Tampa Bay Times keeps publishing despite a Milton crane collapse cutting off access to newsroom

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Tampa Bay Times keeps publishing despite a Milton crane collapse cutting off access to newsroom

2024-10-12 03:11 Last Updated At：03:20

It's a reflection of the news industry and modern world of work that Tampa Bay Times editor Mark Katches seems more relaxed than you'd expect after a crane pushed by Hurricane Milton's winds gouged a hole in the building that houses his newsroom.

“It's had zero impact on our operations,” Katches said in an interview on Friday.

The crane collapse in downtown St. Petersburg is one of the most visible symbols of Milton's damage, so much so that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference at the scene on Friday.

The Times Publishing Co. used to own the damaged building but sold it in 2016, and the news organization is now one of several tenants there. The building was closed when Milton roared through late Tuesday and early Wednesday, in part because it has no backup generators, so no one working for the Times or anyone else was hurt, the editor said.

The Times is the largest newspaper serving the more than 3.3 million people who live in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.

Most Times journalists covering the hurricane were working remotely on Tuesday night, or at a hub set up for a handful of editors in the community of Wesley Chapel, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside of Tampa.

Katches said he's not sure when newsroom employees will be allowed back in the building. One hopeful factor is that the newsroom is on the opposite side of the building from where the crane fell, he said.

“I'm worried that we're going to find a lot of ruined equipment” from water damage, Katches said.

Newsroom employees became accustomed to working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. “This is a newspaper that won two Pulitzer Prizes when we weren't able to be in a building to meet,” he said.

He doesn't expect a return to a newsroom for the foreseeable future. Still, he said he hoped the newspaper would eventually secure space where everyone would be able to work together again.

David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.

New Jersey Transit issues warning for riders ahead of potential rail strike

2025-05-16 01:19 Last Updated At：01:20

New Jersey Transit urged riders to reach their destinations before the end of the day Thursday or risk being stranded as talks continued in a bid to avert a rail strike by train engineers that would affect some 350,000 commuters who work in New Jersey and New York City.

The advisory provided riders with details on contingency plans that would take effect if engineers walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. EDT Friday. The agency plans to increase bus service, saying it would add “very limited” capacity to existing New York commuter bus routes in close proximity to rail stations and will contract with private carriers to operate bus service from key regional park-and-ride locations during weekday peak periods.

However, the agency noted that the buses would not be able to handle close to the same number of passengers — only about 20% of current rail customers — so it is has urged people who can work from home to do so if there is a strike.

NJ Transit — the nation’s third largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. A walkout would halt all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City’s Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.

Wages have been the main sticking point of the negotiations between the agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. The union says its members earn an average salary of $113,000 a year and says an agreement could be reached if agency CEO Kris Kolluri agrees to an average yearly salary of $170,000.

NJ Transit leadership, though, disputes the union’s data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.

If the walkout happens, it would be the state’s first transit strike in more than 40 years. It comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.

The parties met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington to discuss the dispute, but both sides and the board have declined to comment on whether any progress has been made in subsequent talks this week.