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Brenda J. Linert

Another year of wanting to forget COVID-19

Exactly one year ago, I filled this space bemoaning that COVID-19 made 2020 a year we all wanted to forget. And here we are, a full 365 days later, and we again are witnessing COVID-19 case numbers jet upwards. Despite what many readers might believe, we do not sit around the conference room table plotting how we can drive panicked people to the corner market to buy our newspaper. Believe me when I say we truly are not in the business of fearmongering. Granted, our editors do discuss every day what stories should go where. However, we base those decisions on what is the most ...

That’s not how we did it back in Pennsylvania

After living the first 25 years of my life in Pennsylvania, it came as quite a shock to find, when I moved across the border to Ohio, that voters here actually got to decide things like how much tax you want to pay. To be sure, back home in the commonwealth, local government operates very differently. Pennsylvania cities are not “incorporated.” “Village” is just an unofficial label we gave to areas where houses have popped up around crossroads — but they have no real government affiliation. And many of us lived in “boroughs.” As for me, I grew up in very rural Adams ...

Journalism is key in functioning democracy

“Thanks for your support, we need you and your friends.” That was the headline atop a column written by veteran Editor Art Cullen at Iowa’s Storm Lake Times appearing in a PBS documentary I watched last week. Cullen knows the challenges of being a small, mid-America newspaper editor. Like most journalists I know, the lanky, white-haired senior citizen isn’t afraid to speak his mind about stories that affect us, what he believes readers want to know and about the future of local journalism in America. Cullen, 63, has become a bit of a hero in my business. He still fights ...

Muppet vaccine promo ruffles some feathers

Smokey Bear taught kids the importance of preventing wildfires. McGruff the Crime Dog warned them not to talk to strangers. And in 1972, Big Bird lined up on “Sesame Street” to receive a measles vaccine as part of a campaign to get more youngsters inoculated against the disease. Apparently, that was all good. Then the 8-foot-tall yellow bird had to go and ruin it by tweeting that he got the COVID-19 vaccine. How dare he! “I got the COVID-19 vaccine today!” Big Bird tweeted Nov. 6 on his official Twitter account. (Yes, Big Bird tweets. No, I’m not talking about the ...

Here comes a busy week for everybody

It’s going to be a busy week. Airports and highways are expected to be incredibly busy with holiday travelers. A few area high school football teams will be busy prepping for their biggest game of the season, so far. Area bakeries this week will be busy making pies that people like me would rather purchase than bake for Thanksgiving dessert. Pizza shops, of course, will be doing crazy amounts of business Wednesday night for the cooks taking the night off from their kitchens before getting started on the bird Thursday morning. Then, moms and some dads (but not in my household) ...

Foreign journalists face numerous risks

The attorney for U.S. journalist Danny Fenster said his client wept Friday after being sentenced to the maximum penalty in a courtroom in military-ruled Myanmar in southeast Asia. It’s no wonder. We’ve all seen movies depicting harsh living conditions and labor camps in foreign prisons. Now Fenster, 37, will serve 11 years of hard labor, the most severe sentence of seven journalists convicted since the the military ousted the elected government earlier this year. Fenster’s offenses? It was never clear exactly what Fenster was alleged to have done, and it appeared that ...