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Midland Daily News

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The Midland Daily News is a six-day newspaper serving the Mid-Michigan area, including Midland, Bay  and Gladwin counties.

The region is located the middle of Michigan’s lower peninsula – the center of “the Mitten.”

Unique flavor

Here are a few of the acronyms and proper nouns you may see in stories and use in headlines:

  • Midland Public Schools: MPS
  • Michigan State Police: MSP
  • Midland Police Department: MPD
  • Midland High School: MHS
  • Dow High School: Dow High
  • Central Michigan University: CMU (Mascot: Chippewas)
  • Saginaw Valley State University: SVSU (Mascot: Cardinals)
  • Delta College: Delta (Mascot: Pioneers)
  • Meridian: Meridian Public Schools
  • Midland Center For the Arts: MCFTA
  • Women of Michigan Action Network: WOMAN
  • Bay City Western High School: BC Western

Michigan government

  • County governments are in charge of areas not in a city or townships. A county commission of elected officials oversees the county administrator who actually runs day-to-day county operations – excluding the County Road Commission, which operates independently.
  • City commission is an elected body that oversees the city administrator who runs the who day-to-day operations.
  • Townships and villages are the smallest unit of government we cover – independent of county and city government.

Newspaper cadence

Monday (generally A 8 pages; B 6 pages)

  • A1: Front page
  • A2: Jump page
  • A3: Inside Front Page
    • Includes centerpiece, misc. lighter news stories and MyMichigan Health column. DO NOT jump content to this page.
  • A4: Opinion
    • Dr. Omar Haqqani, Savvy Senior by Jim Miller, “Roses” editorial column and an editorial cartoon.
  • A5: Syndicated
    • Dear Abby and Dr. Roach every day.
    • Sudoku
    • Fill remainder with What’s Happening events calendar.
  • A6: TV grid and TV news
  • A7: Jumps
  • A8: Weather grid, obits, jumps.
  • B1: Sports front
  • B2: Sports page 2
    • Mix of jumps, wire, agate.
  • B3: Comics and crossword puzzle
  • B4-6: Classifieds, jumps, fill

 

Tuesday-Friday (generally A 8 pages; B 8 pages)

  • A1: Front page
  • A2: Jump page
  • A3: Inside Front Page
    • Includes centerpiece, misc. lighter news stories and Midland County Crime Log on bottom of page. DO NOT jump content to this page. Try not to jump content FROM this page.
  • A4: Opinion
    • Letters to the editor, local or syndicated columns and an editorial cartoon.
  • A5: Syndicated
    • Dear Abby and Dr. Roach every day.
    • Fill remainder with What’s Happening events calendar.
  • A6: TV grid and TV news
  • A7: Jumps
  • A8: Weather grid, obits, jumps.
  • B1: Sports front
  • B2: Sports page 2
    • Mix of jumps, wire, agate.
  • B3: Comics and crossword puzzle
  • B4-6: Classifieds, jumps, fill

 

Saturday (generally A 8 pages; B 6 pages)

Tuesday-Friday (generally A 8 pages; B 8 pages)

  • A1: Front page
  • A2: Jump page
  • A3: Inside Front Page
    • Includes centerpiece, Meet Your Neighbor, Business Matters and Crime Log. DO NOT jump content to this page. Try not to jump content FROM this page.
  • A4: Opinion
    • Letters to the editor, local or syndicated columns and an editorial cartoon.
  • A5-6: Jumps
  • A7: Jumps
  • A8: Weather grid, obits, jumps.
  • B1: Sports front
  • B2: Sports page 2
    • Mix of jumps, wire, agate.
  • B3: Comics and crossword puzzle
  • B4-6: Classifieds, jumps, fill
  • C1: Local (4 pages)
    • Business Matters
    • Toast of the Town beer column
  • C2-4
    • Classifieds, jumps, fill
  • D1: Accent (8 pages)
    • A mix of local and syndicated content
  • D2: Sudoku answers and jumps
  • D3: LA Times Crossword Puzzle, cribbage scores, puzzle answers
  • D4-5: TV Grid info for Saturday and Sunday
  • D6: Parent’s Corner event schuedule, Barley McTavish column
  • D7: Throwback history photo feature
  • D8: Comics and Crossword Puzzle

