UPDATE: local blogger Veblen (who really needs to post more often) helps us all out by getting those articles written by Thomas/Bosak. They can be read here, along with an article on an unsuccessful lawsuit Banyan filed against the Penn State to stop the sale of Circleville Farm.

It's nice that there are alternative news sources out there like Safeguard Old State to give us info that The Daily Collegian and the Centre Daily Times won't. Oh, and us too! OK, maybe "news" isn't the right word for what we do, but you get the point. Anyway, according to SOS, the CDT is "facing a major lawsuit from a local construction company on the grounds of defamation and libel." So, what does this have to do with Penn State? Well, the reporter named in the suit is also an instructor teaching News Writing in the College of Communications. Wonder where that is on the syllabus? Oh, and don't bother looking for the story in the CDT, Collegian or Penn State Live it ain't there.

As SOS points out, CDT reporter Jennifer Thomas, who teaches COMM 260W under the name Jennifer Bosak, is the person at the middle of this lawsuit where "Banyan Homes is currently seeking between seven to eight figures in damages from the Centre Daily Times." If you're numerically challenged, that's between $1 Million and $99 Million. WOW!

Apparently the lawsuit is over some stories Thomas/Bosak wrote about Banyan in 2005. A search on CDT's website shows four articles written by Thomas/Bosak between June 6, 2005 and September 11, 2005 regarding Banyan Homes. The first article in the set has the headline "Dream Home Nightmares," and is apparently about 12 home owners who filed complaints about Banyan. We can't read the articles because you need an account, and really...psssht.

We're not going to comment on the merit of this lawsuit, or Thomas/Bosak herself (especially since we can't read the articles). But SOS wants the CDT, Collegian and Penn State Live to cover this story, which just isn't going to happen. The CDT will say that "newspapers write about the news, they don't make it" (although some might argue that with the Harrisburg Patriot-News ... oooooh!), and there's no shot that Penn State Live is writing anything about it.

So, what's up Collegian? Are you up for it? Do you really have those "big quotas" you're bragging about?