Four years ago, The Times-News in Twin Falls bought up one of its competitors - the South Idaho Press, a Burley afternoon paper.

On Aug. 16, The Times-News will close up a paper that grew to be known as "the SIP" in local jargon.

I can understand the business reasoning behind the decision. It's textbook consolidation, the kind of thing that occurs in a lot of other industries. The SIP's staff will work on a Times-News daily edition focusing on news and advertising from the Burley area.

Of course - as with seemingly all news about newspapers these days - costs factor prominently into the equation. When The Times-News' parent company closes the SIP and weekly newspapers in Gooding and Jerome, 14 people will be laid off.

Also lost is the energy, and the sense of urgency, that comes from competition.

When I worked as The Times-News' city editor from 1996 to 2001, the paper had launched a "zoned" edition for Burley-area readers - much like the edition the paper will now publish using staff from the SIP.

Back then, though, the SIP was our rival.

Every day at 1 p.m., when the SIP rolled off the press, our Burley news bureau would go through it closely; in Twin Falls, we'd study a fax of the SIP's front page. We were looking to see how our story budget measured up, and to make sure we weren't beaten on big stories (or even not-so-big stories). Scoops mattered. We tracked them and took them seriously, but got a lot of fun from the competitive rush.

News junkies in Burley were well served as two newspaper staffs fought to stay ahead of each other. The competition also made us better journalists.

Times-News editor James Wright says his paper and the SIP "started sharing local news content a couple of years ago, and the news staffs were formally consolidated under the city desk in Twin Falls months ago." Closing the SIP may indeed be a logical progression, but still a sad one.

When Burley becomes a one-newspaper town, readers and reporters will lose something along the way.

SALI'S INTERNET ADVENTURES

At least one Republican candidate is running to, rather than running from, the blogosphere.

Republican 1st District Rep. Bill Sali has launched a campaign blog. His Democratic opponent, Walt Minnick, has had a blog active for weeks.

An introductory video from Sali sticks to standard talking points. Still, this site bears bookmarking between now and Nov. 4. My guess is folks in Idaho's largely left-leaning political blogosphere already have this one bookmarked and will be quick to pounce on controversial posts.

So I'll give the Sali campaign credit for going outside the comfort zone to deliver a message through a new and not necessarily friendly medium. Unlike GOP Senate candidate Jim Risch - a tech-unsavvy old-school candidate with little interest in the blogosphere - at least Sali is putting forth the effort.

Now, if only I could stop getting auto e-mail from the guy.

Over the past few weeks, I've received numerous e-mails from a "william.sali," letting me know I've been subscribed to the Sali e-mail newsletter. Eight in the past week, when I stopped deleting and started counting. One at 2:05 a.m., another at 2:11 a.m., a third at 5:18 a.m., and a fourth at 5:28 a.m. - suggesting Sali is putting in some killer hours.

Anyway, I've politely e-mailed asking to be kept on the newsletter mailing list, without the constant notes letting me know I'm still subscribed. I guess I'll wait and see.

WILL WILL BE WILL

George Will's syndicated column doesn't usually deliver big laughs, either deliberately or unwittingly.

But I had to chuckle at his column from last weekend, which offered up this theory for Barack Obama's underperformance in the polls:

"The fact also might be related to fatigue from too much of Obama's eloquence, which is beginning to sound formulaic and perfunctory."

Yeah, I feel Will's pain. I hate those showoffs and that formulaic, perfunctory eloquence of theirs.

Kevin Richert: 377-6437