Michigan newspapers

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Wire for all MI dailies: State wire first, but not Detroit-centric news wire (particularly crime, unless it’s big news; state briefs can be packaged as one)

Sports wire: Major sports Detroit teams (Lions, Tigers, Wings, Pistons), Michigan, Michigan State football and basketball; NASCAR, golf; otherwise, major national sporting events

 

Huron Daily Tribune (Bad Axe, MI)

Pub: Tue-Sat

Every day, unless noted below

A          2 Jumps, local, corrections

3 Obits, weather, crop report, local

4 Wire

5 Advice/sudoku

6 Wire

7 Wire

8 Wire

B          2 Sports agate (can move to open b&w page)

3 Jumps/wire

4 Comics/puzzles/horoscope

5 Class

6 Class/sports fill

 

Wed/Sat

A          4 Opinion

 

Fri

A          8 MiBrew

 

Sat

Z          4 Weekend comics pages via RBMA

 

Midland Daily News (Midland, MI)

Pub: Mon-Sat

Every day, unless noted below

A          2 Jumps, local

3 Second cover – local

4 Opinion

5 Advice, what’s happening, sudoku

6 TV grid, sports on TV

7 Local, wire

8 Weather graphic, obits, wire – obits can move to another page if fit is a problem; color preferred, not necessary; move weather graphic first, to B if necessary

B          2 Agate

3 Comics/puzzles

4 Sports

5 Class

6 Class/sports

 

Wed

A          3 Midland remembers

 

Fri

A          8 MiBrew page (source from HDT)

 

Sat

B          Outdoors page, if space available

C          1 Local cover (section built Friday)

2-3 class

4 Local/jumps/what’s happening

D          1 Accent cover (section built Wednesday morning)

2 Abby, sudoku, jumps

3 LA Times xword, jumble, last week’s puz answer

4 Sat TV grid, sports on TV

5 Sun TV grid, sports on TV jump

6 Parents corner, Barley, Local cable TV grid

7 Local history photo page

8 Comics

Z          4 Weekend comics pages via RBMA

 

Pioneer (Big Rapids, MI)

Pub: Mon-Sat

Every day, unless noted below

A          2 Events calendar, jumps, local

3 Obits, local, jumps

4 Local, wire

5 Wire

6 Advice/horoscope/comics

7 Puzzles

8 Wire

B          2 Agate

3 Sports

4-6 Class/sports

 

Mon

A          4 Opinion

5 Biz, with Motley Fool graphic

6 Food: Amish kitchen, wire recipes

 

Tue

A          Books page (usually 5A)

 

Thu

A          7 Seniors (can move)

B          8 Home improvement (tied to ad)

 

Fri

A          8 MiBrew page (source from HDT)

 

Sat

A          6 Religion: pastor’s pen, wire (tied to ad)

B          Outdoors (if space allows, can move to A over national wire)

C          1 Lifestyles cover (often shared with Manistee, produced Tue morning)

2-3 comics (pdfs in shopper); Note: BR and MNA run same comics, but footer ads (page templates) are different

4 Jumps, local, wire

 

Manistee News Advocate (Manistee, MI)

Pub: Mon-Sat

Every day, unless noted below

A          2 Obits, jumps, local

3 Second cover, local

4 Opinion

5 Looking back, jumps

6 Service directory

7 Jumps, local, wire

8 Jumps, local, wire

B          2 Agate

3 Comics/horoscope/Abby/Dr. Roizen

4 Puzzles

5-6 Class/sports

 

Tue

A          7 Museum page

 

Wed   

A          Education page (local, best fit)

 

Thu

A          Entertainment page (local, best fit)

Biz page (best fit)

 

Fri

A          5 Religion (Pastor’s pen, wire – tied to ad)

A          8 MiBrew page (source from HDT)

 

Sat

A          Seniors page (local, best fit)

C          1 Lifestyles cover (often shared with BR, produced Tue morning)

            2-3 Weekend comics pdf via shopper

4 Jumps, local, wire

 

Hymn for Portapique

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In April, 2020 a lone gunman in a replica RCMP vehicle killed 22 rural Nova Scotians and injured three more in a 13-hour rampage that began in the tiny village of Portapique and continued through 15 locations. An RCMP officer shot and killed the culprit after stumbling across him in a gas station. In the following days Normand Carrey, a musician, composed this piece in their memory. More information here: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/2020_Nova_Scotia_attacks

Tartuffe

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Tartuffe, a play by Molière, was performed by the Dartmouth Players a community group in Halifax Nova Scotia on Nov 6, 2021, 457 years after its first performance in 1664.

