Tag Archives: Peoria Journal Star

City of Peoria, Kellar Branch, Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Park District

Park District can walk lapdog Journal Star on new trail

16 Comments

The Peoria Journal Star has published another article on the proposed Kellar Branch conversion. Of course, it is information that was on the blogs two weeks ago. However, since they’re a full-time, mainstream media outlet, and not just doing journalism as a hobby, they had the time and access to contact several people for quotes about the project, including Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis, Pioneer Railcorp attorney Bill Mullins, Park District director Bonnie Noble, and head of the inscrutable Kellar Branch Corridor Corporation Tom Leiter.

Here’s what the Journal Star didn’t ask any of these people: Why did Pioneer Railcorp (who has steadfastly opposed trail conversion) change their mind? What is the purpose of the Kellar Branch Corridor Corporation? It’s been reported that Leiter’s company “bought out” the interests of the parties on the Kellar Branch; how much did that cost? Will those costs be passed on to the taxpayers? If so, why has that agreement not been publicly disclosed?

These are all questions that a watchdog media would have asked. But the Journal Star, which has long been a lapdog for the Peoria Park District, took a pass on doing any investigation that would hold public officials accountable for disclosing what’s being done or going to be done with our tax money. No doubt they’ll report on the costs after the fact, the same way they put a big article on the costs of a new charter school the day after the school board voted to approve it.

Peoria Journal Star

Journal Star gets a little smaller

14 Comments

Sunday’s Journal Star brings news of “a few changes.” There’s no longer a separate business section in Sunday’s paper, so they’ve moved Paul Gordon’s column into section A and axed the Wall Street Journal content. In the comics section, they’re discontinuing “Hi & Lois,” “Hagar the Horrible,” “Prince Valiant,” and “Comics for Kids,” all of which produce new strips every week. They’re keeping the “Peanuts” reruns from the 80s, though. With the elimination of the KidzBuzz page, that cuts the comics section to four pages.

They’re also discontinuing the “Faith & Values” page, the “Pet World” column by Steve Dale, and Joan Lloyd’s column. Lloyd’s column will be replaced with a column called “Shoestring Living” (apropos, don’t you think?) by Chicago freelance writer Molly Logan Anderson.

Subscription rates were raised in October, and just last month the paper laid off 11 employees including Sports editor Bill Liesse, Statehouse bureau reporter Adriana Colindres, and State editor Lisa Coon. Now they’re cutting a little more content, probably to save on newsprint costs.

Peoria Journal Star

GateHouse has special Christmas present for employees: layoffs

6 Comments

More reporters have been axed from the Journal Star:

Publisher Ken Mauser said, “The layoffs were made in an effort to adapt to the changing nature of the newspaper business.” […]

“Like many companies operating in today’s business environment, change will be inevitable and necessary to position our business for the future,” Mauser said.

Oops, that was Mauser’s quote from January 22, 2009. I meant to say:

We are equally sure that you recognize the value of the news and information, entertainment and many saving values found in the Journal Star everyday.

Oh, no. That’s not right either. That’s from the letter where they raised their rates in August 2008. They raised them again in October 2009.

Here it is:

The Journal Star on Friday announced the reduction of its staffing level by 11 positions. […] The reductions were necessitated to keep the Journal Star’s cost structure in line with the current economic environment of the newspaper industry which is affected by the general economic conditions across the nation, according to Publisher Ken Mauser.

Billy Dennis provides us with the names of three of the employees who got pink slips: Sports editor Bill Liesse, Statehouse bureau reporter Adriana Colindres, and State editor Lisa Coon.

Right before Christmas. Right after they raised the subscription rates twice in a little over a year. Just eleven months after the last round of layoffs.

The value of the Journal Star keeps going down, down, down. What a shame for readers. Worse, what a shame for those laid off and their families.

Peoria Journal Star

Journal Star subscription rates going up… again

24 Comments

It was only last August that the Journal Star raised subscription rates to $19.50 per month. Shortly after that, the paper started getting thinner. Sections that used to have six pages only had four, for example. Then in January 2009, they gave pink slips to five reporters.

So, of course, the Journal Star is raising subscription rates again. In a letter dated October 20, Circulation Manager Bruce Nielsen said, “Effective November 23, 2009, your new rate will be $20.58 per month. That is an increase of less than four cents per day.”

Fewer reporters. Thinner papers. Higher subscription rates. Meanwhile, non-subscribers get the same news at no cost via the pjstar.com website. I guess I really am a sucker (as are all other subscribers) for continuing to pay them for content they’re giving away free to everyone else.

Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Police, Television

Kudos to Journal Star on some great reporting

8 Comments

A couple pieces worth reading, if you haven’t already:

  • Investigative Report on Overtime: With the city facing a budget deficit of $10-12 million, everything is under scrutiny, and that certainly includes the city’s largest expense: salaries. So kudos to the Journal Star — and specifically John Sharp — for the in-depth analysis of overtime expenses in the police and fire departments. All angles of the story were covered between the main article and numerous sidebars.

    I thought it was interesting that the police union would rather see property taxes raised than take a pay freeze, considering almost half the force lives outside of Peoria and would be unaffected by a tax hike. It was also interesting to read that Mayor Ardis is threatening the police department with layoffs if they don’t voluntarily freeze their wages.

  • Local Media Beat: Steve Tarter’s weekly column keeps us up to date on what’s happening in local TV and radio. His article this Sunday included some great news: Fort Wayne weatherman Jason Meyers is going away.

    A grievance filed by Channel 25 employees over displacement of station personnel by using the aforementioned Fort Wayne weatherman for weekend weather on the station’s local-news show was upheld by an arbitrator last week.

    The news is the last bastion for local programming on commercial television, and here’s WEEK outsourcing the weatherman — roughly one third of the local newscast — after they already obliterated WHOI’s independent news team. It’s sad that local content has sunk to such a low.

Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Public Schools

New embarrassment for District 150

21 Comments

The Journal Star has discovered more financial anomalies at District 150:

More than $24,000 was paid last year to several teachers at nearly a dozen District 150 schools for extracurricular activities that were approved but went beyond what those individual schools were allotted to spend.

The worst offender: Washington Middle School, where an estimated $8,370 was spent beyond what is allowed through contractual obligations at middle schools. That is one of the findings of a Journal Star analysis of a list received through the Freedom of Information Act containing the more than $1.32 million spent in the 2008-09 school year on extracurricular activities.

“It’s not a situation where teachers were getting paid for doing nothing,” Mary Davis, an academic officer for the district, said of the errors at many District 150 schools. Rather, there is “no checks and balance system,” Davis said.

And there you have it, right from the District 150 administration: There is no checks and balance system. Mary Davis should be familiar with that problem. She’s being sued by a former principal for misappropriation of school activity funds. Whether she is ultimately convicted of these charges or not, the fact remains that there is insufficient checks and balances of the student activity funds.

Unfortunately, this is a pervasive problem at District 150. Year after year, District 150’s annual audit has included this criticism, as reported earlier this year by the Journal Star:

The internal financial review controls at District 150 are at the very least inadequate, resulting in errors, unsubstantiated account balances and generally leaves the district without an accurate day-to-day report of its cash flow, according to a letter from the district’s auditors.

That audit report was rumored to have been the reason Guy Cahill was fired by the school district. And that made me wonder, why is there no quote from the district’s new controller/treasurer Pam Schau? Why is an academic officer answering questions about these improprieties? And why an academic officer who is under suspicion herself?

Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Times-Observer

How long will Times-Observer last?

8 Comments

GateHouse Media, which now owns both the Journal Star and the Times-Observer, has consolidated the two newspapers’ offices:

TimesNewspapers’ office at 1616 W. Pioneer Parkway, Peoria, will be closed Friday.

The TimesNewspapers’ office, which houses the Peoria Times-Observer, will move to a new location at 1 News Plaza, Peoria, 61643.

Could this be the beginning of the end for the venerable Times-Observer? Given GateHouse Media’s financial woes, including a $10.3 million loss in the first quarter of 2009, I think it’s just a matter of time before the Times-Observer is discontinued. Mike Reed, GateHouse Media’s Chief Executive Officer, said recently, “Our cost controls were very good in the first quarter. However, we will be even more aggressive over the next couple of quarters, as we weather this economic downturn. We remain highly focused on liquidity and improving our cash position.”

If I were a betting man, I’d bet that GateHouse will discontinue the Times-Observer by the end of the year, but retain DeWayne Bartels as a reporter/columnist for the Journal Star. I’d be happy if my prediction didn’t come true, however, and the Times-Observer continued as a separate publication. But I can’t help but feel like the handwriting is on the wall.

Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Public Schools

Journal Star might want to pay closer attention to numbers, especially when they come from District 150

263 Comments

Eleven District 150 schools will split $1.3 million earmarked for underprivileged students under a plan still being finalized by school officials.

Okay, remember those numbers: 11, $1.3 million.

