Third Quarter 2024 Shining Star Award Winners

 Independent is pleased to announce the Shining Star Award winners for the quarter ending September 30, 2024.  This award recognizes outstanding dedication, creativity, and impact within Independent.  Numerous nominations were received and reviewed.  All nominees are well deserving of the award.

These individuals consistently exceed the expectations of their position while performing at a level above and beyond normal job requirements.  Their actions have made important and significant contributions in their area and Independent.  We look forward to receiving many nominations in the future for the Shining Star Award.

Congratulations to this quarter’s winners:

Lynn Meloni, INI Corporate Services-Accounting Dept/Payroll Back-up

Her dedication to the accounting department is visible in her daily tasks which she handles with ease while keeping the focus on the end result. She always welcomes new tasks and handles any and all tasks with ease and professionalism, showing respect for all management and co-workers at all times.

Lynn was recently asked to take on the job of learning to be the back-up for payroll and her dedication and excellence in payroll matters is very apparent.  Seems everything she does she focuses on the tasks and is determined to get it right.  She is a fast learner and seems to have a passion for our employees.  When presented with a situation she is unfamiliar with she looks it up in the Payroll Processes Handbook; figures out what needs to be done; checks with the HR administrator first to confirm she is correct and then completes the task.  She is not afraid to proceed but doesn’t rush ahead without confirming her decisions are correct.  She is a real joy to work with.

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Angi Hicks, Delmarva; Daily State News

Angi is a dedicated hard worker and she's always willing to share her knowledge when a team member asks.  She is passionate about her job and shows respect for her co-workers.

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Janet Perez, Arizona Editorial

Janet has done a lot of work stepping in to help in all areas. In the past she has helped to do coverage for her communities in Queen Creek and Florence, and chipped in helping cover some Delaware meetings. Now she is taking on more work in Arizona by taking on coverage of the Town of Paradise Valley in addition to her current duties. Janet has always been a dedicated worker filling in for various coverage areas and more than occasionally doing stuff that wasn’t in her domain to make sure it got done.

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Betsy Parmley, Arizona/Sun City

Betsy is the gate keeper at Sun City. She runs the switch board, front desk, is in circulation. She knows everything about our office. She is super great with our readers, clients, and staff. She is passionate, respectful and dedicated. WE LOVE HER!!

 Trivia #3 What is the distance from earth to the sun?

 Kim Lewis, Delaware Printing Company

Kim does a fantastic job of keeping the insert inventory up to date and is very knowledgeable about when things run, if we have them ready and so much more.  The advertising assistants couldn’t do the part of their job for inserts in all of our Delmarva papers without her.  It was noticed when she was on vacation, and I am appreciative and happy to have her back!  It is obvious that she is dedicated to excellence in our publications.

 

 

Inspirational Quote for October

 

USI Health Bulletin

 Starting a Family?  There are a number of ways to start a family.  Click the link below for more information. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gUA0Sz5NlMadwx-NQ7_L2MLvEXraOJC2/view?usp=drive_link

Stay Protected For Family and Friends

 

Stay Up to Date with Your COVID-19 Vaccines   

Everyone ages 6 months and older should get a 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccine helps protect you from severe disease, hospitalization, and death. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is a safer, more reliable way to build protection than getting sick with COVID-19.

 

Getting the 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine is important because:

·       Protection from the COVID-19 vaccine decreases with time.
·       COVID-19 vaccines are updated to give you the best protection from the currently circulating strains.
·       Getting the 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine is especially important if you:
·       Never received a COVID-19 vaccine
·       Are ages 65 years and older
·       Are at high risk for severe COVID-19
·       Are living in a long-term care facility
·       Are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant, or might become pregnant in the future.
·       Want to lower your risk of getting Long COVID

FDA recently approved and authorized the 2024 – 2025 COVID-19 vaccines . Ask your doctor, pharmacist, community health center, or contact your state health department. Check your local pharmacy’s website to see if vaccination appointments are available. Some pharmacies may offer vaccines to those who walk in without making an appointment ahead of time.

 

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Flu season is coming!

Flu can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. During an average flu season, flu can cause millions of illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, and tens of thousands of deaths. A flu vaccine offers the best protection against flu and potentially severe flu-related complications.

Everyone 6 months of age and older should make a plan to get an updated flu vaccine. All U.S. flu vaccines for the 2024-2025 season are trivalent (three component) vaccines that protect against three influenza viruses: an A(H1N1) virus, an A(H3N2) virus, and a B/Victoria virus.

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Order Free COVID-19 Tests   

COVIDtests.gov will re-open at the end of September. Households across the country can order four additional over-the-counter COVID-19 tests for free. These tests will detect the currently circulating COVID-19 variants and are intended for use through the end of 2024. You can also find instructions on how to verify extended expiration dates for any tests you may already have. To order four free, over-the-counter COVID-19 tests, visit  COVIDtests.gov.

