Newspapers

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two newspapers asked a federal judge Wednesday to make public several documents relating to a former Army scientist at Fort Detrick who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks and later exonerated. The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times want the government's search warrants and supporting documents involving Stephen Hatfill, who was eventually cleared in the anthrax attacks and was awarded $5.8 million in a lawsuit accusing the Justice Department of violating his privacy.

History books have long written that the American Civil War ended in 1865, soon after Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse near Lynchburg, Va. But in his nonfiction work, "The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomattox," author Stephen Budiansky explains that the wounds of the Civil War never had a chance to heal after both sides laid down their weapons. For the next 10 years, racist organizations led by ex-Confederates wreaked havoc below the Mason-Dixon Line.

The Herald-Mail has a new look today. This is the first edition of the newspaper at its narrower width. Each page is now 11 inches wide, a reduction of 1 1/2 inches. The pages remain the same length as in previous editions. The page width has been reduced for economical reasons. To accommodate the change, some content has been moved. Lotteries are now on A2. Word Sleuth and Sudoku are on the Daily Break page. The bridge column has moved to the Classified section. Six new comics have been added and one was cut. But most regular features remain unchanged.

HAGERSTOWN -- The Herald-Mail's new executive editor is Jake Womer. Womer joined the newspaper in January 2003 as Lifestyle editor and has served as assistant city editor for the last nine months. Womer, 32, who lives near Hagerstown, was named executive editor this week. He said he's looking forward to guiding The Herald-Mail. "It's a tumultuous time and an exciting time in newspapers," he said. "There's change brewing. I think we're positioning ourselves to be the news source of Washington County and the Tri-State area, and I want to lead those efforts.

HAGERSTOWN -- Before photographs, newspaper reporters often relied on colorful language to paint pictures for readers. Nowhere was this more prevalent than in stories about hangings, which were laced with graphic descriptions, opinion and vivid phrases. One of those phrases, "launched into eternity," was the title of a free lecture presented Thursday night at the Hager House by the City of Hagerstown. The lecture used newspaper accounts to revisit some of the hangings that happened in and around Washington County in the 19th and 20th centuries.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Washington Post. I had it all figured out 20 years ago: Work a couple of jobs at smaller papers and find out what they know. I'll make some contacts, work my beats, get some killer clips and I'll be covering the Redskins or Wizards (or Bullets as they were known back then) by the time I'm 29 or 30. A funny thing happened on the way to RFK Stadium. This month marks 20 years since I graduated with a journalism degree from Shippensburg University.

In French, a "canard" is a duck, but in modern English, the word has come to have a much different meaning. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary notes that while the English meaning is derived from a French expression vendre des canards moiti - to cheat, literally, to half-sell ducks, canard means something different today. Now the dictionary defines it as a "groundless rumor or belief. " Like what? Like "all politicians are crooks" or "no woman knows how to parallel park. " Then there's my least favorite: "You're just doing this to sell newspapers.

ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. - St. Mary's College of Maryland senior Julia Copley, of Hagerstown, ends her stint as managing editor of The Point News, the college's student newspaper, on a high note. Last year she served as the paper's editor-in-chief. Named "Best College Newspaper for 2007-2008" by the American Scholastic Press Association in April, The Point News tied with Knight News CUNY at Queens College in Flushing, N.Y. Copley, a religious studies major, is also a recipient of the school's David and Ginny Rosenbaum Award for Journalistic Excellence, which she received at a recent awards convocation ceremony on campus.

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. - The Herald-Mail won 25 awards Friday in the 2007 Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association editorial contest. The newspaper received 14 first-place awards and 11 second-place awards. Based on the total number of points assigned to those awards, The Herald-Mail was named Newspaper of the Year among daily papers in the 30,000 to 75,000 circulation division. One first-place winner - a column by Executive Editor Terry Headlee - also was chosen Best in Show, the top overall prize in the "Local column: critical thinking" category, out of newspapers in all six circulation divisions.

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. - The Herald-Mail won 25 awards Friday in the 2007 Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association editorial contest. The newspaper received 14 first-place awards and 11 second-place awards. Based on the total number of points assigned to those awards, The Herald-Mail was named Newspaper of the Year among daily papers in the 30,000 to 75,000 circulation division. One first-place winner - a column by Executive Editor Terry Headlee - also was chosen Best in Show, the top overall prize in the "Local column: critical thinking" category, out of newspapers in all six circulation divisions.