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Brenda J. Linert

The printed page can never be replaced

Tucked in the northwestern corner of the Tribune Chronicle’s second-floor newsroom in our downtown Warren headquarters is a small room that we in the news business affectionately call our “morgue.” Lining one wall are rows of wooden cubbies designated 1 through 31, corresponding with the days of the month, where we stack back issues of Tribune Chronicle print editions from the preceding few months. The room also contains microfilm of newspaper editions dating back more than 200 years, sometimes used by reporters to access background or perspective when writing stories today. Of ...

Visions of arctic weather dance in our heads

Does anyone else wonder if meteorologists go out of their way to scare the pants off Americans with their forecasts? Arctic blast! Polar vortex! As if those terms aren’t already painting horrible enough images in our heads, now there’s Bomb Cyclone! Really? This week, for the first time EVER I heard the term and wondered to myself, “Who comes up with this stuff?” So, just for fun, I did a Google search for “term Bomb Cyclone.” I found recent articles on the terminology by Huffington Post, CNN, Fortune Magazine, Boston Globe and more. The Huffington Post did an ...

Ruling could affect more than just betting

Sports betting is big business, especially at this time of year when dozens of college football teams are competing in bowl games, four of them are vying for a national championship title and NFL playoffs are about to begin. I’d venture to guess there probably is no bigger time of year for those who prosper from the lines set in Las Vegas. Of course, not all betting happens in Vegas. By some estimates, underground sports betting in the United States is worth $150 billion to $400 billion per year. That’s why political leaders in many states see dollar signs when they consider ...

Slow down, appreciate angels among us

I received a letter last week that got me thinking. Most letters I receive intended for publication on this opinion page focus on politics or local government spending or taxes or other items of the sort. Sometimes letters come of a religious nature, and those we generally publish in our Saturday religion section. Sometimes I receive letters that are expressions of gratitude that we run in the Saturday “Neighbors” community pages. Letters come by email to editor@tribtoday.com, they come digitally through the Virtual Newsroom at www.tribtoday.com and they come via U.S. Postal ...

Local Christmas shopping critical to economy

T-minus eight days. Time is running out, and as Christmas Day approaches, the pressure to spend spikes. Published reports indicate that consumers are confident this year, and forecasters say that may trigger a seasonal sales increase of 4.5 percent for retailers. In fact, experts predict shoppers will shell out a whopping $1 trillion for the first time in the history of U.S. business. Unquestionably, that’s wonderful for business and the economy, but here are my questions. How much of that will be done in local stores? And how much of that spending will be done with plastic, ...

Choice must include more than lesser of two evils

With Tuesday’s U.S. Senate election in Alabama looming closer, debate over whether Republican candidate Roy Moore assaulted a teenage waitress some 30 years ago is reaching new heights. The latest debate to bubble to the surface Friday focused even more national media attention — as if that’s even possible — on exploring whether Moore signed the yearbook of Beverly Nelson in 1977 or whether the signature and date were forged. The political race between Moore and Democrat Doug Jones includes public claims from at least three women alleging decades-old sexual misconduct ...