We have been writing for months about the never-ending saga of legislative attempts to remove from North Carolina law a provision in the workers' compensation law that presumes newspaper carriers are independent contractors. This presumption has been very valuable since it was passed almost two decades ago. Since that time, there has not been a single reported independent contractor versus employee case in the workers' comp arena in the state of North Carolina.

Fending off another attack by industry opponents in the Oct. 4 special session of the N.C. General Assembly, the North Carolina Press Association stopped an effort to presume all newspaper carriers in the state to be employees, subject carriers to state workers comp and unemployment insurance taxes, and create a new test for independent contractor status.

On the evening of Monday, Sept. 25, the U.S. Senate voted 49 to 47 to confirm William Emanuel to the National Labor Relations Board.

Benchmarking helps newspaper management set goals, track success or failure, and provide objective standards for comparison, publishers heard during a session at the SNPA-Inland Annual Meeting led by Dolph Tillotson, president of Southern Newspapers Inc., and Tim Prince, vice president of Boone Newspapers and publisher of the Shelby County Reporter in Columbiana, Ala.

During this session, Tillotson shared a six-page handout offering the statistical analysis calculations that SNI uses, and he also is offering a blank Excel spreadsheet that can be used by other companies that want to implement something similar.

Family ownership of a media company or any other kind of company can be a beautiful thing. But it has its own unique challenges and solutions.

These are rarely discussed in the open, either inside the company or at industry conferences. But there's a whole world of solutions and best practices available for family owners, if you know where to find them.

If you're a member of an owning family, or if you work for a family-owned company, Steve Gray's latest blog post may help you see where to look.

Far from the sky falling, North Carolina's legal advertising and independent contractor-newspaper carrier climate remains intact. The leadership of the North Carolina General Assembly acted responsibly, with encouragement from the North Carolina Press Association and many SNPA members, to leave N.C. law unchanged.

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The SNPA Board of Directors also elected three new trustees for the SNPA Foundation at the same meeting. MORE

On Aug. 31, U.S. District Court Judge Amos Mazzant granted the motion for summary judgment of various business groups and state attorneys general in the overtime rule case.

Previously, on Nov. 22, 2016, Judge Mazzant issued a nationwide injunction, preventing the implementation of the rule, pending a decision on the merits of the case. The injunction case is before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. It has been fully briefed and is currently scheduled for oral argument before the court on Oct. 3.

There is much speculation that oral argument may not occur, and the DOL may withdraw the appeal, given the Aug. 31 decision of Judge Mazzant granting the motion for summary judgment, which ruled that the final rule was unlawful.

The trustees, in turn, will elect their officers – also that same morning.

Read this article to see who has been nominated as new trustees. MORE