*Nice job by the Freeman's Mike Stribl today on the passing of our former colleague Mort Laffin. Other touching tributes are in the Poughkeepsie Journal and on this Hudson Valley sports Website. Mort had been a Freeman sports reporter for about a year when I arrived as No. 3 man in the department in 1970. We worked closely on many a basketball weeknight and football Saturday until he moved over the news side. He was a colleague, mentor and pal during our Freeman years. And as you can tell from the aforementioned stories, he was a beloved figure in the regional sports community. Condolences to his family.

*Lindsey Vonn won the gold medal in downhill skiing just days after a highly publicized surprise injury threatened to keep her out of the competition. Modern medicine or NBC hype? Speaking of NBC, every morning the Today Show has "exclusive" interviews with U.S. Olympians. How do they do it?

*Hope you've seen some of the videos accompanying stories on our Website. Particularly helpful is today's clip of the Kingston City Hall steps.

*The much-anticipated New York Times piece about Gov. Paterson turned out not to be about Gov. Paterson at all, but about his aide. That has led to more undeserved ridicule of the Times from those who were expecting the rumored blockbuster. Only the Times didn't start the rumors and never promised more than it delivered. If you think the story isn't much in of itself, that's fine. But don't compare it to what you incorrectly thought it was going to be.