We bid farewell to reporter Jerod Clapp and survey the prospects for his replacement.

Spell check was the first line item up for pruning.

I must apologize to blog readers for failing to recognize Jerod Clapp as he moves from the News and Tribune to whatever is next for him.

I can remember Jerod interviewing me about the Public House for the IU Southeast school newspaper, and that's been a few (?) years ago. Most recently he was the newspaper's "education beat" reporter. We disagreed on occasion, but these tended to be civil, and his diligence and professionalism always have been noteworthy. Congratulations, and all the best to Jerod.

We turn now to News and Tribune publisher Bill Hanson's stirring, heartfelt goodbye to a reporter who served him for so very long.

Hey, NAC's kind sorta into the journalism thing, too, so the Green Mouse nosed around and came up with this insider scoop:

"There's a hiring freeze at Community Newspaper Holdings. Word is that fourth-quarter numbers were so bad, there'll be no hiring through the first quarter of 2017. This means there likely won't be a replacement for Jerod Clapp until Derby season, at the earliest."

This is a wonderful Christmas present for Bruce Hibbard and Jeff Gahan, isn't it? Fewer reporters means less sunshine, and less sunshine means more wiggle room.

And wiggle they will.

Solid News and Tribune story places spotlight on the Health Department's chronic disingenuousness.

Chalk up another local media hit, as Jerod Clapp does a great job with difficult material.

If there is a soul alive who believes the department's staged photo was some sort of coincidence,. indly refer him to me.

I have an ORBP to sell to him.

Battle brewing in New Albany over website photo; Health department subject of tort claim notice from brewery owner, by Jerod Clapp (News and Tribune)

... Rick Fox, the attorney for the department’s board of directors, said he just received the tort claim on Tuesday and hasn’t met with the department’s board to discuss it yet.

But he said to make sure there weren’t any misconceptions about the photo and the associated post on E. coli, they decided to take it down.

“They removed the photo, not in that the health department had done anything wrong, but we most certainly don’t want to give the wrong idea,” Fox said. “If they think someone’s getting the wrong idea, we don’t want to do that. As I understand it, the Floyd County Health Department truck was just showing that they were doing their normal inspections. Those [inspections] are subject to public review, the truck could have been in front of any business.”

Tom Harris, Floyd County health officer, did not return phone calls for this story as of press time.