Start The Presses:

My office at the Glendale News-Press features two windows. One of those windows looks out onto the newsroom, while the second is a glowing rectangle tuned to either local news or CNN.

Since Thursday afternoon, that second window has been constantly repeating the news of Michael Jackson’s demise. The operative word here is “repeat.” With almost no new news, my television brethren have been forced to regurgitate the tidbits of information over and over and . . . You get the idea.

The Glendale News-Press focuses on Glendale and the Crescenta Valley, rarely reporting on issues outside those borders, and only doing so when events directly affect its residents. Jackson’s death certainly qualifies, and we did report on it. But the local impact was limited — the pop star rehearsed for his comeback tour at a Burbank soundstage. As a result, the coverage was limited to a single front-page article, and to a single issue.

Still, this philosophy represents a change from the way this newspaper previously dealt with issues outside the city limits. It represents one of several changes at the paper, some which have been implemented, and some of which will be showing up in the very near future. I wanted to share these with you.

On Wednesdays, the paper now features a Q&A column. The column spotlights the people in our community — well known, famous or infamous — who make it a vibrant, interesting, occasionally weird place. If you have a suggestion about whom our ace reporters should question next, please send me or the reporters a note.

We’ve also launched our Law & Disorder column, written by our unflappable public safety reporter, Veronica Rocha. Each Saturday, Veronica will turn her sharp, and occasionally acerbic, eye on the madness that floats through our local courts. If you get wind of a strange civil or criminal case, give her a shout.

I’d also like to take this space to announce a columnist contest. As I’ve mentioned before, we are going to be merging coverage of the Crescenta Valley into the Glendale News-Press on July 4. Though we are committed to increasing our news, sports and event coverage of the area, I still need a Crescenta Valley resident to explain, interpret and opine about the goings-on north of the Ventura Freeway.