Feb. 5-7: N.C. Press Photographers Association annual meeting at Randolph Community College.

March 1-5: Newspapers in Education Week

March 14-20: Sunshine Week

March 18: NCPA Winter Institute at the Dean Dome, Chapel Hill

April 29: Newspaper Academy at UNC-Chapel Hill

May 14-15: North Carolina Newspaper Production Conference at Durham. Details.

It’s not too late to sign up for Webinar
NCPA, in cooperation with SNPA and the Iowa Newspaper Foundation, is offering introductory training on using Adobe InDesign. While many of our member newspapers are using Quark, others have made the switch or have at least considered it for pagination. This hour-long seminar will focus on the important core features of the program as it relates to newspaper production. The seminar is at 2 p.m. Feb. 12. There is a registration fee of $35. The deadline to sign up is Feb. 9. After than any registrations are also subject to a $10 late fee. To find out more about the program, click here to download the flyer or go to www.onlinemediacampus.com.

Be sure to reserve these dates on your calendar
We will soon be sending out information concerning the 2010 Winter Institute. This year the Institute is all in one day in the Dean Dome on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. In addition to the awards ceremony the program includes meetings of the Associated Dailies and the Association of Community Newspapers as well as the annual meeting of NCPA/NCPS. New officers and board members will be elected during this meeting. And while writing things down in your calendar, remember to mark down April 29. That’s the annual Newspaper Academy at UNC. Course tracks this year include basic journalism, editing, multimedia and advertising. Plan to send several staff members for some valuable training

OK, here’s our last call for fronts
We’ve had excellent response to our call for front page images from our members. We are still lacking a few as listed below. If your newspaper is on the list, could you please send us a PDF or JPG of a front page of your paper ASAP to john@ncpress.com. We want to include you in our annual North Carolina Newspaper Directory! We are missing fronts from: The Stanly News & Press, The Courier-Tribune, The Beaufort-Hyde News, Black Mountain News, The Transylvania Times, The Pender Chronicle, Yancey Common Times Journal, Island Gazette, Polk County News Journal, The Butner-Creedmoor News, news@norman, Macon County News & Shopping Guide, Tri-County News/Money Saver, The Alamance News, The Rhinoceros Times, Smoky Mountain Sentinel, Highlands’ Newspaper, The Lake Gaston Gazette Observer, The Weekly Post, The Coastland Times, The Mint Hill Times, Cherokee Sentinel, The Avery Post, The Observer-News-Enterprise, The Pamlico News, Richlands-Beulaville Advertiser News, The Daily Southerner, The Jones Post, The Wallace Enterprise, The Warren Record, The Warsaw-Faison News, and Weaverville Tribune.

Stories about the use of the name of that football game...
It's that time of year again, when people celebrate the end of the NFL season. While we are all tempted to use the words "Super Bowl" for advertisements and contests of all sorts, just a friendly reminder that the NFL has the trademark on that phrase. It's OK to use the name and the logos for news purposes, but the league doesn't want it to be used beyond that unless they've licensed it. Many of you are probably aware that the NCAA has similar restrictions on the use of "Final Four" and a whole host of phrases it has trademarked. Here's a Washington Post article on the topic.

On Wednesday, Apple revealed its entry into the e-reader tablet market with the iPad. The buzz was at a fevered pitch even before the presentation. Below are some links to stories that might help you sort out the hype from the helpful information.

• Coverage from the announcement
• Follow the live blogging coverage by the Nieman Journalism Lab
• iPad event includes a demonstration of the New York Times app
• Transcript and pictures from event
• Price of the iPad starting at $499 each
• Newsweek blogger reports people in the crowd were tepid in their response to demo
• Lessons to learn from e-tablets of the past

• John Foust will be joining The Wake Weekly staff as advertising director on Feb. 1. Foust is a regular contributor to The North Carolina Press newsletter with his AdLibs column.
• Barbara Arntsen, a former reporter for The Daily Dispatch of Henderson, has published her first mystery novel, “S.O.S.”

• The Fayetteville Observer discovers city police department had an unwritten policy to not report sexual assaults to the public.
  • Fayetteville’s City Council votes 9-1 for new police procedure for notifying the public about sexual assaults.
• The Charlotte Observer reports the city council won't release files on a suspended police officer accused of sexual assaults. But council did refuse to go into closed session to debate matter.

• People wanting to find bargains still primarily looking in newspapers and magazines, not the Internet.
• The American Society of News Editors is conducting a contest to identify the top three Open Government Local Heroes of 2010
• McClatchy CEO: 'Some evidence' classified ads recovering
• McClatchy to experiment with pay model, but which paper will test it not announced
• J.P. Morgan analysts believe fourth quarter results for newspapers will be better than previously expected
• Time spent on social media such as Facebook soared worldwide in 2009
• New bankruptcy deal for Freedom Communications squeezes out family owners
• Web site helping displaced journalists discover next steps
• Paywall! game (or is it a tool?) provides one way to look at benefits of making readers pay for online content
• GQ magazine sells 18,000 issues with its iPhone app
• FCC's public notice of its examination of the future of media [pdf]
• Report from API examines paid access models for online products
• Proposed bill would extend public records law to private prisons housing federal inmates

• JILL GEISLER: What great bosses know about emotional intelligence