Other McClatchy outlets have instituted them in an attempt to reduce the liabilities the company carries year-to-year. Couple that with the rather gaping holes in some coverage of late and it makes me wonder if MNI Uptown is trying the same thing, resulting in a seriously pinched reporting staff.

Case in point, there was no July 1st new local laws round-up. The political beat here in the middle of filing season has been spotty at best. Entire campaign events have gone uncovered, straight up legit news that left veteran operatives baffled by the uniform disinterest. And there has been nothing that I’ve seen on this BofA backstop fee issue, a topic that has bloomed into a national story over the past couple days. Today’s A section carried exactly three local bylines — and one was previous blog entry and another a featurey new biz col.

Maybe things pick up next week. Or maybe this is the new baseline standard.