Sorry for the absence this week:

  • When I was in J-School in the early 1980s, Johnny Apple was a god to us, the greatest hard-news journalist working at that time. He died yesterday.
  • The worst new idea in Florida: politicizing (further) our water management boards.
  • Kirk Fordham's resignation letter in full. He is the congressional aide who resigned yesterday in the Foley scandal.
  • Tampa Bay's 10 news analyst and blogger (and former Democratic lawmaker) Lars Hafner writes that a Charlie "Justice victory could change the balance of power in the Senate."
  • More troubles at the Miami Herald in the wake of the Marti payola scandal and the newspaper's sitting on the Mark Foley e-mails.
  • Speaker Hastert's assertions to the contrary, the Foley Scandal is not a vast left-wing conspiracy. The leakers, and even at least one of the pages who he IM'ed, are Republicans.