Odds and ends as I play catch up

Going "around the horn" as they say in baseball ..

Looks like a well-known name in college football is coming to the Zips. Walt Harris --former Head Coach at Pitt and Stanford -- is expected to join J.D. Brookhart's staff. Ohio.com and others reported it last night. What's frustrating is that I found out about it on Monday, but the U of A wouldn't confirm it to our sports staff. Maybe it wasn't a done deal yet, but it's still frustrating. Brookhart would have worked with Harris during his stint with the Panthers.

Connie Schultz has a great column in today's paper. It's an area where the journalist and soldier sides of me have clashed, and I think she hits the idea squarely. Our journalists should be able to see the caskets of our fallen troops returning from war zones. I don't think it's an invasion of privacy, and I believe that our media can do cover it tastefully. I've lost soldiers that I knew in the war, and I know this is a touchy subject, but it's time that any ban for our journalists is lifted.

A friend tells me there's been a rash of cars stolen from gas stations and pizza joints because drivers have been leaving their cars idling trying to keep their interiors warm. So be warned.

Today's news that Goodyear is laying off 5,000 more jobs this is hard to even stomach. Wingfoot already let 4,000 go last year. We need more details -- specifically how many jobs will be local ones -- but this is tough to take.

More later ..