The evolving AP: CEO Tom Curley
to speak at PA Press Conference
Tom Curley, president CEO of the Associated Press, will speak at this year's annual PAPME luncheon May 21 at the Pennsylvania Press Conference. Four years ago, the AP's president, Lou Boccardi, shared insight on the evolving news service. Plan to attend this year for an update from Curley, now in his second year at the helm.

Curley joined the Associated Press in March 2003 following 31 years with Gannett, including 17 years as president (later president and publisher) of USA Today. He accepted his present position with the Associated Press upon the retirement of Boccardi.

Press Conference also features the annual AP Wire Watch report, sessions sponsored by the Associated Press, the PNA Foundation and the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors, as well as the annual PAPME and Keystone Press Awards banquets. Printable registration forms are available online. 

Set your hotel reservations by April 28 to get special conference rates!

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Gateway introduces community weekly  
Gateway Newspapers began publishing the Penn-Trafford Star March 31, adding to its corral of community newspapers surrounding Pittsburgh.

The new Star serves Penn-Trafford School District and the communities of Penn Township, Trafford Borough and Manor Borough in Westmoreland County. 

The company announced that the new paper's staff, along with the staffs of its newspapers in the Murrysville and Norwin areas, will form a Westmoreland bureau.

Beard promoted at The Dominion Post
David Beard has been named managing editor of The Dominion Post of Morgantown, W.Va., where he will help oversee the reporting and photo staffs. 

Beard, 46, had been the news desk editor responsible for copy editing and page production. Before joining The Dominion Post in 1999, Beard worked for newspapers in Washington state and Oregon.

Fowler returns to Lansdale as circulation director
Kimberly Fowler has returned to The (Lansdale) Reporter, where she previously worked as a customer service representative and district manager, this time becoming the paper's new circulation director.

Fowler's experience also includes working in circulation for The (Doylestown) Intelligencer for eight years.

Kilgore named circulation director for CDT
Tad Kilgore was named circulation director for the Centre Daily Times in early April. Kilgore brings experience in circulation and operations to the position, having worked at newspapers in Geneva, N.Y.; Ithica, N.Y.; and Tallahassee, Fla.

From the Hotline: Do online auctions require special licensing or approval? 
One state bureau is taking action against a newspaper on the basis that its online auction was conducted without a license. Read this member alert and check future issues of Headlines & Deadlines for updates on this topic.

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Use this link to the new Headlines & Deadlines page which groups and archives Teri Henning's weekly 'From the Hotline' columns. 

[HOTLINE ARCHIVE] 

Western Pa. Seminar: Writing coach unlocks mysteries of good writing
Jim Stasioski will present his "Introduction to Good Writing" May 13, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Seton Hill University, near Greensburg. Please register soon as seminars with Staz are quite popular and fill up quickly! Questions? Contact Teresa Shaak at (717) 703-3012.

Click here to register online.

Tribune sues former Chicago magazine exec over trade secrets 
Tribune Co. has sued the former publisher of its Chicago magazine, accusing him of stealing trade secrets before leaving the publication for a rival magazine in early April.

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Gannett profits jump with ad growth
Gannett, publisher of the Public Opinion in Chambersburg, announced its profits rose 10 percent in the first quarter, thanks in part to a 12 percent increase in advertising revenue in the company's newspaper division. 

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Taping incident teaches Scalia a lesson
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said he would allow print reporters to record audio of public remarks for verification of quotes following an incident in which two reporters had recordings erased by his security detail.

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The Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press criticized those involved in seizing and erasing the audio recordings of a speech by Justice Antonin Scalia.

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Scalia has addressed concerns raised by the Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press.

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U.S. Supreme Court to release recordings of terrorism, energy cases
The Supreme Court will release audio tapes immediately after oral arguments in major cases about the U.S. government's response to terrorism and Vice President Dick Cheney's closed-door sessions to develop a national energy policy. 

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Workers picket Wall Street Journal one week prior to bargaining session 
Nearly 100 staffers from The Wall Street Journal picketed the newspaper's headquarters on April 7 as relations with the company's main union, which includes editorial employees, turned increasingly tense. 

The protest lasted just under an hour and was aimed at pressuring the company ahead of the next bargaining session, scheduled for April 14. The newspaper's employees have been working without a contract for a year. 

Besides the picketing, most of the newspaper's reporters at the New York headquarters showed up for work at about 1:30 p.m. as part of a work-to-rule job action. The union's contract calls for a 35-hour work week, but the reporters often put in far longer hours.

Missouri implements tax on newspapers, 
some suspect retaliation for editorial  
The Missouri House has voted to raise taxes on the state's two largest newspapers after an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch branded the Republican-led chamber the "House of Hypocrites."

Democratic lawmakers decried the tax proposal as retaliation. But the Republican sponsor insisted he was simply "closing corporate tax loopholes." 

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