Furst Draft

'Aren't we blessed...'

I heard from Jeff Korsmo, the former Mayo executive who's now with Via Christi Health in Wichita, Kan., regarding Denny Hanson's passing:

I remember a special moment with Denny last summer as I was about to leave Rochester to move to Kansas.  Denny said something like, “Jeff, aren’t we blessed to be two local “boys” who have had the opportunity to serve in roles to help our home town grow and improve in important ways?”  It was clear to me that this statement had very deep meaning for him, as it does for me.

(Sorry for the typo in Jeff's name earlier...)

Hanson made a lasting impact

Here's my print column for today:

Like a lot of people in Rochester, I crossed paths with Denny Hanson a lot -- at work, at city hall, at rubber-chicken events, at Dooley's -- and I always enjoyed spending time with him. He was candid, easy to quote, blunt, a straight-shooter. He also was gregarious, funny, charismatic and irreverent, and a passionate believer in Rochester.

People like Denny Hanson and most others in public life at the local level -- on city councils, county boards, school boards -- don't get into it because they like the power or attention. At the end of the day, there's not that much power, and the attention is generally more trouble than it's worth. It's sure not worth all the hours and heartache that go into being a council member if you're in it just for headlines.

People like Denny put themselves out there and give up a lot of time and energy because they love their hometowns. They love the people around them and want everyone to do better. They put up with a fair amount of grief to make things better, and in Denny's case, you always had the feeling that he enjoyed life wherever he was, in the public arena or just telling stories over a diet Captains.

There's much more to say about Dennis Hanson and we'll do that in coming days.

We learned of his medical emergency about 8:30 or 9 a.m. Wednesday. We posted that news online not long after, and we led the front page with the story at press start, 11:05 a.m., with the headline, "Hanson suffers aneurysm."

Just as the press started to roll, we heard that radio news was reporting that he had died. We never did hear that radio report, but we made calls all over town and heard the same news from people who were in a position to know. We put that news online but didn't stop the press until we had more details. Closer to noon, we contacted Mayor Ardell Brede and he said he'd received email notification from the city administrator's office that Hanson had died.

With the mayor, city officials and other sources, that fact seemed locked down. We put out another email alert, updated the web and social media, then stopped the press to update the story, with the headline, "Council president dies." Local TV followed with their own reports at about 12:25 p.m.

Ten minutes later, P-B reporter Jeff Pieters was getting contradictory reports from council member Ed Hruska, who was in contact with the family at Saint Marys and said Hanson was in grave condition but still clinging to life.

We put that news online, stopped the press once more (with about 12,000 copies left in the press run), returned to the original headline and noted the contradictory reports from city officials about Denny's condition. That was our last update until about 6:30 p.m., when we confirmed that Denny had died earlier in the day.

We regret the confusing reports, but when the mayor, city administrators and other council members are saying that the city's long-time council president has died, we need to get that news out, with proper attribution. We did our best with a very tough and emotional story.

For now, I'll express my personal sympathy to Denny's family and friends. He made a lasting impact on his hometown and will be remembered well, with affection.

 

Notes for TV today

What I said at 6:40 a.m. on KTTC:

good morning -- a big day today, with the supreme court ruling on obamacare -- we're ready for that, with expanded coverage -- the ruling comes down at shortly after 9 a.m. our time, as you know, so we're holding a lot of newsprint to explain what the court does

on the front along with the court ruling, we'll have stories and photos on the life and times of dennis hanson, the long-time Rochester city council president who died yesterday at age 57 -- i didn't know denny well, but he was the kind of guy that when you met him, you considered him a friend -- a gregarious, outgoing and charismatic guy who was fun to be around and who was passionate about rochester -- i'll have a column today that explains how the coverage happened yesterday -- as you know, there was conflicting information from the city about his condition and i'll explain that -- our condolences to his family and friends.

we'll have a story from the opening in spring valley last night of the new play about jodi huisentruit, the KIMT news anchor who presumed abducted 17 years ago yesterday --

and in the stage and screen section, which looks ahead to live music, theater and more in the area, we'll have a preview of the much-anticipated concert by the band wilco, which is monday at the civic center.

Coverage of the Denny Hanson story

First, my deepest sympathy to Denny's family and friends. Like a lot of people in town, I've crossed paths with him at work, at city hall, at rubber-chicken events, at Dooley's, and I have always enjoyed talking with him. He was blunt, a straight-shooter, but also gregarious, funny, energetic and irreverent, and a passionate believer in Rochester.

There's much more to say about Dennis Hanson and we'll do that in coming days. For now, here are some notes on how we covered his medical emergency today.

We learned of his aneurysm early today, about 9 a.m. We posted that online not long after, and we led the front page with the story at press start, 11:05 a.m., with the headline, "Hanson suffers aneurysm."

