A reader this morning impatiently (if the timing and use of ALL CAPS are any indication) asked:

WHY HAS'NT THE FREEMAN REPORTED THAT THE KINGSTON SUPER WANTS TO SPEND 125K FOR A ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS ? THIS BIT OF NEWS CAME FROM ANOTHER HUDSON VALLEY NEWSPAPER ON 4-12

Here's how I responded:

Because we haven't gotten to it yet. It correctly is characterized as a "bit" of news reported by our good friends at the Times Herald Record. The item, in its entirety as it appeared in the THR, with link back to the THR, follows:

Despite all the teaching positions on the chopping block, Padalino wants to spend $125,000 to restore an assistant superintendent for business position vacant since June 2010.

"As things are changing in education, the responsibilities in that office grow," he said.

http://ow.ly/afVXd

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William Kemble, the reporter who covered the Wednesday evening meeting, filed an immediate Web story that evening, then a longer version to supplant the initial story. On Thursday, he covered press conferences at 1 p.m. in Kingston (Hein announcement on use of fracking brine) and 3:30 p.m. in New Paltz (Don Kerr statement on dropping of charges against him)  and filed stories on each. He also wrote a story on the Olive Town Board delaying action on a hydrofracking local law.

There are only so many hours in a day and it was our judgment that, in addition to those four stories, Mr. Kemble would write his immediate followup to the Kingston Board of Education meeting on the decision of trustees to seek restitution from convicted former Det. Lt. Timothy Matthews for double dipping on the district payroll.

 

A reader today took issue with our posting as a "Latest Update" this morning a short story on the results of last night's "Dancing With the Stars" television show competition:

I find it odd that this newspaper includes this article but writes nothing
on the top headlines about autism.

This was my response:

To which "top headlines about autism" do you refer?

On any given day, there are numerous stories about scientific studies or political controversies about disease research.

The current AP wire includes autism stories about:

• Autism insurance in Arkansas, 
• the use of iPads by autism students, and
• a lawsuit against a drug company regarding an anti-psychotic drug sometimes used to treat autism patients.

A search of The New York Times produces the following recent stories on autism:

• The Rising Number of Autism Diagnoses 
• The Autism Wars
• Scientists Link Rare Gene Mutations to Heightened Risk of Autism

And our own online Health section currently features recent stories on:

• Advocates for insurance coverage of autism plead their case; and 
• Autism may be linked to obese mothers

All news, but not necessarily a "top headline," the definition of which, I concede, is open to interpretation.

The overnight development regarding a very popular TV show will interest a lot of people and also be of no interest to many. But it's like a sports score in that regard. News at the moment and not at all in a few hours. We try to cater to many tastes and our metrics demonstrate there is reader interest in Dancing with the Stars.

Thank you for posting your comment and giving me a chance to respond.