But the plan, nearly doubling the number of schools designated as Title I, comes at a cost to 13 other schools within the district already receiving the grants.

Ah, so 13 other schools already receive Title 1 funding. If we take that number, plus the aforementioned 11 schools that will be added, we come up with 24 schools total. Got it.

Despite the district increasing the number of Title I schools from 15 to 24, it won’t receive any additional money.

Wait a minute. Now they’re saying 15 schools already receive Title I funding, but the total is still only going to be 24, which is an increase of 9. This must be a typo; I’m sure they meant to say “from 13 to 24.” Maybe the editor will catch it before the paper copy goes to press.

Essentially, it would redistribute the same $7.5 million it receives annually.

What? How did we get from $1.3 million to $7.5 million? From the article, it appears the $7.5 million is the total funding District 150 gets, and of that amount, $1.3 million is going to be going to the 11 additional schools. But how is that figured? How did they arrive at that number?

Enrollment at the 13 additional schools represents a combined 5,000 students.

I thought it was 11 additional schools. Thirteen was the number of schools “already receiving the grants,” wasn’t it? This is so confusing!

Of the little more than $7.5 million District 150 receives, $2.2 million is set aside for pre-school, $755,000 for professional development, $75,500 for parental involvement and $255,000 for administrative needs. The remaining $3.5 million goes directly to the schools.

$2.2 million, plus $755,000, plus $75,500, plus $255,000, plus $3.5 million equals $6,785,500. Where does the other “little more than” $714,500 go? That ain’t chump change, especially on an annual basis!

Not being factored in is some $4.4 million in federal stimulus money headed for Title I programs at District 150.

Good, because none of the other numbers are adding up anyway. Does anybody at 1 News Plaza have a calculator?

Peoria Journal Star

Peoria Journal Star wants out of GateHouse

3 Comments

I have a soft spot in my heart for the Journal Star. My grandfather worked there. My dad has read it every morning since before I was born. It’s been a part of my life for a long time, and I love it despite some of the ridiculous editorials that they’ve published. So when I write posts like the one I wrote a few days ago, it’s with a heavy heart. I don’t want to see the paper go down the tubes.

So I was very encouraged to hear that the Peoria Newspaper Guild is looking for a way to improve the Journal Star — by getting it away from GateHouse Media, the corporate giant that bought it from Copley Press and proceeded to run it into the ground. Billy Dennis found this article on the Seattle blog Crosscut.com. The Seattle City Council has set up a committee under council member Nick Licata to look at ways to save Seattle’s newspapers.

But the committee will hear one intriguing possibility now under consideration in Peoria, Ill. That Illinois city is wrestling with its own newspaper problems, with the Peoria Journal Star and its owner, Gatehouse Media, on the financial ropes. Peoria Newspaper Guild official Jennifer Towery will describe for Licata’s committee how a community coalition is pushing legislation to turn her city’s struggling privately owned paper into a “low profit” L3C community-owned operation.

That’s a tax term for a new hybrid business model that meets the IRS’s definition of a charity, but operates like a for-profit corporation. [… Peoria] has put together support for L3C legislation that includes four state legislators, local businesses, and a handful of bank presidents. “Their goal,” Licata says, “is to get their paper back on track.”

So it sounds like the first step is to get legislation passed in Illinois that allows for these L3C operations. Then they have to raise the money to buy the paper off of GateHouse, which means they have to convince GateHouse to sell. It’s a long row to hoe, but well worth the effort. Especially since I heard last night that the Journal Star only has eight reporters left to cover the 22 counties in their readership. Something needs to change.

Go for it, Jennifer!

Peoria Journal Star

The decline and fall of the Journal Star

22 Comments

My wife commented this morning that the Journal Star has cut the size of its paper. Sections that used to have six pages (e.g., Taste, Business) are now down to four. The Cue section has shrunk from ten pages to eight.

Then I turn on the Markley & Luciano show on 1470 WMBD and hear that they’re also cutting staff. Luciano called it “Bloody Thursday.” While not mentioned in the Journal Star article about the layoffs, Phil said five employees in the newsroom were given pink slips, as well as five or six non-newsroom employees.

This is bad news for Peoria. Fewer reporters means fewer stories get covered, fewer leads are followed, and the watchdog capability of the fourth estate is reduced. It also means that more people are going to cancel their subscriptions, which will undoubtedly result in further cost-cutting. The future looks dismal for the largest downstate Illinois newspaper.

No word yet on which reporters were canned. Maybe one of the remaining reporters will investigate that for a future article.