Don was an excellent reporter, and it was a great loss to the paper when he left. It wasn't the practice of the paper to write stories about the comings and goings of reporters or other staff -- except the publisher and, perhaps, editor -- although, personally, I think it would have been a good thing to do. I agree the widespread familiarity with Don in the community and respect for his work warranted a story. As for jealousy, no. It was Don's choice to leave, and it was a smart one, given the state of the news business and also the much more stable opportunity he left for.
You are so right on this point,Will. I wonder how he didn’t see this as a conflict. Also, I question using occupancy tax money for this. How better can we spend taxpayers dollars?
We still get the paper but honestly some days I wonder why. We grew up in an age of 2 papers a day . The post star rarely gives us more than a 20 minute read. The local news is watered down. I’m old fashioned and don’t want to read it on my computer. Enough of my rant! Loved the hawk shot.
Having been born and raised here (although I did my career in NYC) I need the obits, certain local government meeting news, and that's about it. We're screwed as this next guy is not from here, a marketing and sales guy, he'll be gone in 18 months tops.
After Jim Marhsall left in 2005 or so, the newspaper had a series of publishers that were not from here. None of them lasted very long. The newspaper no longer has a publisher.
No big surprise. Basically Lee Enterprises has asset stripped the Post Star. Sold off the first building to Mrs. Miller who flipped it to the owners of Grey Ghost bike shop. Then they subbed out the printing of the paper rather than invest in new presses, cut daily delivery and only by mail. Endless headcount cuts, no onsite customer service, finally dumped the rest of the real estate. My guess is there will be a continual decline in circulation and I would not be surprised to see them toss in the towel in the next 5 years. I'm not sure what the alternative will be, but seems to me local news is in a serious decline.
Or an editorial board. I was never a big fan of the concept of editorials (I know you were). But I find it particularly absurd that they run editorials from far flung papers but none of their own.
For many middle aged (like me) and older folks, it feels like subscribing to the Post-Star is more nostalgia for what it used to be. That tinged with an understanding of how important local journalism can be and not wanting to abandon a ship that we all realize is sinking. The people working there are doing the best they can, I believe, but the system limits how much good work they can really do.
It's even more depressing when you read other local papers like the Times Union or Adirondack Daily Enterprise (which serves a much smaller market), which are still actual dailies and still offer robust local reporting. And are thus still worth paying for.
Then again, I don't read the shallow wire stories or ancient reports about last month's Thunder game. So that leaves about five local news stories three times a week plus a few press releases not tagged as such.
Obviously, Post Star was first to go once you all were gone and then a problem with billing made me cancel.
After Frost endorsed Stefanik the insurrectionist enabler, he and I had words and I vowed never to read his paper again. (I do scan it because it does carry local stories, such as the Patten project, which I follow.)
His adoration of criminals turned me off and even though it's free, that paper will not find it's way into my home.
Everything is different now, even giants like the NYT. People don't sit and read the morning paper over coffee anymore. That was a ritual.
I don't like all the changes - I'm stuck in my own time period so to speak - and I prefer it that way at this point.
YUP, that's the story in a nutshell. The Chronicle is the key element of the Frost Family Newsletter and the Pandering Press Company. Guess what, times are changing and I suspect in the next few years something will come up that puts both of these loser publications in their right place.
Also, I don't live in GF - I'm in SGF where out community is celebrating the fact we united to keep Saratoga Biochar poison out of our community!
But I am always interested in what's happening in GF, as I have worked there for about 20 years now.
I am not impressed with Mr. Collins, (I watch the council meetings sometimes), he's another good old boy. Nice man, but I hope better things for GF.
The person I look to is Diana Palmer - I think she should run for mayor! She's Articulate, smart and genuinely seems to understand what that job takes.
He supports Stefanik are you sure you know why he doesn't cross her? Although she (the Carpet Bagger Queen) is moving on to the United Nations Ambassador. UGH. After Syria fell, do you really think that little league ass kissing puppet (endorsed by Frost) can help? WHAT COULD POSSIBLE GO WRONG? EVERYTHING!
