.... And, we're back

So, faithful blog readers (whoever and however many of you there are), you've probably noticed our absence over the last few days. I was trading working sick days with Vanessa, so this past week was an adventure, to say the least. We got the paper out, and despite a sort of flat color on the front, I think there were some good stories in this week, though we had some longer ones than in previous weeks.

(Look at the PDF on www.newsoforange.com, it will give you a better idea of how it looked when we released it Tuesday night.)

Now that we (hopefully) are on the good side of whatever bug has been getting around, I'm going to be getting on here with some sort of update or event blurb Monday to Friday (and weekends on occasion). For this week, we finished a Woodcroft Gazette, budgeted for next week and sat through a court date for Alvaro Castillo. Here's what we're working on for next week. I am almost certain we won't get 100 percent of these to fit in next week's edition:

• Carolina Ice Synchro, a locally based synchronized skating team, will be competing for a national championship in early March. After spending a freezing practice session on the ice taking pictures (who'd have thought — ice rinks are cold), I have some good shots of them in action and more about the sport (everybody raise your hand if you've seen synchronized skating before).

• We'll of course have a little more information about Alvaro Castillo's trial, which has now been set for late July.

• I'll have some more information about the county and Orange County Schools' stimulus project lists that are being sent to U.S. Rep. David Price's office. Nobody knows quite yet how much money will be available and for what kinds of projects, but they have some ideas about how they'd spend it. How will you be spending your $32-40 per month (the estimated stimulus amount appearing soon in paychecks)?

• The Town of Hillsborough and Orange County government will discuss a host of issues of importance to the boards, including the local train stop, the Elizabeth Brady bypass, Fairview Park operations and a Heritage Center update (at the very end of the meeting).

Vanessa will likely have more of our to-do list for you tomorrow.