Author: <span>Griff Wigley</span>

Blogosphere Environment

Bonnie Obremski and Leonard Witt

Representative Journalism (RepJ) creator Leonard Witt (professor at KSU in Georgia, Public Journalism Network blogger) arrived in Northfield last night for a series of meetings (through Saturday) on the Northfield RepJ project at its six-month point. We tried to find him a set of long underwear last night before dinner at the Rueb ‘N’ Stein, but alas, the entire state is sold out on that item for some reason. Luckily, his room at the Archer House has a hot tub.

Len and RepJ reporter Bonnie Obremski were having breakfast at The Tavern this morning. We’re having boxed lunches from The HideAway today, meetings in John Schott’s Cinema & Media Studies department at Carleton this afternoon, and as Bonnie blogged earlier, there’s an open meeting that y’all are invited to at the Bittersweet Eatery Saturday morning at 10.

Update 1/17 at 11 am 3pm: new photos – yesterday’s RepJ/LoGroNo mtg at Carleton; RepJ feedback session this morning at Bittersweet Eatery; RepJ lunch at Chapati; Len Witt, paparazzi (continued…)

RepJ Project

Arts & Culture

community-newspapers Posted to the Strib web site about 30 minutes ago: Star Tribune files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The Star Tribune may not be the last to go that route, said Alan Mutter, a Silicon Valley-based analyst and former newspaper executive. "We’re in a period of sustained pain for the newspaper business," Mutter said. "The employment ad business has been melting away since 2000. Automotive has been falling apart for the last couple of years. To learn more about automotive parts and repair services, visit thermo king triad for more information. And I don’t even have to explain about real estate."

And on a related note, from the Inquisitr: Hyperlocal Websites will Boom in 2009 as Community Newspapers Fold

Blogosphere

I was going to do a why-are-we-teaching-our-children-to-be-wimps blog post because schools are closed today. It was around –25F this morning. (Bill Ostrem blogged that it was –28 at his house.)…

Fluff


Click play to listen. 30 minutes.

lg-banner-triumvirate-poster-x-rossIt was just me and Tracy yesterday as Ross was prepping for the Action Steps for Infill and Redevelopment open house at the Grand. We spend part of the show talking about topics related to next week’s NCO/Northfield.org annual meeting where they’re having a panel discussion titled Beyond Letters to the Editor: How everyday people can be heard in Northfield. Related to that, of course, is the Council’s current effort to review all aspects of public input/engagement. Councilor Erica Zweifel is participating in the discussion thread here on LoGro attached to the blog post Public engagement for the City of Northfield: Councilors want to know what should be changed and she’ll be a guest on our show next week to talk more about it.

City Featured Podcasts

Regi Haslett-Marroquin, Griff WigleyRobbie and I paid a visit to Regi Haslett-Marroquin’s Finca Mirasol farm north of Northfield last Saturday to buy some of their frozen free-range chickens. Or ‘solar chickens’ as Regi likes to say.

Want chickens? Contact Regi at the Rural Enterprise Center where he’s Executive Director. They have more in the freezer and want to expand their Northfield area customer base in 2009.

I asked Regi to email me a little background on the operation.

Businesses Civic Orgs

Businesses People

Fluff People