We need you now more then ever to get the word out,will Doolittle,Gorden wentworth,just got let go,bob henke to keep the local news going maybe a every 2 week local paper like the old sun,I would pay an others would too
Bob Henke is writing for the Greenwich Journal, and his column also lands in the spun-off Salem Press. Our corner of Washington County has 2 nice little local papers going on!
Probably not enough would pay. Journalism is expensive. In my travels, people ask how to save local journalism. I tell them they have to pay. If they pay $200 for their cable bill they should be willing to pay that for local news. But sadly, most would not do that. Perhaps, the next generation.
Ken, far fewer people are paying $200 for a cable bill than you think. It's mostly older folks who do so out of habit. Younger and middle aged folks subscription individual streaming services. Much like newspapers, cable/satellite is an industry that has been slow to adapt to changing reality and is struggling, albeit not as dramatically.
You say people should be willing to pay for local news and you're right. But the local news also has to be worth paying for. This is true of any product.
I use the Adirondack Daily Enterprise as an example. It's a small paper that serves a market even smaller than the Post-Star but it has not been emasculated. It is still a daily. And it still produces good journalism.
Its subscription rates are similar to the Post-Star's even though it publishes seven days a week instead of three and has more local articles per issue arguably of better quality. THAT is local journalism worth paying for. Maybe that's why it's not in a death spiral.
Before he got hired by the Post-Star to manage their decline, Steve Thurston ran an online site called the Foothills Business Daily or something like that. The name notwithstanding, it had a lot of solid and broad news coverage. I was actually about to pay for a subscription when he shut it down after being hired by the PS. Something like that would be welcome. You really need a Times-Union subscription to fill in the gaps left by the shell of the Post-STar.
Addison B. Colvin started our local papers. In our time (and the last of the Post Star died when Ken Tingley "retired" from PS). Lee Newspapers is nothing but a shell corporation stripping all the assets of the various companies they managed to buy in their hay day.
Our nation’s founders realized the importance of a free press for the preservation of democracy, as attested to by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Eighty-eight years ago I was born into a modest middle class family. As far back as I can remember, there were always two newspapers in our home: the Chicago Tribune and the local News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, MI). Both were resources of much of our family’s table talk. Like many, I grieve the demise of the local newspaper and the takeover of so many major papers by oligarchs and partisan opportunists.
As newspapers decline, fewer people vote, fewer are involved in their communities and corruption will become more prevalent in small towns because no one is watching the public officials. In a shameless plug, that is essentially what my book The Last American Newspaper was about.
For the cost of a Post-Star subscription one can get several local weekly papers mailed to them and between the various weeklies get more local news than the Post-Star ever had. Just stop pearl clutching if one writes a piece you don’t like. Ignore and read the other content.
Thank you for revealing the inter-marriage between Mayor Collins, his business interests, Kevin McKrell and the the McKrells and for the use of the occupancy tax for hiring the group. Recent issues with conflicts of interest must have had a stinging impact on someone near the Mayor, as it should, who seems to have a blind eye and no ethical antennae for such dealings. Marketing and news reporting and local commentary are different animals and I agree, I don't hold much hope for improvement at the Post Star with such a small staff. Your writing, research, photos and video are informative, stunning and awe inspiring. Thank you!
Don was an excellent reporter, and it was a great loss to the paper when he left. It wasn't the practice of the paper to write stories about the comings and goings of reporters or other staff -- except the publisher and, perhaps, editor -- although, personally, I think it would have been a good thing to do. I agree the widespread familiarity with Don in the community and respect for his work warranted a story. As for jealousy, no. It was Don's choice to leave, and it was a smart one, given the state of the news business and also the much more stable opportunity he left for.
How lucky are we as a city to have talented artists who do these murals. What a beauty that is.
You are so right on this point,Will. I wonder how he didn’t see this as a conflict. Also, I question using occupancy tax money for this. How better can we spend taxpayers dollars?
