'Bloody Monday at Kansas City Star'

Who wants to open a newspaper in Olathe? Those 3 guys who got laid off could put out a good one I bet.

 

Eventually it's got to dawn on the bean counters that there are five managers in departments that now have maybe 12 staffers. (Not saying here, just in general -- like letting the student-teacher ratio in a school drop to 6-to-1 or something. Sooner or later, some teacher gets the ax.)

 

I would assume it was Boyce's beat(s) that made him a target. IIRC, he was the small colleges and Royals backup guy. Big 12 is king in KC, so I doubt people will complain if there is less coverage of UMKC or other smaller instate schools.

Good luck to him and everyone else that got laid off today. I was laid off a few months ago so know the situation they are in.

 

Ditto what Poole said about Pedley. Heck of a guy and writer.

 

I think The Star had two ASEs for high schools, one for Kansas schools and one for Missouri schools. I'm pretty sure Mike was one of those editors.

 

Best of luck to Boyce and Mike Fitzgerald. My prayers are with you. Fitz was my first boss out of college and one of the nicest guys in the world to work with. I really just don't have the words.
And Boyce, back in the day, the guy averaged about three bylines a day and sometimes he'd have three different datelines as well. He was just a beast at cranking out stories.
Good luck guys. Best of luck to all of you back home.

 

Journalism only topics on the front page right now:

"Bye-Bye PI"
"...On Death of newspapers"
"Bloody Monday at KC"
"Seattle PI announcement to come..."
"Tucson Citizen closing up shop"
"Staff layoffs, pay cuts in Raleigh"
"Today is layoff day at my shop"
"More cuts at McClatchy"
"Herald to cut 175"
"Fate of Rocky (was) announced"

The only other subjects are ESPN ombud moving on (bad news), angry parents (always bad news) and, as usual, steroids. At this point, wouldn't some of you welcome a punk kid coming on here and asking for resume advice?

 

Where's Pickle Juice when we need her?

 

I echo everything said previously about Pedley - smart, inquisitive, hard working and a great guy. Damn, damn, damn.

 

More names posted:

Eric Palmer, Deputy Business Editor
DeAnn Smith, Investigative Reporter
Rick Alm, Gambling & Tourism Reporter
David Hayes, Technology/Internet Reporter
Malcom Garcia, Reporter
Don Allmon, IT
Greg Peters, Photo Desk
Katie Middleton, Northland Editor
Jim Pedley, Motor Sports Writer
John Mark Eberhart, Books Editor
Ward Triplett, Wire Editor (credit Pitch)
Robert Folsom, Features Copy Editor
David Boyce, Sports Reporter
Mike Fitzgerald, Asst. Sports Editor
Stephen Winn- Deputy Editorial Page Editor
Trudy Hurley- Editorial Assistant
Kirk Weber- Night City Editor
Dennis Boone- Jackson County Editor
Russ Pulley- Independence Bureau Reporter
Bill Graham, Platte County Reporter/Columnist

 

if vac says it, it must be true. sad times for all. go get 'em, vac!

 

With all the familiar names, this seems to have become a KC Star sports blog. So as the oldest guy on that sports staff, I feel comfortable wading in. Can't remember a worse day in my 37 years at the KC Star. Kent Pulliam particularly is in my thoughts. Nobody deserves this. Everybody hurts.