If you're like me you read part of the paper over dinner. Here's a look at today's local headlines:

"SOUL" MAN: Ed Camp made me laugh. He sent a photo of himself for today's story on his being named the director of the ArtsCenter. "Wouldn't you like to send one where you're smiling?" I e-mailed him back. "I am smiling," he said. He may not look it, but read our story to find out more about the man everyone says is passionate about the community and eagerly looking forward to his new job.

UP ON THE ROOF: Always liked the James Taylor version ("Handyman" too). ... Kidzu, the children's museum on Franklin Street, still hopes to move to the top of the Wallace Parking Deck on East Rosemary Street. So why did board chairman Jonathan Mills recently tell Mayor Foy time was running out? Read our story and find out.

RANTING REPUBLICANS I was sure we'd get some calls this morning about our coverage of the Chatham Democrats meeting last weekend. Pretty partisan rhetoric, as you'd imagine. But the only call was about our political cartoon. Just for the record, cartoons do not reflect the position of the paper, just that of the cartoonist. Read Spencie Love's story to find out what the Democratic Senate hopefuls told the party faithful.

NATURE DEFICIT DISORDER: I still miss writer Rolland Wrenn, longtime columnist. I don't know if wisdom comes with age or some people are just born with it (or both). Read Eunice Brock because she's smart, writes about important things and knows how to tell a story.   

Flo Johnston wries about the Kol Haskalah in this week's faith column. Randy Young recaps the fifth annual UNC Wellness Sprint Triathlon and Michelle Johnson says come get radicalized in Carrboro (like you'd go anyplace else).

Enjoy the respite from the heat, and thanks for reading,

Mark       

Of course the big news is what people are saying at tonight's meetings on the possible Millhouse Road transfer station site and Carolina North. Those happened too late to make tomorrow's community paper. Here are the headlines there:

5,000 APPEALS: That's how many property owners challenged their revaluations during the informal appeals process that just ended. Abut 55 percent of the appeals resulted in changed values, "99.5 percent" of them lower, says Tax Assessor John Smith. Read why some other property owners also had their valuations lowered -- without even having to ask.

ARTS AND MUSIC: What do puberty and budget cuts have to do with each other? (OK, got your attention?) Read correspondent Colin Campbell's story to find out why fewer teachers could mean fewer boys in school chorus next year. (And a big thanks to Colin, who started his new job at the Smithfield paper yesterday. We will be looking for a part-time writer to pick up his police blotter in the coming weeks.)

FREEDOM HOUSE: We ran out of room for this story in Sunday's paper. Julian March reports on Freedom House's $2 million-plus expansion and what it means for substance abusers trying to get clean.

JUNETEENTH: Ernest Dollar's parents had a sense of humor. And to his credit, so does Dollar, the director of the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. But there's nothing funny about his lecture on slavery in Orange County tomorow. Read what he has to say about it in the My View column on the front page.

Plenty more, including the return of "What's Up With That?", in which we tell you what that big pile of dirt on Eubanks Road is all about.

As always, thanks for reading,

Mark     

Here's a look at tomorrow's headlines:

PHONY FLIERS: Read Jesse's post below this one for part of the story. Read our CHN story for more. Criticism of the Greenbridge project is rising along with the towers along West Rosemary Street. Read what people are saying and what the developers have to say in return on our front page and on our op ed page. And tell us what you think about the project and the debate in a letter to the editor at editor@nando.com.

PANTRIES IN DEMAND: The IFC is almost giving away twice as much food as it did two years ago. The numbers are up at Orange Congregations in Mission in the central and northern part of the county. Read Dave Hart's story on how local food pantries are trying to keep up with demand as the recession drags on.  

'O' CRUEL WAR': That would be the Civil War, and that would be Ernie Dollar, Chapel Hill preservationist, in Federal (Union) garb on our front page. Find out why in this second story by Dave in tomorrow's paper.   

EXCLUSION BY DESIGN: Augustus Cho is going to provoke some people with his My View column. After getting fliers home from his children's schools for African American parents meetings and Latino parents meetings, he got to wondering, "Why were such racial/cultural specific meetings even necessary." Read his column and see if you agree.

And don't forget to watch Anoop tonight. N&O music critic David Menconi has some great suggestions for what Quentin Tarantino soundtrack song Chapel Hill's Clef Hanger should sing in tonight's "American Idol" show.

Plenty more, lots of letters, Martha Tyson on why Carrboro isn't giving up on getting its own full-service library, and Flo Johnston writes about cats -- in church. 

