US Rep. Patrick McHenry, the Republican who represents North Carolinas 10 th District, became a focus of the GOPs search for an identity in the wake of its watershed loss last November. McHenry, who reportedly keeps a bust of Ronald Reagan on his desk, is quoted in the May 7 issue of Time.

Hat tip to Taft Wireback at the News Record for institutional memory. Yes, there are lot of things wrong with daily newspapers. Their reporters often get stuck in the silo syndrome, one reporting on municipal government, while another reports on the police and still another reports on the courts, but none of them put all the pieces together.

On May 20, WFMY-TV will hold a birthday celebration to commemorate its 60 th year on the air. Founded in 1949, the Greensboro television station enjoys the distinction of being the first TV station in the state to broadcast live.

The Greensboro News & Record announced another 25 layoffs last week, six of them newsroom positions, in its second job-shedding initiative of the year.

Indicators of newspapers demise always seem to be in ample supply, notwithstanding our tendency in the industry to take a pollyannish view or at least put ourselves forward as the exception to the rule. The latest piece of bad news comes in an item on Monday from Editor Publisher.

Starbucks employees at Wake Forest University complained to their management about offensive content in the April Fools edition of the student newspaper, Old Gold Black. A lead article, Starbucks Junkies Find On-Campus Dealer, joked about Starbucks student patrons and their non-student employees.

Seymour Hersh, perhaps the most respected foreign policy reporter of his generation, writes in the April 6 issue of The New Yorker that the Obama administration has an opportunity to pursue peace in the Middle East by brokering a deal between Syria and Israel (Syria has consistently demanded that Israel return the Golan Heights, seized in 1967;

On March 20, Dr. Joe Guarino made a post on his Guarino blog (guarino.typepad.com) which usually concerns itself with Greensboro municipal affairs, right-wing talking points and the history and culture of southern Italy about the conviction of Greensboro police officer AJ Blake on an assault charge that occurred at the Greensboro Police Club.

The homicide of a North Carolina AT senior will be featured on the website of the FOX television show Americas Most Wanted according to a March 16 press release issued by the Greensboro Police Department. The shooting death of Dennis Stewart Hayle, a 22-year-old AT senior from Hempstead, NY is still under investigation.

McClatchy to cut 1,600 jobs Citing declining revenues and debt worries, McClatchy Company, the parent company of the Raleigh News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer, announced that it plans to eliminate 15 percent of its work force or 1,600 jobs, according to a News & Observer report published March 9.