Silence isn't always golden. There are plenty of unanswered questions surrounding the arrest of State Rep. Robert Mecklenborg (R-Green Township) on drunken driving charges, and Republican leaders are hoping the lawmaker's impending resignation will end the matter. The Enquirer has been helpful in keeping the matter under wraps.  

Roger Clemens’ mistrial last week recalled a similarly weird situation caused by my Enquirer story landing atop Page 1 of fellow Gannett paper, USA Today. It, too, presented jurors with evidence the judge had barred from court. And as in the Clemens trial, the question was whether that created a potential mistrial.  

What The Enquirer considers newsworthy apparently changes depending on what season it is. That’s about the only conclusion someone can draw from the article the newspaper published along the bottom of its front page on Sunday, May 15. Sprawled along four of the page’s five columns of type, on the day of the week with The Enquirer’s largest readership, was a story about how many times a local judicial candidate has been involved in litigation.  

We first saw a photo from the White House situation room with everyone looking intently at something we couldn’t see. About the same time, White House spokesmen said a live TV feed was coming from minicams atop the SEALs’ helmets. Were the president and others watching bin Laden being shot? Was Hillary’s hand-to-face gesture a response to a killing? If yes, how did we got such a phony story about his armed resistance? They would have known better.  

The Republican state senator from Green Township, Bill Seitz, often puts common sense before blind loyalty to ideology. For example, he wants to reform Ohio’s prison sentencing laws so low-level, nonviolent offenders are diverted to other punishments, to save on skyrocketing jail costs.  

Most people don't remember the dude from high school who drove a Volkswagen. Why would you? He's probably right now sleeping in someone's front yard adjacent to the site of his most recent driving accident. The AP reported today that the new leader of the German automaker will soon enter discussions with NASCAR about entering one of its dangerous little cars into a race.  

True to their tribe, local TV forecasters created as much anxiety as possible recently about a storm moving into our region. Day after day, we learned nothing new from redundant presentations and banter with anchors. It was like a sermon: The more fearful their ceaseless drumming makes us, the likelier we are to stay tuned for redemption.   

The Cincinnati Enquirer isn't like other news sites that lately have focused a lot of coverage on the terrible, unimaginable suffering the residents of Haiti are trying to survive. Instead, a big picture of a piece of pizza greeted its Web site visitors Jan. 19. Mmmmm! Leave it to the liberals in L.A., Miami and New York to harass readers with pictures of dead bodies, crying babies and utter devastation. Here in Cincinnati we've got bigger fish to fry (and pizza to eat).  

Life can be tough at the top of the Enquirer food chain. Circulation (printed papers sold) continues to decline. The paper has retired, bought out and fired just about everyone it can to cut costs. More unpaid furloughs are likely. I have no idea how profitable The Enquirer remains. The paper doesn't say. It never does, at least publicly. Yet its slumping core paid circulation doesn't encourage optimism.  

A recent banner story on page 1 of The Enquirer's Local Life reported that Cincinnati Country Day was the second best high school in Ohio, based on passing percentage on state graduation tests and some yet-to-be revealed formula. The real story, if there was one, came later when it was mentioned that five Cincinnati area schools were in the top 10, including a public high school, Walnut Hills. I'm surprised the "study" dreamed up by a Columbus man in his basement survived The Enquirer's crap detector.