Thanks for reading,

 Mark

Here's a look at tomorrow's headlines:

TAXING TIMES: Orange Tax Revolt is calling on the county commissioners to rescind the 2009 tax revaluation. At least three North Carolina counties have done it. We spoke to one of them, and to two local legal experts who tell us why Orange County should not follow suit.

DENSITY REDUX: The Chapel Hill Town Council will talk again Monday about whether to extend high density zoning outside downtown. Then they'll talk about Ayden Court, where Carol Ann Zinn says she can either build a lot of (relatively) affordable, environmentally friendly townhouses (if she gets the density) or a lot fewer high-end luxury homes. Read Jesse James DeConto's preview of how the meeting is shaping up.

PEDERSEN'S PREDICAMENT: Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools Superintendent Neil Pedersen wrote a budget assuming no local funding increase. It included $900,000 in cuts just to keep pace with rising costs and student enrollment. Now, Colin Campbell reports, the superintendent and school board must cut deeper as county and state governments grappled with the recession.

A UNC expert tells us how the university is fighting global warming, Jesse reports on the latest news in high school athlete Atlas Fraley's death, and reader Jim Postma says it's time for a Proposition 13-like movement in Orange County.

Great day, enjoy the sunshine ... and thanks for reading,

Mark

Here's a look at tomorrow's paper:

FAULTY TOWERS?: Some 100 people showed up for a meeting two weeks on Greenbridge and what it signals for the Northside community. Emotions were running high. Read Colin Campbell's report and a guest column by developer Tim Toben on how developers are trying to respect the neighborhood even as their seven- and 10-story condominium towers forever alter it.

UNC'S WAITING GAME: The cuts are coming, but Chancellor Holden Thorp says he can't say when or how extensive. Eric Ferreri went to this week's meeting between administrators and members of the Employee Forum. Read his story to see how UNC is coping with the worst economic crisis in most of our lives.        

DENSITY: Staff writers Jesse DeConto and former staffer Lisa Hoppenjans won honors two years ago for a report that asked whether Chapel Hill was becoming a mini city. We ran sketches of the future Lot 5 condos. But reader response was tepid. It's hard to get people interested in theoretical ideas (more on that in a future post with Mike Collins of Neighborhoods for Responsible Growth). We can now ditch the theory. Between Greenbridge and East 54, the high rises are rising. Read what some readers think on our editorial page.     

There's more. Debbie Meyer writes about the new Chagall exhibit at University Mall, Lyle Estill's ready for a bus between Pittsboro and Chapel Hill, and Superintendent Neil Pedersen tells us why the budget he'll bring the school board Thursday night is unlike any other in his 17 years. (Of course if you read our blog, you already know about that.)

Thanks for reading -- wherever you read us,

Mark 

Got two calls this morning from people asking where the story about Monday night's tax revolt meeting was in today's Chapel Hill News.

It wasn't there because the CHN goes to press Monday nights now. As part of a cost-saving measure (to help keep us in business) we are operating one press now instead of two. The new Wednesday issue of the Durham News will also go to press Monday nights (or technically Tuesday mornings, but so early it might as well be Monday night).

We did have a story about the tax revolt meeting in today's News & Observer, and I told the callers that. The calls alert me to the fact that we may need to have a "refer" on the CH News front page to tell readers they can still find coverage of Monday night meetings -- either in the N&O or, more regularly, online at www.newsobserver.com/news/orange

We will run all or part of Jesse James DeConto's story in the Chapel Hill News this Sunday on page A3. That is the page where we run N&O excerpts for people who do not get the daily paper or who do not read it online.

Here's a look at tomorrow's front page: (NOTE: The Wednesday paper went to press Monday night, too early to get in the Town Council's meeting.)   

FREEDOM RIDERS: I hope local schools teach about Chapel Hill's role in the civil rights movement. This weekend the town gets a historic marker to help us remember the "First Freedom Ride," also known as the Journey of Reconciliation, in 1947. Find out how the town plans to mark the occasion.

PRESIDENTIAL PROTECTOR: Ever wonder about those guys in drak glasses? Arnie Lau served five U.S. presidents while in the Secret Service. Today he lives in Carolina Meadows, one of those fascinating types we'd write about more often if we just knew more of them. Read Rita Borden's interview.

STIMULUS PLAN: Congressman David Price voted for the $787 billion stimulus plan last week. Tonight you can hear preisdent Obama say why that was a good thing. Tomorrow, in an interview with Van Denton, you can read why Price thinks so too.

'THE RISKIEST THING': Lynden Harris' My View columns read like short stories, the kind you'd find in a Best of the South collection (and I just checked out a 2008 collection Sunday at the library -- gotta say, it felt weird when they shut the lights at 5 p.m. under the new budget cuts). Read Harris' take on that other recession and the challenges economic hardship present us.

