Maybe vaccination law is needed?

Trent Knuckles is publisher of The News Journal.

Gotta brag just a little this week.

For the third straight year, the News Journal was named best newspaper, among large weekly publications in Kentucky, at the Kentucky Press Association annual convention last month. This is a big deal to those in our profession. Our category is super-competitive. This is no small feat.

Our staff works hard, week in and week out, to bring you the best newspaper we possibly can. Individually, News Journal staff members took home awards 22 awards in categories like news writing, photography, headline writing, opinion, layout and design, etc. It’s no small task putting out a newspaper. It takes people dedicated to their profession with a passion for informing the public.

You don’t get rich working at a newspaper.

But you do get satisfaction knowing you are doing something that is vitally important to the community you serve.

And it’s nice to get the recognition, through these awards, of the quality of work that is being produced by our staff.

SOME OTHER STUFF

• Stories coming out of the state of Washington state regarding an outbreak of measles — a disease that was, for all intents and purposes, eradicated in this country years ago — are sort of alarming and mystifying.

It could happen here. Hepatitis A anyone?

A big part of this is that almost all of the kids impacted were not vaccinated. Shockingly, reports I hear on this say that most of the parents who don’t get their kids vaccinated are fairly well educated. Of course, there’s a difference between being “educated” and doing things that are unwise and silly.

There’s been some talk of legislation that would, basically, require certain vaccinations. Period. I think I’m for that. If people won’t do what’s in the best interest of their children, who cannot decide for themselves, then sometimes you just have to give them no option.

• Looking through our photos of the Kane Brown concert at The Arena last Friday made me chuckle.

Used to be, we’d go to a concert and really soak in the atmosphere … rock out to the music. Do a little dancing, headbanging, whatever. Now … people stare endlessly at their mobile phones, and spend most of the concert posting to social media. I suppose that’s fine, but I personally find it takes away from the experience of a show.

Different strokes I suppose.

• Turn over to our People page and notice the call for local cooks to submit to us a favorite recipe. I’m anxious to see what we get. I plan to give my wife some of the yummiest ones to cook for me!

The best recipes have a good story behind them, so give us a bit of background on it if you don’t care. Also, send a photo of yourself so we can run it with your recipe.

• Defensive purists are welcome to their opinion, but I thought Sunday’s Super Bowl was the worst I’ve ever watched. Four hours wasted. This is one where the commercials, and even the halftime show, were the best part of it.

• It’s not good, or normal, to have temperatures of almost 70 degrees in February. Whatever happened to nice, reliably cold temperatures in the 20s and 30s for this time of year?

As columnist Bob Watkins used to say … And so it goes.