About a half-hour later, we heard that a radio news report had said Hanson had died. We made calls all over town at that point and before noon put out an email alert that said "multiple sources" confirmed his death. We didn't stop the press at that time, though we had multiple, well-informed sources close to Hanson. Closer to noon (and I intend to plug in some specific times here later), we contacted Mayor Ardell Brede and he said he'd received email notification from the city administrator's office that Hanson had died.

With the mayor, city administrator and other sources, that seemed locked down. We put out another email alert, updated the web and stopped the press to update the story, with the headline, "Council president dies."

Fifteen minutes later, reporter Jeff Pieters was hearing contradictory reports from council member Ed Hruska, who said Hanson was in grave condition but clinging to life.

We put that online, stopped the press once more (with about 12,000 copies left in the press run), returned to the original headline, and reflected the contradictory reports from city officials.

We regret the confusion, but when the mayor, top city administrators and a number of well-placed sources say the city council president has died, we need to report that, attributed to the sources.

There's more to say on this, but for now, I'll express my personal sympathy to Denny's family and friends, and we'll all keep him in our prayers.

 

Today on the front: Breathless anticipation at Supreme Court; Rochesterfest winds up; and area horse breeders get a boost from bigger purses at Canterbury.

Best news of the day

Wonder if there's any significance to Gus Chafoulias yesterday showing a group of suits the half-block parking lot east of Broadway Residence & Suites...hmm...

'Chopin: The Complete Waltzes'

CD review coming up this week...I'm writing fewer of these lately because the record companies aren't sending CDs anymore...they insist that critics download MP3s. I'm a hard copy guy...

"Chopin: The Complete Waltzes"
Stephen Hough, piano
Hyperion, CD, $17.99

British pianist Stephen Hough is one of the most-recorded classical artists in the business, and though Chopin has been a big part of his repertiore, I don't really think of him as a Chopin pianist. This album demonstrates why; the notes are there, the performances are sparkling and hardly a disappointment, but the poetic soul is often missing, especially in the A minor (Opus 30) waltz and the other minor-key masterpieces. As the excellent liner notes make clear, the composer himself was conflicted about the artistic value of the waltz form, and at times Hough seems to treat these five-minute gems as more showpieces than works of fleeting introspection. You expect more razzle-dazzle than emotion from the overly familiar "Minute" Waltz (Opus 64), where Hough shows amazing gracy and facility, but the same exercise-like approach is heard in the A flat major (Opus 42) and others.

That said, it's a well-thought out program of both the published and unpublished waltzes, plus three of uncertain attribution, and wrapped up with the Nocturne in E flat major, like a surprise encore at the end. It's not a waltz, yet it's very much from the same sound world, in 3/4 time, but it makes the point emphatically that Chopin didn't need to fret over whether the waltz was legitimate art music. When you're a genius, forms don't matter.

-- Jay Furst, Post-Bulletin

More on the production changes at P-B

Here's a note I tacked on to the reader comments regarding yesterday's news:

To those of you who've expressed support and understanding, thanks. To respond to some reader comments regarding the newsroom impact: Newsroom page production (copy desk) jobs are moving to Moline, a type of consolidation or shared service that many/most newspaper groups are doing. Reporters, photographers, sports writers, columnists and other news staff are not affected, and in fact the plan is to beef up Post-Bulletin content and resources going forward. We still have by far the largest newsroom in southern Minnesota, with more reporters on the street in our region than any other news organization. The commitment to local news hasn't changed.

SNG has owned the P-B for about 35 years, by the way -- they've amply demonstrated their commitment to the Rochester and regional community and to local jobs over the years, and SNG has invested more than $300,000 in new capital projects at the P-B already this year.

Thanks again for the supportive comments. More than 150 people come to work here every day to put out the best possible local newspaper, with the most effective local advertising in print and online...that, too, hasn't changed.

'...part of my mental furniture ever since'

Here's a note to the Answer Man, regarding "In Flanders Fields":

Your note on "In Flanders Fields" caught my attention today.  I memorized that poem in grade school in North Dakota back in the 1940s and with no particular effort by me it has remained a part of my mental furniture ever since.

My memory was also jogged last fall when my wife and I visited our son Peter, a Mayo High School graduate, at his then new job at Guelph University in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.  While there, we visited the John McCrae museum with our little granddaughters, who were given special attention and came away with little John McCrae medallions.  The museum is McCrae's birthplace, a snug little house with a pleasant garden not far from the center of town.

Guelph, like Rochester, is a one-industry town, about the same size as Rochester.  Its present claim to fame is its College of Biological Science, noted for its center devoted to the herculean task of barcoding every living thing on earth.  This is a monumental project, and we're rather proud of Peter's involvement in it.

Ken Miller