Benefit Corner

 

Did you know Independent’s PHO balance carry over limit will change on December 31, 2024?

·       Effective January 1, 2024, the PHO limit was reduced from 260 to 212 hours,

·       Effective January 1, 2025, the ‘use it or lose’ will be added to the PHO policy, meaning only 172 unused PHO hours can roll forward into any new year.

·       There is no change in the accrual calculation. PHO will not be accrued on holiday or bereavement hours.

 Trivia #2 Referring back to a physical characteristic of printed newspapers, content in a website that a viewer would probably need to scroll down to see is called "below the" WHAT? 

Please email questions and comments to inicorporate@iniusa.org.

October Anniversaries

 

Date	YRS		Payroll Name	Home Department Description
10/2	1	YRS	Curley, Nancy Jean	De State News Advertising
10/3	2	YRS	Parker Campbell, Kitt	De State News/editorial
10/4	12	YRS	Sullivan, Richard	De Printing Shipping & Binding
10/9	7	YRS	Barrera, Armando	Valley Printing Press
10/10	2	YRS	Lewis, Richard A.	Okeechobee Circulation
10/10	7	YRS	Wee, Rosemary C	W Valley/sun City Circulation
10/11	26	YRS	Lewis, Kimberly A	De Printing Shipping & Binding
10/12	10	YRS	Conde, Daniel Roy	Valley Printing Shipping& Bindin
10/12	25	YRS	Williams, Christopher	W Valley/sun City Advertising
10/16	1	YRS	Meloni, Lynn	Corp. Acctng/payables/payroll
10/23	23	YRS	Ramirez, Armando	Valley Printing Shipping & Bindin
10/26	4	YRS	Perez, Janet M	W Valley/sun City News/editorial
10/31	8	YRS	Satterfield, Clay	De Printing Press
10/31	22	YRS	Eldred, Cynthia Ann	De State News Advertising

Take a break

 

Upcoming holiday Monday, October 14, Columbus Day.  Remember to use HOLIDAY as the pay code when entering the hours you take off on your timecard. 

Trivia #1 The Sun and the Daily Mirror are popular tabloids that are both based out of what European capital city? 

Here we grow again! INI acquires Wrangler News & WranglerNews.com

 Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, once again expands its footprint in the Phoenix Metro market.

The Arizona group, home of the Phoenix Daily Independent at YourValley.net, acquired the Wrangler News from longtime owner Don Kirkland.

“We’re thrilled to oversee the oldest hyperlocal newspaper still in existence serving the Tempe market,” said INI President & CEO Charlene Bisson. “We’ve been blessed the past three years in acquiring JG Media’s Community Impact Phoenix newspapers, the Fountain Hills Times and now the Wrangler News. We look forward to merging the Tempe Independent with the Wrangler News and increasing our frequency.”

Kirkland will join INI’s growing family. He began a lifelong journalism career at the age of 10, when he published a small neighborhood newspaper in his hometown of Glendale, Calif. He was involved in news production during his years at Glendale High School, was editor of the school newspaper and wrote a weekly column for the Glendale News Press.

While in college, Kirkland was recruited by Lyn Nofziger, editor of the Burbank (Calif.) Daily Review and eventually one of the nation’s most highly regarded journalists, ultimately serving as press secretary to Gov. Ronald Reagan and later, in Washington, D.C., as the top spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.

Following his stint as a reporter in Burbank, Kirkland joined the staff of the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram, where he remained for almost 10 years. He transitioned to a position in media relations, working with such recognized clients as Dennis DeConcini during DeConcini’s two successful campaigns for the United States Senate, and a series of other high-profile Phoenix-area clients.

Kirkland made another transition in his media relations career when he was recruited as executive editor of the Mesa Tribune during the period which it was acquired by the national Cox Communications chain. He left Cox in 1980, to serve as public relations director for Desert Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center (now Banner) and, finally, as director of corporate communications for Samaritan Health Service. He launched the now 33-year-old Wrangler News and eight other similar community-focused publications in 1991.

“I look forward to continuing a vibrant, energetic journalism career with INI,” Kirkland said.

Readers will get the best of both worlds with the first publication of each month, following the traditional Tempe Independent format and the second publication resembling the Wrangler News format.

“Don and I agreed the newspaper will become the Wrangler News Independent,” Bisson explained. “What’s great about INI’s business model is our clean delivery method to the mailbox in 90 percent of our communities. Our newspapers aren’t piling up on driveways, and they’re protected by the mailbox most often folded neatly by the USPS mail carriers.”

Brent Cruikshank, the publisher of the North Valley group, which includes Fountain Hills, Scottsdale, and Town of Paradise Valley, looks forward to the added value advertisers will receive in the North and East Valley. 

