Newspapers

There's no delicate way to put this: On the first day of work on his new job, newspaper writer Geoff Edgers castrated a bull calf. Later that day, he ate the harvested organ after it was sliced, battered, and deep-fried. If that wasn't enough, he also had to eat a still-beating rattlesnake heart. Edgers is writer, co-creator, and host of a new weekly Travel Channel show, Edge of America , that takes the Boston Globe reporter on "the great American road trip" to experience firsthand some of the things Americans like to do for fun. Set in a different state each week, including Minnesota, Oregon, California, and, yes, Pennsylvania, the 13-episode first season premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m. The debut puts Edgers right smack in the middle of the Union, in Oklahoma.

The largest union representing workers at the parent company of The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com has agreed to begin early bargaining on a new contract as management of the media company continues to seek ways to cut expenses. The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia told its members Thursday that it agreed to resume bargaining with Interstate General Media L.L.C. on Friday afternoon, but stressed that should talks break down, the 550 members it represents would be protected under the current contract, which expires in October.

The National Hockey League today took out full-page ads in dozens of newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, apologizing for the lockout and thanking fans for their patience. The ad - a four paragraph letter - paints a positive picture of what remains of the season, avoids pointing fingers at the players' union and takes no blame for the 119 day lockout. "We placed this ad in approximately 40 newspapers across the U.S. and Canada - at least one in each of our teams' 30 markets and in a handful of national newspapers in both countries," said John Dellapina, the NHL's vice president in charge of communications.

Philadelphia Daily News gossip columnist Dan Gross resigned Wednesday, effective immediately, as head of the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia, which represents 550 unionized newsroom, advertising, and other employees of Interstate General Media L.L.C., parent company of The Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com. In a statement issued by the guild, Gross said he had applied for a voluntary-separation program announced by the company last Thursday and had been approved for a buyout package.

Penn's student newspaper reported Friday that five Quakers men's basketball players were suspended for a game last week for failing random drug tests. After the 83-60 loss at Delaware on Dec. 21, coach Jerome Allen said the players - Miles Cartwright, Steve Rennard, Tony Hicks, Henry Brooks, and Darien Nelson-Henry - were suspended for violating team rules. The Daily Pennsylvanian, however, citing an anonymous source, said that the players were disciplined for failing drug tests.

NEW YORK - A newspaper's publication of the names and addresses of handgun permit holders in two New York counties has sparked online discussions - and a healthy dose of outrage. The Journal News, a Gannett Co. newspaper covering three counties in the Hudson Valley north of New York City and operating the website lohud.com, posted a story Sunday detailing a public-records request it filed to obtain the information. The 1,800-word story headlined, "The gun owner next door: What you don't know about the weapons in your neighborhood," said the information was sought after the Dec. 14 school shooting in Newtown, Conn., about 50 miles northeast of the paper's headquarters in White Plains.

LANCE ARMSTRONG is being sued for more than $1.5 million by a British newspaper over the settlement of a libel action, which followed doping allegations against the cyclist that it published. The Sunday Times paid Armstrong 300,000 pounds (now about $485,000) in 2006 to settle a case after it reprinted claims from a book in 2004 that he took performance-enhancing drugs. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency concluded this year that Armstrong led a massive doping program on his teams.

CAIRO - Two days before a constitutional referendum it considered boycotting, Egypt's secular opposition finally launched its "no" campaign Thursday with newspaper and TV ads detailing the argument against the charter drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi. The Morsi camp has a simpler message: A "yes" to the constitution is a yes to Islam. The deadly violence and harsh divisions of recent weeks - combined with the inability of most Egyptians to even comprehend the densely written 63-page document - have turned the vote into a stark choice on whether the largest Arab nation takes a serious step toward theocratic rule.

James Whelan, 79, the founding editor and publisher of the Washington Times, the newspaper established in 1982 by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his South Korea-based Unification Church, died Dec. 1 at his home in Miami. Mr. Whelan was ousted after two years, saying it had become what its detractors had always said it was, "a Moonie newspaper. " The cause was multiple organ failure, his nephew Bill Halldin said. Mr. Whelan was the vice president and editor of the Sacramento Union when he was recruited to run the Times.