I read the 'news' today, oh boy ...

I love the Beatles. I have all of their recordings and a book about them. If I want to know more about them, I visit the library or Internet.

Someone at the Reading Eagle decided devoting hours of staff time and three days of prime newspaper real estate to the old rock band would sell newspapers.

Why can’t the media leaders in Berks experiment with producing good journalism to try to sell papers? What this area really needs is news about this area, not fluff. Original content about local events is rare and valuable.

This after the Eagle’s online editor Adam Richter laments in a column, “When we restricted full access to our website to paid subscribers, part of the outcry went something like: ‘I won't visit readingeagle.com anymore. I'll get my news from Google.’ “

Who would you visit to learn about the Beatles?

I depend on the local paper for things I can’t find in the library or online.

Here are some topics I wish the Reading Eagle would investigate, rather than the Beatles. And none of them needs a three-part megaturd – just regular coverage so we know what’s going on in Berks County.

I’ll agree, it’s all much less fun than the Beatles. But if the quality of life in Berks and Reading is going to improve to the point that our children want to live here, good journalism has to be part of the solution.

• How are our libraries funded? Is it enough? Why do some townships donate a lot and some donate nothing?
• How many “bad air” ozone days did Berks have in 2013? More or fewer than in 2012?
• What is Berks doing about its lead-pollution problems?
• What’s new with Our City Reading, the non-profit run by Al Boscov that spends millions of Reading’s federal grant money every year? Does the Eagle ever sit in on its board meetings?
• What’s new with Ricktown, the ballyhooed arts district proposed near the GoggleWorks? How many artists have moved in?
• What’s new with the Buttonwood Gateway project, where Our City Reading and the Reading Redevelopment Authority own lots of property?
• What’s new with the GoggleWorks? It seems to survive on huge contributions. Will it ever be able to stand alone?
• What is Reading doing with the properties it bought downtown, other than putting up an ugly, intrusive chain link fence?
• What is the city’s history with buying and selling major properties?
• Does Reading have an economic development plan? MayorSpencer said we'll see Phase II in mid-March. What was Phase I?
• What do parents and teachers think about what’s going on with Reading School District? How are parents involved? How active are the PTOs?
• How does the district teach Spanish-speakers? Why does it graduate students who can hardly form a written English sentence?
• What do the advisers think of Reading’s progress or lack of it under Act 47?
• How did Reading get so horribly gerrymandered (look at a map) as to be stuck in a district where no Democrat's vote counts? How is that affecting politics now?
• Are more or fewer agricultural properties being preserved?
• How are county services performing? How are the prison and retirement home held accountable for safety and effective programs? Do they measure up? How about all the private nursing homes?
• Is it easy to get public documents from local governments?

• If a mother on Medicaid moves to Berks, what are her health-care options?
• What’s up with the Latino Chamber of Commerce? What are its plans and activities?