Mary Sonis has another of her "Crittercam" photos for our Best Shot feature (man, she's good), Dave Hart brings you this week's Roses and Raspberries, and Nerys Levy tells you why you should consider pulling up a chair at this weekend's Community Dinner.

I'm also hoping we can reprint some of the recent blog excerpts in Sunday's paper because there have been a lot of good, thoughtful ones. Of course, we'll need pages to do that, and we'll need avertising to get the pages. Still, we're here, we appreciate it, and as always ...

thanks for reading,

Mark

Here's a look at Sunday's front page:

PROFILING?: Paul Cuadros' book "A Home on the Field," about his coaching a Latino soccer team to statewide success, just got picked as the first-year students' reading assignment at UNC. So why is he still getting stopped by law enforcement in Chatham County? Read his My View column for a personal take on local immigration enforcement efforts.   

WASTE MATTERS: Staff writer Jesse James DeConto traveled with the new Orange County commissioners this week to the Greensboro solid waste transfer station to get a sense of what might be coming to Orange County. Read what he saw, and smelled, in his report.

ANOOP WATCH: "American Idol" may be calculated. But once in a while the emotions connect and I find myself tearing up at a contestant's exit. (It helps that they play songs with killer hooks when contestants leave.) This week we begin an "Anoop Desai Watch," as we track Chapel Hill's Anoop Desai's journey on America's No. 1 show.   

MAKE 'EM LAUGH: I'm probably going to hit that dance concert in Durham night, but that still give sme plenty of opportunities to catch the 2009 N.C. Comedy Arts Festival. Read Dave Hart's story on the laugh fest  taking place at DSI Comedy Thater, the ArtsCenter and Cat's Cradle through Feb. 22.

Staff writer Eric Ferreri tells you where you can see Albert Einstein's autograph, Laurie Paolicelli says why Chapel Hill and Orange Conty are still cool, even if they have to work at it, and Elliott Warnock -- the state's No. 1 sports columnist for community papers with over 10,000 circulation, brings you the latest in sports (in fact he's working right now across the aisle from me.) Oh, and Sharon Swanson tells you how you can catch lunch with Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler and best-selling author John Grisham.

Enjoy the weekend, and thanks for reading,

Mark 

The Chapel Hill News won First Place in General Excellence for community papers with circulation above 10,000 during the N.C. Press Association’s annual meeting Thursday. The first-place award was the first for The Chapel Hill News since 1999.

Other awards went to sports editor Elliott Warnock, first place, sports columns; former staff writer Meiling Arounnarath, second place, features; CHN staff, second place, editorial page; associate editor Dave Hart, third place, editorials; and editor Mark Schultz, third place, headline writing.

In other award news, staff writers Eric Ferreri and Anne Blythe, both based in the Chapel Hill bureau, shared honors in two team efforts:

Ferreri, Benjamin Niolet and Jane Stancill won this year’s Green-Rossiter Award for outstanding coverage of higher education in North Carolina. They were honored for stories in The News & Observer on topics such as the role of women’s colleges in North Carolina to a large pay raise given to Mary Easley, wife of North Carolina’s former governor who is an executive-in-residence and senior lecturer at a public university.

Blythe co-wrote The News & Observer’s recent series, “Losing Track: North Carolina’s Crippled Probation System,” which won a McClatchy President’s Award. The three-part series revealed that state probation officials had lost track of nearly 14,000 criminals; that since the start of 2000, 580 people while on probation had been convicted of killing; and that probation leaders had snuffed out a promising e-mail alert system that was helping officers keep track of their charges. The series was written by Blythe, Sarah Ovaska and Joseph Neff; database editor David Raynor conducted extensive data analysis. Photojournalist Jason Arthurs led the photography.

The President’s Awards are presented twice a year after competition among the company’s 30 daily newspapers and their Web sites.

So I finally met elvisboy77.

For readers who don’t follow our blog, elvisboy77 is our most prolific commenter. He cuts through the prevailing political logic. And he occasionally offends.

“Chapel Hill and Carrboro are no longer hip or cool, unless you are a panhandler or illegal immigrant,” went one recent post.

Some are convinced elvisboy77 is behind the blog Squeeze the Pulp, a sometimes acidic critique of Orange County decision making.

But over lunch at Margaret’s yesterday, he swore he’s not.

“‘That cracks me up,” he said.

He showed up with a mask. No kidding. A Sarah Palin face with two eye holes cut out. He thought it’d be fun to run a picture of him behind the mask.

We had a good talk. Look for it here and in The Chapel Hill News next week.