Since the new year, very little that is being considered newsworthy has been happening in WNC. Still, the newspapers must fill their space, and bloggers must write. Today, in Asheville’s local daily, three top stories are:

A professor produced a report on the “perilous” economic downturn in Western North Carolina. Your economic analysis will have to be two points higher than mine to understand this.

Then, there is a lengthy story about a handful of kids claiming that somebody shot a gun in a school courtyard at 3:35pm. No teachers heard the noise, nor did other students who were likely in the vicinity. Even the school’s resource (police) officer, who was very near, heard nothing. Nobody even ran to him to report the incident and ask for help.

Lastly, you may be interested in meeting with “a group of railroad quiet zone enthusiasts” who could actually change the locations where it would be permissible for a train to blow its whistle.

Phrasing the old adage in the syntax of Dan Quayle, “It is good news that there is no news.”