We still get the paper but honestly some days I wonder why. We grew up in an age of 2 papers a day . The post star rarely gives us more than a 20 minute read. The local news is watered down. I’m old fashioned and don’t want to read it on my computer. Enough of my rant! Loved the hawk shot.
Having been born and raised here (although I did my career in NYC) I need the obits, certain local government meeting news, and that's about it. We're screwed as this next guy is not from here, a marketing and sales guy, he'll be gone in 18 months tops.
After Jim Marhsall left in 2005 or so, the newspaper had a series of publishers that were not from here. None of them lasted very long. The newspaper no longer has a publisher.
No big surprise. Basically Lee Enterprises has asset stripped the Post Star. Sold off the first building to Mrs. Miller who flipped it to the owners of Grey Ghost bike shop. Then they subbed out the printing of the paper rather than invest in new presses, cut daily delivery and only by mail. Endless headcount cuts, no onsite customer service, finally dumped the rest of the real estate. My guess is there will be a continual decline in circulation and I would not be surprised to see them toss in the towel in the next 5 years. I'm not sure what the alternative will be, but seems to me local news is in a serious decline.
Or an editorial board. I was never a big fan of the concept of editorials (I know you were). But I find it particularly absurd that they run editorials from far flung papers but none of their own.
For many middle aged (like me) and older folks, it feels like subscribing to the Post-Star is more nostalgia for what it used to be. That tinged with an understanding of how important local journalism can be and not wanting to abandon a ship that we all realize is sinking. The people working there are doing the best they can, I believe, but the system limits how much good work they can really do.
It's even more depressing when you read other local papers like the Times Union or Adirondack Daily Enterprise (which serves a much smaller market), which are still actual dailies and still offer robust local reporting. And are thus still worth paying for.
20 minutes?! You must be a slow reader!
Then again, I don't read the shallow wire stories or ancient reports about last month's Thunder game. So that leaves about five local news stories three times a week plus a few press releases not tagged as such.
I wish I could “like” this piece multiple times — once for each section. A truly excellent offering all around. Thank you.
“Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone”
- Joni Mitchell
I used to read both papers.
Obviously, Post Star was first to go once you all were gone and then a problem with billing made me cancel.
After Frost endorsed Stefanik the insurrectionist enabler, he and I had words and I vowed never to read his paper again. (I do scan it because it does carry local stories, such as the Patten project, which I follow.)
His adoration of criminals turned me off and even though it's free, that paper will not find it's way into my home.
Everything is different now, even giants like the NYT. People don't sit and read the morning paper over coffee anymore. That was a ritual.
I don't like all the changes - I'm stuck in my own time period so to speak - and I prefer it that way at this point.
YUP, that's the story in a nutshell. The Chronicle is the key element of the Frost Family Newsletter and the Pandering Press Company. Guess what, times are changing and I suspect in the next few years something will come up that puts both of these loser publications in their right place.
Also, I don't live in GF - I'm in SGF where out community is celebrating the fact we united to keep Saratoga Biochar poison out of our community!
But I am always interested in what's happening in GF, as I have worked there for about 20 years now.
I am not impressed with Mr. Collins, (I watch the council meetings sometimes), he's another good old boy. Nice man, but I hope better things for GF.
The person I look to is Diana Palmer - I think she should run for mayor! She's Articulate, smart and genuinely seems to understand what that job takes.
I worry too. Front page was absent for the Community Climate Action Walk last May.
Climate warming weather events can be disastrous! We need to come together to plan and prepare. Where was the Post Star??
Yes. Our two-person, part-time, commentary-oriented newsletter is not going to substitute for a real community paper, whether in print or online.
You ken,garden others start a by weekly I would play, people would love it
He supports Stefanik are you sure you know why he doesn't cross her? Although she (the Carpet Bagger Queen) is moving on to the United Nations Ambassador. UGH. After Syria fell, do you really think that little league ass kissing puppet (endorsed by Frost) can help? WHAT COULD POSSIBLE GO WRONG? EVERYTHING!
