Ohio Soldier Is Real Superhero: He May Make The Cover Of The Rolling Stone

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Citizens for a Better Norwood has the scoop on Army Specialist Brandon Rork, a hometown soldier who just received a Bronze Star for combat heroism in Iraq. A Rolling Stone writer covered the ceremony in the desert for an upcoming story about the war. An account from the 10th Mountain Division about Rork's actions during a suicide bomber's attack on his position near the Euphrates River is here.

The Army says it found more high-grade military explosives in the unsuccessful attacker's truck than Timothy McVeigh made for his bomb, which destroyed the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City. Citizens for Better Norwood says the Ohio soldier "saved his Iraqi base, a nearby town and hundreds of lives . . . "

There are about 160,000 U.S. troops now serving in Iraq. The risks they face daily sometimes gets lost in debate over whether the war was a worthwhile strategic and foreign policy undertaking. Norwood is a small city, a one-time factory town near Cincinnati that has struggled to adapt in an economy where smokestacks have become forlorn symbols of lost jobs. But it can be proud of Brandon Rork, he saved a city in Iraq and may have put his own hometown back on the map, or at least in pages of the Rolling Stone.

Ohio Newspapers: Another Is Born As The Cincy Post Prepares To Croak

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Defying conventional wisdom about the prospects of the publishing industry, a new newspaper has begun publishing in Ohio.

The Norwood Times started up less than a week after the Cincinnati Post's parent, media giant E.W. Scripps Co., said it would close the afternoon metro daily on Dec. 31. Scripps is headquartered in Cincinnati, where the $2.5 billion a year company started life as a 19th century entrepreneurial enterprise. But it has apparently lost the genes that gave it a flair for risk-taking and publishing. It says that it would be unwise to switch the Post from print entirely to the Internet, which would be a bold move, a digital age experiment that could completely unleash conventional journalism from its conventional way of doing business.

Citizens for a Better Norwood, which is based in the small Cincinnati suburb that is landlocked and surrounded by the Queen City, has gotten a copy of the new independent newspaper and reports:

"This is a 12-page publication full of ads, both large and small, placed by mostly local businesses. Many have discount coupons. Sadly, one ad announces the owners of Bogle Jewelers are retiring and selling all merchandise at 25% off. There are also interesting bios about several of the business owners. From the looks of it, Mr. Hooks' advertising sales have gotten off to an excellent start."