Fred Bever has resigned from his position at the Maine Public Broadcasting Network to hook up with another organization with "public" in its name. Bever, who spent the last six-plus years as Maine Public Radio's State House reporter and the past couple of years as co-host of Maine Public TV's "MaineWatch"

When circulation starts to decline, newspaper publishers panic. They lay off staff, tighten budgets and then waste all the money they saved on dumb ideas. Usually these dumb ideas have to do with attracting younger readers.

In his recent book, "Dave Barry's Money Secrets," the humor writer and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist pointed out what should be obvious: "[Y]oung people do not read newspapers." But this simple italicized fact doesn't deter publishers determined to remake their papers in a more youthful mode.

Once again, the Original Irregular weekly newspaper in Kingfield has published… well, I'm not quite sure what it's published. But whatever it is, it upholds the Irregular's long tradition of employing the most interesting syntax in Maine journalism.

From a July 11 front page story headlined,

It's tough to figure out if your state representative and senator are driving the state into destitution or pedaling it toward prosperity. Short of devoting a lot of time to studying the political maneuvering in Augusta, there's no convenient way to assess how your legislator has represented you.

On June 28, the Federal Communications Commission came to Portland to hold a public hearing on "localism." I'm not clear as to what that word means, and I suspect the commissioners and most of the 150 or so people who showed up to testify had a similar problem.

Due to my low tolerance for boredom,

The Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram are hiring a new Washington correspondent. Bart Jansen is leaving that post after six years, during which he wrote a lot of stories with tenuous connections to Maine, probably because Jansen's connection to the state is also tenuous. Unlike the guy

The Morning Sentinel in Waterville runs a daily trivia question in the sports section that often appears to be missing its target audience.

By more than 2,000 miles.

Take the June 16 question, for instance: "What is the all-time series record between the Dodgers and the Angels?" If you

Maine Beverage Company, the private corporation that operates the state's wholesale liquor monopoly, puts out a monthly advertising supplement that runs in most daily newspapers, alerting drinkers to what booze is on sale. Assuming, of course, that imbibers can sort out the creative spellings.

For

The Original Irregular weekly newspaper in Kingfield is always an interesting read, because it appears to be written by some sort of computer translation device and edited with a chain saw. From time to time, I'll share some prime examples.

From a story in the June 27 issue: "Members of the

Lewiston continues to be a city wracked by racist rumors. Seemingly innocuous events spawn tales that make up in ubiquity what they lack in credibility.

When the American flag flying over the Tambrands factory disappeared one day, wagging tongues claimed it had been removed due to complaints from