Drone collage

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I flew this drone over Halifax for a year or two, capturing scenes downtown and even flying out to George’s Island in the harbour. Unfortunately I crashed it into a tree while doing a job for a real estate agent. Drones need experienced pilots and spotters on the ground. Next time I need a drone video I’ll hire one.

Chebucto Big Band

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I played alto sax in this band for a few years and wanted to do a video that would show their work and help them get bookings. They still use it. Because the scene was very dark I mixed video with shots from a still camera which does a better job in dim light.

Space fantasy

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2.8 kids see cheap imitation of good space fantasy

Halifax Barometer
July 1978

Haligonians are regularly buttonholed by pollsters seeking thier opinions on all kinds of products from political parties to booze.

One of thes days surveyors will question local movie audiences as they line up outside a theatre:

“Good afternoon, sir, I’m with Mindless Movie Marketing. We’d like to ask you and your family a few questions. First, are you a regular movie-goer?”

“Yes, we’re typical nuclear family members trying to enliven our tawdry, lower0middle-class existance by taking in a few thrills on Saturday afternoon.”

“Then, as experienced movie fans, why are you taking your 2.8 children to see this show, a ceaep imitation of a successful space fantasy with only the barest thread of a plot, poor characterization and almost no violence?”

“Because, I’m a product of the TV generation and can barely read or write. But I am very visually sopohisticated and so are my illiterate kids.”

“Then you don’t care if the film offers penetrating insights inito the dynamics of the human condition through the director’s artistic use of dramatic devices or an actor’s sensitive interpretation of a leading character?”

“No, not particualrly. I just like to see lots of action. My kids don’t even care about that. All you have to do is flash a bunch of bright colors and play some rock music. That quietens ’em right down.”

“But what about sex and violence? Don’t you want orgies with whips and midgets?” Or how about someoby’s brains being mashed to a pulp?”
“Well that stuff is okay, but my favorite kind of violence is a bunch of shiny space ships blowing up in all different colors with great, big booming noises.”

“You like mostly colors, eh?”

“Yup. Red, green, blue– as long as they’re bright.”

“What about actors?”

“Only if they’re shiny.”

Most of the actors in Battlestar Galactica are shiny, especially the armour-plated villains. The heros are chocolate brown or burnt umber, the subdued hues denoting the seriousness of their roles.

Otherwise the whole show might have been filmed throug the tail-light lens of a 1957 Cadillac. The film sparkles. Novas glow like splintered rubies against a diamond-studded ebony background. Creamy white space jets with rally strips and smoking exhausts duel to the death while bloated, filigreed motherships with hulls of steely blue glide silently by. Pilots sweat into oxygen masks, their eyes rivetted on fluorescent green instrument panels flashing computerized drawings and terse messages like “situation critical.”

Inside the giant mothership are beautiful girls and handsome men, all clad in jumpsuits, running around and pushing buttons in frenzied panic as shiny alien beings destroy their fleet. Lorne Green gathers his metallic blue tunic with gold piping about him and grits his teeth.

This latest entry into the cosmic western genre is a poor imiatation of Star Wars. The acting is putrid for themost part, special effect are always unimaginative and so is the plot, which is bascially mankind fighting for its life while girl meets boy and boy meets dog. Still, thre’s no violence, unless you include whole planets being blown up, so you can take your 2.8 kids to the matinee without fear of traumatizing them for life.

The Disney show Hot Lead and Cold feet is far better fare if you’re looking for family entertainment. Before the main feature at the Penhorn Mall you’ll meed Thaddeus Toad of Wind in the Willows fame, a classic Disney cartoon short, that I first saw when I was ten years old. It rated four stars in my book then and still does. Toad gets clapped into prison after a romantic affair with one of the first motor cars and his friends conceive a daring raid to prove his innocence.

Unlike their cartoons, Disney films often reek of motherhood and apple pie values. Hot Lead is no exception. A pixi-like Salvation Army precher with two flaxen-haired children faces a rough and tumble battle with his own twin brother, a rowdy western gunslinger over his rich father’s estate. All ends happily as usual with the gunslinger converted, the town cleaned up and the do-gooder marrying the beautiful school teacher.

