexicans were led back to Mexico.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Agricultural_Strike_1933](https://scontent-a-pao.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/p480x480/1375712_518463438239936_906427594_n.jpg)
Gannett Blog: Murfreesboro | In local news, redefining bylines
Gannett Blog: Murfreesboro | In local news, redefining bylines: The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, Tenn., has consolidated Monday papers to two sections from four, largely by eliminating house ads, ...
Dulan's On Crenshaw One Year Anniversary Roll Back
As many of you are aware I was a volunteer at the African Arts and Music Festival Labor Day weekend of this year, I had a blast and was able to experience artwork, music, and food from Dulan's on Crenshaw all three days. The food dishes were different each day, and my plate was empty after enjoying the wares that were just like home made. I met the owner, Greg Dulan, and he's not only a skilled businessman, but extremely likeable as a person. If I can find the time I will be dropping by the restaurant on Friday morning at 11:00 am, see you there.
Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Wednesday Night in the Blogosphere
Newspapers dying? No way! - Tri-Parish Times
Happy National Newspaper Week - The Daily Herald
Newspapers need to innovate - Cornerstone University
How to make money with newspapers - The Australian
Reader: Why have GCI shares fallen 10%? - Gannett Blog
‘Arsenio’ better get better — for Tribune’s sake - Robert Feder
Mike Gold: Newspapers’ Slow and Painful Death - Comic Mix
What recovery? Buyouts offered at LA Times printing facility - Stephen Frank
2 former top execs of OC Register owner seek $4.5 million in severance - LAT
Dow Jones Union Explains Buyout Situation Before News Corp Split - Huff Post
Save Our Trade: Buyouts offered at the Los Angeles Times
Save Our Trade: Buyouts offered at the Los Angeles Times
Photo credit Mae Ryan KPCC
By Wendy Lee
The printing facility for The Los Angeles Times in downtown L.A.
Employees at the Los Angeles Times printing facility were offered buyouts, union officials confirmed to KPCC on Tuesday.
Ronnie Pineda, president of the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 140-N, said the buyouts could impact workers at the facility from printing press operators to color specialists who make sure the colors appear correctly in the newspaper.
It is unclear exactly how many workers qualify for the buyout. Edward Padgett, the union's recording secretary, estimated 73 people would qualify in the pressroom. He said the buyout offers up to 40 weeks of pay, with one week of pay per year of service.
Times spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan said the company doesn't comment on speculation and she didn't respond to a question about possible impact on other newsroom employees.
The cuts come as the Tribune Co., parent company of the L.A. Times, has been closely examining its budget to become more efficient. Tribune Co. chief executive Peter Liguori said at a Tribune staff meeting he is "not walking around with a specific number in mind."
Tribune Co. reported a consolidated operating profit of $90 million in the second quarter compared to $125 million in the same period a year earlier, due to declining sales.
Pineda said this is the second buyout affecting L.A. Times printing facility employees in the last three years. He said the Times has been whittling away at its printing facilities staff. In 2000, there were more than 700 pressmen and women at three different print facilities, Pineda said. He estimates that number is now 125 people, with only one printing facility open.
By Wendy Lee
The printing facility for The Los Angeles Times in downtown L.A.
Employees at the Los Angeles Times printing facility were offered buyouts, union officials confirmed to KPCC on Tuesday.
Ronnie Pineda, president of the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 140-N, said the buyouts could impact workers at the facility from printing press operators to color specialists who make sure the colors appear correctly in the newspaper.
It is unclear exactly how many workers qualify for the buyout. Edward Padgett, the union's recording secretary, estimated 73 people would qualify in the pressroom. He said the buyout offers up to 40 weeks of pay, with one week of pay per year of service.
Times spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan said the company doesn't comment on speculation and she didn't respond to a question about possible impact on other newsroom employees.
The cuts come as the Tribune Co., parent company of the L.A. Times, has been closely examining its budget to become more efficient. Tribune Co. chief executive Peter Liguori said at a Tribune staff meeting he is "not walking around with a specific number in mind."
Tribune Co. reported a consolidated operating profit of $90 million in the second quarter compared to $125 million in the same period a year earlier, due to declining sales.
Pineda said this is the second buyout affecting L.A. Times printing facility employees in the last three years. He said the Times has been whittling away at its printing facilities staff. In 2000, there were more than 700 pressmen and women at three different print facilities, Pineda said. He estimates that number is now 125 people, with only one printing facility open.
Today in Labor History
October 09 --
United Hebrew Trades is organized in New
York by shirtmaker Morris Hillquit and others. Hillquit would later
would become leader of the Socialist Party - 1888
Retail stock brokerage Smith Barney
reaches a tentative sexual harassment settlement with a group of female
employees. The suit charged, among other things, that branch managers
asked female workers to remove their tops in exchange for money and 
one
office featured a "boom boom room" where women workers were encouraged
to "entertain clients." The settlement was never finalized: a U.S.
District Court judge refused to approve the deal because it failed to
adequately redress the plaintiff's grievances - 1997
one
office featured a "boom boom room" where women workers were encouraged
to "entertain clients." The settlement was never finalized: a U.S.
District Court judge refused to approve the deal because it failed to
adequately redress the plaintiff's grievances - 1997(Unwelcome and Unlawful: Sexual Harassment in the American Workplace: Nearly every American woman will, at some point during her working life, be sexually harassed, according to Raymond F. Gregory, a lawyer specializing in employment and discrimination law. Unwelcome and Unlawful provides up-to-date information for those victims as well as for those suffering same-sex harassment and for male victims of sexual harassment. The author analyzes sexual harassment from the perspective of existing federal law and describes the legal rights that may be asserted by victims of harassment to obtain either injunctive or monetary relief.)
An estimated 3,300 sanitation workers
working for private haulers in Chicago win a 9-day strike featuring a
28-percent wage increase over five years - 2003
Gannett Blog: Salisbury | Most self-serving story of the week
Gannett Blog: Salisbury | Most self-serving story of the week: USA Weekend started the annual volunteer event Make A Difference Day 21 years ago, and if it's had any lasting impact in Salisbury, ...
Tuesday, October 08, 2013
Tuesday Night in the Blogosphere
Will Eddy Hartenstein be the last publisher of the Los Angeles Times?
In print, newspapers cut opinion - Pew Research Center
It’s 73rd Newspaper Appreciation Week - Tahoe Daily Tribune
It’s 73rd Newspaper Appreciation Week - Tahoe Daily Tribune
At 125 Years, a Rechristening for The Herald Tribune - New York Times
The New York Times continues to struggle with advertising - All Things D
Stop Press: we need to save journalism, not newspapers - The Conversation
12 in Projo union take buyouts, including Harrop; layoffs loom - Eyewitness News
Newspaper executives struggle whether the news should be digital - Lompoc Record
Today in Labor History
October 08 --
Thirty of the city's 185 firefighters are injured battling the Great Chicago Fire, which burned for three days - 1871
Thirty of the city's 185 firefighters are injured battling the Great Chicago Fire, which burned for three days - 1871
Structural Building Trades Alliance
organizes in Indianapolis with goal of eliminating jurisdictional
strikes that were seriously disrupting the industry and shoring up the
power of international unions over local building trades councils.
Conflicts between large and small unions doomed the group and it
disbanded six years later - 1902
In Poland, the union Solidarity and all other labor organizations are banned by the government - 1982
Upholsterers' Int’l Union of North America merges with United Steelworkers of America - 1985
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