THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 11, 1994 TAG: 9409090005
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
The new BusinessNews section has drawn raves from readers, but not everyone is bullish about all the changes. Several callers weren't pleased to read a notice in Monday's Business Weekly that the regional stock listing was discontinued.
That chart was ``very convenient,'' said J.E. Newbern, a city planner for Chesapeake and an investor himself.
Regional share prices are in the papers' daily stock tables, highlighted in bold type. But, Newbern pointed out, the daily listings don't give the week's highs and lows or the Friday closing.
``The bottom line is we're getting a condensed version of the business news in our paper,'' said Newbern.
Well, just another challenge for the ``biz team'' to work out. Joe Coccaro took over as business editor in April and has spent a good deal of his time responding to reader wishes.
Favorite stock missing from the listing? Just call Juanita (446-2377) or Richard (446-2033) in the Business department and they'll add it to the list. Or try, anyway.
The biz crew has been working on making the Saturday stock pages more readable.
But Coccaro says he has to draw the line on restoring the regional stocks to Business Weekly. The listing doesn't come in till the wee hours of Saturday and, with the demands of the daily section, that's too late for Business Weekly.
But there is bullish news ahead for market gazers. Starting Tuesday, they'll find more than twice as many over-the-counter stocks in the daily listing - 2,500 compared to the previous listing of 1,000. And mutual funds will be expanded to make the listing virtually complete.
``We're continuously looking for more creative ways to provide the most complete market report that we can,'' says Coccaro.
Burglaries via database. Several readers commented on Sunday's MetroNews story ``Burglary: The ghost of crimes.'' It was an ambitious package - three stories, several graphics and even a burglary ``quiz.''
But the front-page chart itemized only Norfolk burglaries. ``Why didn't you do the same for Virginia Beach and the other cities?'' asked one caller. ``Weren't the statistics available there?''
They were not (though we neglected to tell readers). So far, said staff writer Steve Stone, only the city of Norfolk is providing the computer database for these statistics, which showed how many burglaries occur in a given planning district.
Tom Boyer, the newspaper's computer specialist, is trying to get the same basic data from the entire region and hopes that charts like this one, a real reader service, will convince other cities to cooperate.
A ``voice'' for the newspaper. A touching letter to the editor appeared in the paper last Sunday. Headlined ``Goodbye, and thanks,'' it was written by 101-year-old Ethel Davis, who thanked the newspaper for years of good reading but said she had to cancel because she can no longer decipher the small print.
Enter another reader, Edward O'Neal of Norfolk. He suggested that we tell Mrs. Davis and others aboout the Hampton Roads Voice for the Print Handicapped, a free closed-circuit radio service that offers newspaper readings over the air.
Every Monday to Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 3 p.m., you can hear selections from the day's local news; weekend features and even ads are read in the time remaining.
The rest of the day, the New York-based In Touch network offers articles from other newspapers and magazines.
Peter Pine, a retired businessman who originally hails from London and sounds like Alistair Cooke, began the local service a decade ago. For information on getting a radio receiver, call WHRO (489-9476) or write Hampton Roads Voice c/o WHRO, 5200 Hampton Blvd., Norfolk, VA 23508.
The obituaries are moving. But not far - just a page or two in the MetroNews section.
Up to now, the obituaries have begun on page B2 and continued on page B4 or B5. Starting tomorrow, Monday, they'll start on page B4 and, if they run longer than one page, continue on the facing page, B5.
MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net. by CNB