“Since the acquisition to INI, we’ve grown our print and digital subscriptions 15%,” Cruikshank said. “Our company name reflects our nonpartisan news values while keeping the tradition of the Cruikshank family in Fountain Hills, where we recently celebrated 50 years in business.”

Bisson looks forward to new growth.

“The Independent is committed to expanding throughout the Phoenix market, so there are no news deserts in our Arizona cities and towns,” Bisson explained.

Independent Newsmedia has been publishing in Arizona since 1970.

The company opened two newspapers during the pandemic – Florence and Mesa – and expanded its Scottsdale circulation October 2022. The Arizona group launched the Tempe Independent in April 2022, then acquired JG Media National’s Phoenix operations, which included Community Impact of Chandler, Gilbert and Tempe in July 2022.

Independent Newsmedia owns Valley Newspapers, a state-of-the-art commercial printing plant that is located near Deer Valley Airport. The company also publishes community newspapers in Delaware, the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Florida and owns a press in Delaware.

The company is owned by a nonprofit journalistic trust designed to maintain independence. The organization has no owners or shareholders, no dividends are paid, and all after-tax profits are reinvested in its mission of impartial community journalism.

 

Marion chosen for Florida Bar Workshop

 

OKEECHOBEE – Lake Okeechobee News reporter Richard Marion has been chosen for the Florida Bar Association Reporter's Workshop in Tallahassee Oct 7 and 8. The Florida Bar funds the program. Applicants must be nominated by their editors.

 This intensive two-day course is designed for 24 print, online, TV and radio journalists new to the courts and legal reporting or new to Florida. The workshop is presented by The Florida Bar Media & Communications Law Committee in partnership with the Florida Supreme Court.

 Topics include:

• The Florida Bar’s discipline system and how to access discipline records,
• Libel law/defamation and privacy,
• Hot topics in public records,
• The First Amendment through court cases and issues,
• Reporting on high-profile cases.

Additionally, there will be a tour of the Florida Supreme Court, sessions at the Florida State University’s College of Law, and dinner with Florida Supreme Court justices and other judicial dignitaries.

Delmarva Mission Stories for September

 

Daily State News: Among the most emotional topics in the state legislature in recent years has been a medical aid-in-dying bill (House Bill 140, The Ron Silverio/Heather Block End of Life Options Law).

 

We have kept a close watch on its fate after passage earlier this year and we have received a number of opinions on both sides of the issue. In September, Gov. John Carney vetoed the bill on Sept. 20 after acknowledging that it was a personal issue for many. The Daily State News was the first local media to ask whether there would be an override attempt in the legislature.

 

We published opinions on both sides of the issue. Olivia Fritz shared a person story in her plea to have Gov. Carney sign the legislation into law.

Moira Sheridan, president of Delaware Right to Life, and Michael Vest wrote in opposition of  the legislation. A physician, Dr. Robert Varipapa, wrote in opposition to Sheridan’s viewpoint.

 

Crisfield-Somerset County Times: Editor Richard Crumbacker’s watchdog nature led him to focus on American Rescue Plan money – this time to rescue Princess Anne’s budget. The Sept. 25 edition report said it would pull the town out of a $200,000 deficit due to a budgeting error.

 

Salisbury Independent: Richard Caines gave voice to neighbors of a school who wanted to see its playground open to the public after school hours. The controversy raises interesting questions about taxpayer-funded grounds and security.

 

Dorchester Banner: Reporter Debra Messick had an interesting update on the effectiveness of a juvenile curfew and a city extension of it for another year.  The Banner asked candidates for city council about the curfew in surveys.

INI Florida Group September Mission Stories

 Article warns area residents of scam

“Buyer beware” was the theme of a September story in the Lake Okeechobee News after a man tricked a local Real Estate company into listing a property he did not own. The man pretended to

be the property owner (who lives out of the area) and asked the Realtor to list the property. When a neighbor saw a “for sale” sign, he contacted the actual property owner who alerted officials.

Warning the public about scams is a regular feature of the Lake Okeechobee News. We encourage readers to report scams so others may be warned.

Man tricks real estate company into listing land he did not own | South Central Florida Life (lakeonews.com)

 

Kissimmee River Restoration work continues

The Kissimmee River Restoration project, hailed as one of the largest and most important environmental restoration projects in US history, finished the construction phase in 2021. In

order to hydrate the restored flood plain, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and South Florida Water Management District need a new plan to store more wet season water in the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes so the water can be released south down the river in a slower, more natural flow. The Headwaters Revitalization Plan brings concerns of its own to people who live along the river who have seen their property damaged and seawalls eroded when water has been released too

rapidly down the river and Orlando/Kissimmee residents who worry about flood protection in the increasingly more developed headwaters area. The Lake Okeechobee News has been following

this story for more than 30 years, providing new readers with background information and longtime readers with updates.

Headwaters revitalization would improve river ecology | South Central Florida Life (lakeonews.com)