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Flood disaster changed editorial voice of Grand Forks newspaper
The Associated Press (Run in the St. Cloud Times, April 7, 2007)

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The Grand Forks Herald's editorial voice went from "shrill to sympathetic" after the 1997 Red River flood disaster, the newspaper's publisher and editor says.

"The culture of the newspaper has changed enormously," Mike Jacobs said. "We're much more community friendly now."

The Herald won the Pulitzer Prize for public service for its work in covering the flood and fire that devastated downtown Grand Forks, including the newspaper's offices, in April 1997.

Papers were dropped by plane or trucked to towns where displaced residents were refugees.

The Herald was published at temporary sites for more than a year after the ordeal, but it never missed an edition.

"I'm glad to have experienced it, I wouldn't want to repeat it and I wouldn't wish it on anybody," Jacobs said of the flood and fire. "You learn a lot from that kind of crisis."

The Herald ran the banner headline: "Come Hell and High Water" during the disaster. It has become the unofficial motto of the newspaper, which rebuilt its offices in downtown Grand Forks after the water receded.

The $13 million remodeling project was aimed at making a statement, Jacobs said.

"The city needed a business leader to carry the message that the city could — and would — be rebuilt," Jacobs said.

A 97-foot clock tower now tops the newspaper's offices downtown, reflecting the year of the disaster. A 54-foot tall entrance rotunda symbolizes the high-water mark of the flood, and 19-point sundial patterns on the floors signify April 19, 1997, the day much of the city was evacuated.

Many of the more than 50 newsroom employees, who suffered their own personal losses in the flood, grew closer as a result of the flood, said Kevin Grinde, the newspaper's managing editor.

"We were a tight-knit group at the time," he said.

The newspaper has a daily circulation of about 30,000, though the circulation has dropped slightly in the years after the flood, Jacobs said. The Herald also went through a round of job cuts and was put up for sale in 2006 when McClatchy Co. included it among a dozen former Knight Ridder Inc. newspapers to be sold because they were not considered to be in rapidly growing markets. The Herald was bought by Forum Communications Co., the owner of its competitor, The Forum in Fargo.

Since the flood, about half the newsroom staff have moved on, some able to parlay their participation in winning the Pulitzer Prize to jobs at larger newspapers, Grinde said.

The Herald, which celebrated its 125th birthday in 2004, now has about 200 employees, Jacobs said. The Pulitzer has helped lure applicants, Grinde said.

Grinde and sports editor Kevin Fee went to Biloxi, Miss., in 2005 to help the Sun Herald publish its daily paper in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Staff reporters also were sent to help publish newspapers for then owner-Knight Ridder during Hurricane Rita.

"We've all been there and done that, and since we had the experience, we were able to jump right in," Grinde said.

Fee said the news staff at the Sun Herald welcomed the help.

"It was a little easier to communicate with them because they knew you had been there before," Fee said.

"The Grand Forks people were just an asset that we could not have done without," said Kate Magandy, city editor for the Sun Herald. "They knew what it was like and what needed to be done."

"These folks came in and not only gave our staff some much-needed time to get their lives in order but also helped get the news out," Magandy said. "We couldn't have done it without them."

August 26, 2006:

By Dawn Peake dmpeake@stcloudtimes.com

From St. Cloud Times (website)

Published: August 26. 2006 1:00AM

Orders for up to 465 buses at New Flyer Industries Inc. have ramped up production at the company’s St. Cloud plant.

Orders from 13 organizations in the United States and Canada would total $181.8 million in revenue for the publicly traded manufacturer. Of the 465 orders, 381 are firm; the rest represent options to buy.

New Flyer is North America’s largest manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses, producing about 1,500 buses a year at its plants in St. Cloud, Crookston and Winnipeg, Manitoba. It had about 500 employees at the St. Cloud plant as of Thursday.

Local leaders could not comment on how many jobs the company will add at the St. Cloud plant to handle the increased production and referred all questions to the corporate office.

Calls to corporate leaders were not returned Friday.

The recent orders, as well as orders previously announced this year, will expand the company’s market and foster further growth in its aftermarket operations, including parts, training, publications and field services.

“New Flyer is uniquely positioned to address the diverse demands of the heavy-duty transit industry,” President John Marinucci said in a news release. “Management believes that the company has the capacity to meet the potential increased U.S. demand, which is expected to result from growing ridership, pent-up replacement demand, and healthier state and local revenue base.”

New Flyer booked contracts and options for up to 1,400 buses in the first half of the year. It expects those orders to generate $521 million in revenue.

New Flyer was owned by a small investor group before the 2002 sale to KPS Special Situations Fund.

In early 2004, New York private equity firm Harvest Partners Inc. became the primary owner.

January 6, 2006:

CWA Local 7304 members working at New Flyer of Crookston have ratified their new contract. It is a five year contract that includes wage increase of over 17% during the term of the contract.

March 15, 2006

The Grand Forks Herald is the main daily newspaper in the Grand Forks region. Coverage area ranges from Devils Lake to Bemidji and from the Canadian border to the border of Cass County. The paper gained fame, and a Pulitzer Prize, for its coverage of the 1997 flood that devastated Grand Forks. Full-time employment is about 150, supplemented by about 40 part-timers. CWA Local 7304 represents full-time employees in the newsroom and press and mail room. Daily circulation is reported to be 32,509 and Sunday circulation is 33,729. Currently, the Herald is in transition to new ownership. The McClatchy Co. of Sacramento has announced plans to buy the paper as part of its purchase of the Knight Ridder network. But McClatchy management has said it intends to divest the Herald as soon as possible. CWA's Newspaper Guild is one interested buyer.