Can it be hectic and slow at the same time?

The last few days have been pretty crazy around the newsroom, as we continue to balance coverage of Sgt. Tyler Juden's funeral and the city's response to his death against respect for the family's need for privacy in this trying time.

Monday especially was insane, as we juggled trading photographs between three newspapers, coordinating multiple people out on assignment, reacting to the change in destination for the Army flight carrying Juden's remains (originally scheduled to land in Strother Field, they later diverted to Ponca City), and so on.

So while everyone else works to cover that story appropriately, I've been busy taking care of other little things in the newsroom. Thus, no time to blog lately.

But at the same time, it's been kind of slow. The funeral is the only major story this week; not much else is going on.

A few tidbits for you to chew on until sometime more interesting happens:

• The latest entry from the Hall of Dead Stories: It seemed like plans to remodel the water billing office at City Hall were going to move forward after the recent incident with the man who was arrested there, but according to Director of Administration Lane Massey, that's not really the case. The plans are moving forward, however, just not at any kind of accelerated rate. There are other concerns driving them besides just security; handicapped accessibility is one.
• Apparently, a reader called yesterday and asked if I or another employee planned to live blog from the funeral. I hope no one is excessively disappointed that we did not do so. We have questioned ourselves constantly while covering this story: How much is too much? Me sitting in a memorial service clacking away on a keyboard (assuming I even could get Internet access in there, which is doubtful) seems like too much, doesn't it? Trials and public meetings are one thing, but there have to be some limits...
• No word yet on whether the bypass roundabout will open on schedule (Friday). I'll be calling KDOT later this afternoon to follow up on that.