Tornado victims recover photos thanks to GateHouse editor and others; Daily Republican staffer takes on Harlem Wizards (with help)

A few updates from this week:

• I recently blogged how 11 volunteers led by Daily Republican photographer Tom Kane searched for lost photos in the aftermath of the Feb. 29 tornado in Harrisburg. The Daily Republican reported Tuesday that roughly one-third of the 120 photos and other memorabilia were recovered by their owners when they were on display Monday at a local library; see a related WSIL-TV story.
• Daily Republican staff writer (and former Marion High School basketball player) Riley Swinford took to the court of his alma mater Friday night to play for The White Nights in a benefit game at the Harlem Wizards. The effort was to raise funds for The Night's Shield Children's Shelter in West Frankfort. Look in Monday's paper for story and photos; game photos can also be seen now on the newspaper's Facebook page.
• I thoroughly enjoyed meeting many of Saline County business leaders and entrepreneurs at the annual chamber show on Thursday in Harrisburg. See a Daily Register story on the show. I'm headed to another chamber function this Thursday in Harrisburg, the group's quarterly luncheon featuring Harrisburg Medical Center and Southern Illinois Healthcare CEOs as guest speakers.

Harrisburg and Eldorado daily newspapers name DeNeal as managing editor

We announced this week that long-time Daily Register staff writer Brian DeNeal has been named managing editor of that Harrisburg daily and the Eldorado Daily Journal.

DeNeal has been with the paper since July 1999. He replaces Terry Geese, who was recently named regional editor of GateHouse's Southern Illinois group.

Read the full story.

Harrisburg tornado-related photo effort yields two boxes of recovered memories

I blogged last week about a photo recovery effort led by The Daily Republican's Tom Kane. Tom led a small group of volunteers last week to search for and reclaim photos strewn about the Harrisburg area as a result of a recent tornado that damaged and destroyed a number of local homes.

The group recovered two boxes of memorabilia including over a 100 photos - everything from grade school to holiday pictures - as well as complete photo albums and a ledger from 1942. They will be displayed at a to-be-determined site in Harrisburg for owners to reclaim.

Harrisburg to publish a special tornado recovery edition Sunday

Harrisburg residents can look for a special newsstand edition of The Daily Register tomorrow (Sunday) devoted entirely to the tornado recovery effort.

Normally, the Register is a Monday-Friday publication but staff felt it was important not to go the whole weekend without reporting on the recovery effort from the storm. The special effort was organized by Southern Illinois group advertising manager Doris Wilson and regional senior editor Terry Geese.

Unfortunately, we were unable to make arrangements to home deliver the newspaper on Sunday; home delivery customers can pick up a copy of the newsstand edition free at the newspaper's offices this week.

The newspaper received attention for its considerable coverage of the storm this week from the Web site for the American Copy Editors Society. Visual journalist Charles Apple analyzed the newspaper's coverage at length and called it "pretty amazing work. Especially for a newspaper this size."

Sister newspaper The Daily Republican in Marion received corporate recognition for its tornado-themed coverage on Friday for the company's "Front Page of the Day" from parent company GateHouse Media. Editor Bill Swinford and team have received the honor numerous times in the last 90 days.

GateHouse Southern Illinois tornado coverage this weekend

Look for 8-page special Southern Illinois tornado coverage special sections both Thursday and Friday on newsstands in the Daily Register (Harrisburg), Daily Republican (Marion), Daily American (West Frankfort), Benton Evening News and El Dorado Daily Journal.

And check often for regular updates at dailyregister.com throughout the next week.