In the meantime we are treated to some very competent caricatures of life in a rough frontier town complete with devious plots and shady deals all aimed at undermining the preachers chances to win the contest.

If you’re still looking for family fun, don’t go to Redeemmer, the most mindlessly violent bore in years.

The story idea is good. A man gets revenge on his former school mates by inviting them to a high school reunion, locking them inside an abandoned building and exterminating them, one by one, with various imaginative and symbolic methods.

Now comes the stupid part. To achieve some sort of intellectual respectability, the vengeful killer is cast as a psychotic priest whose pulpit pounding ravings on sin provide the rationalization for his six murders. Adding this spiritual mumbo-jumbo to the film soups up the plot a bit and allows the director to fool around with his lights to create a supernatural atmosphere of doom and foreboding but is it’s dishonest. The portrait of a religious fanatic as a potential killer may be a legitimate interpretation but this film only creates a viscious sterotype to be exploited for its thrill value.

Despite the story idea and its numerous opportunities for suspense, the film is boring. One by one the victims die by their own swords ar at least the priests’ interpretations of their sins. Except for the painstakingly explicit blood and guts scenes, the show is repetitious.

Victimes are shot, stabbed, drowned and burned as the camera fastidiously records every detail including one close-up of a maggot-infested eye. It’s enough to make you swear off meat, church and pretentious movies. Not to mention class reunions.

 

Make it candid

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Make it candid

Daily News
Oct 31 1985

Picture the humble portrait photographer on assignment.

He is a fussy, worried-looking man with a permanent squint and a list to starboard caused by lugging 20 kg of equipment.

His pictures are technically perfect, which is why public relations department of Monolith Corp has asked him to photograph their newly-appinted vice president.

When he gets inside the broadloomed office he’ll draw more high-tech equipment from his bag than a physican would need to perform open heart surgery.

With the efficiency of long experience he will place tripod, lights and camera around the room while various functionaries look on.

The subject will pat his hair “Do I look alright? ”

“Yeah, you look fine,” our man will say as he consults his light meter. He’ll have to hurry to avoid a parking ticket.

He will manipulate his subject like a mannequin, raising his chin a centimeter, batting down a stray lock of hair and straightening his tie.

Then comes the moment of truth: “Well now,” he will say with manufactured cheer. A LITTLE SMILE!”

The hearts of assembled functionaries will flutter as the vice presidential mustache twitches. The photographer will press the shutter. His superb equipment will respond with an eye-searing flash. Two more flashes will follow as the photographer brackets his shots. The session will be over.

Later, the photographer or is assistant will make crisp, grainless prints of the vice presidential face as it looked at the moment of most opportune mustache-twitching.

So here, at last, is the point. All the equipment in the world won’t help you make a good portrait if all you can think of to do is ask your subject to smile.

Photographers have figured out all kinds of gimmicks to get rid of the deathly grimace that usually results on such occasions. I once read of a studio photographer who read poetry to his models. He said it made them look intrigued.

I asked a company director to recite the first poem he’d ever learned. He looked like an eight-year-old as he recalled the lines to a silly ditty about electricity. It was a good pic.

More thoughts on the manufacturing of pictorial spontaneity:

• Give our subject something to think about. I’ve asked people to perform mental tasks like counting backwards by 9s from 100 with varied results.

One young office girl looked sexy as she posed for a company head shot and revealed a suprising facility with numbers. Another stuck out her tongue.

• Give them something to sing about. People can look surporisingly angelic. One of my best-ever shots involved a lady welder who posed with her equipment and sang God Save The Queen.

• Get them to cock their heads. One of my most difficult subjects, a police chief, told me I had 30 seconds, then folded his arms and stared straight at the wall. I asked him to tilt his head about 20 degrees to the left and look directly into the lens. The manufactured quizzical expression made him look like a probing tough-minded cop.

• Pay attention to posture. I often tell subjects to keep their feet in one place and follow me with their eyes as I move around them. The subtle twisting of their bodies make the photo more dynamic.

• Hide behind your camera. Your nervousness vanishes as you look through the viewfinder concentrating on purely technical matters like lighting, depth of field and composition. When you see what you like, click.

• And here’s the best trick of all: stop playing tricks. Set up your camera, look over the top of it and smile at your subject. They’ll smile right back.