We need you now more then ever to get the word out,will Doolittle,Gorden wentworth,just got let go,bob henke to keep the local news going maybe a every 2 week local paper like the old sun,I would pay an others would too
I like Bob Henke's work very much
I have offered Bob the opportunity to write for us anytime he likes. I believe he is writing for the Greenwich paper now???
Bob Henke is writing for the Greenwich Journal, and his column also lands in the spun-off Salem Press. Our corner of Washington County has 2 nice little local papers going on!
Bob Henke is at jpsubs.com
Probably not enough would pay. Journalism is expensive. In my travels, people ask how to save local journalism. I tell them they have to pay. If they pay $200 for their cable bill they should be willing to pay that for local news. But sadly, most would not do that. Perhaps, the next generation.
Ken, far fewer people are paying $200 for a cable bill than you think. It's mostly older folks who do so out of habit. Younger and middle aged folks subscription individual streaming services. Much like newspapers, cable/satellite is an industry that has been slow to adapt to changing reality and is struggling, albeit not as dramatically.
You say people should be willing to pay for local news and you're right. But the local news also has to be worth paying for. This is true of any product.
I use the Adirondack Daily Enterprise as an example. It's a small paper that serves a market even smaller than the Post-Star but it has not been emasculated. It is still a daily. And it still produces good journalism.
Its subscription rates are similar to the Post-Star's even though it publishes seven days a week instead of three and has more local articles per issue arguably of better quality. THAT is local journalism worth paying for. Maybe that's why it's not in a death spiral.
Before he got hired by the Post-Star to manage their decline, Steve Thurston ran an online site called the Foothills Business Daily or something like that. The name notwithstanding, it had a lot of solid and broad news coverage. I was actually about to pay for a subscription when he shut it down after being hired by the PS. Something like that would be welcome. You really need a Times-Union subscription to fill in the gaps left by the shell of the Post-STar.
Dear Will, I love your truths. Period
The history of the local newspaper during the 1850's were 95 percent one of two parties marketing their party. Even some papers were called the Democrat or Republican and especially in cities that had a morning and evening paper you may have had one of each. The concept of an independent press came much later. Here is a great piece to read. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/measuring-the-partisan-behavior-of-us-newspapers-1880-to-1980/B8087393D0E4C6F4E25D8794897A956F
I think the first partisan paper must have been the New York Post started by Alexander Hamilton.
Addison B. Colvin started our local papers. In our time (and the last of the Post Star died when Ken Tingley "retired" from PS). Lee Newspapers is nothing but a shell corporation stripping all the assets of the various companies they managed to buy in their hay day.
Our nation’s founders realized the importance of a free press for the preservation of democracy, as attested to by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Eighty-eight years ago I was born into a modest middle class family. As far back as I can remember, there were always two newspapers in our home: the Chicago Tribune and the local News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, MI). Both were resources of much of our family’s table talk. Like many, I grieve the demise of the local newspaper and the takeover of so many major papers by oligarchs and partisan opportunists.
As newspapers decline, fewer people vote, fewer are involved in their communities and corruption will become more prevalent in small towns because no one is watching the public officials. In a shameless plug, that is essentially what my book The Last American Newspaper was about.
For the cost of a Post-Star subscription one can get several local weekly papers mailed to them and between the various weeklies get more local news than the Post-Star ever had. Just stop pearl clutching if one writes a piece you don’t like. Ignore and read the other content.
Thank you and Ken for being real journalists at a time when we need them so desperately.
Wishing you and Bella a good Christmas and peace in 2025!
Dear Will,
Thank you for revealing the inter-marriage between Mayor Collins, his business interests, Kevin McKrell and the the McKrells and for the use of the occupancy tax for hiring the group. Recent issues with conflicts of interest must have had a stinging impact on someone near the Mayor, as it should, who seems to have a blind eye and no ethical antennae for such dealings. Marketing and news reporting and local commentary are different animals and I agree, I don't hold much hope for improvement at the Post Star with such a small staff. Your writing, research, photos and video are informative, stunning and awe inspiring. Thank you!