With all the breaking local news today, there’s no comfort this other, not-so-little announcement:

The AJC will close its DeKalb Bureau in downtown Decatur – along with Cobb and N. Fulton – come July and move all remaining DeKalb staffers back to Marietta Street.

Sigh.

Decaturguy sends in a pic of the reported car fire on 2nd Ave in Oakhurst this morning.

Again, I’m just glad no one was injured.

OMG…

SpiketheCat posted this jaw-dropping pic from the MAK District on Twitter.

My best to the owners.  I just hope no one was home and everyone is OK.

Wow.  I’m really impressed the tree didn’t fall completely thru the house.

A list of 74 AJC employees who accepted the paper’s buyout offer was published this morning.

Not being an insider of any kind, many of these names are unfamiliar to me.  Luckily, Creative Loafing’s Scott Henry went through the list and gave us a rundown of what’s being lost.  In addition to nearly all the arts critics, DeKalb bureau chief Larry Conley and DeKalb reporter David Simpson are among those who accepted the buyout.

Henry also reports in his post of layoffs last week that have upset remaining staffers.

And in other “News About the News” news, the paper is moving Cynthia Tucker to D.C. to cover national politics.  Which makes me wonder, what happened to the focus on local?

If you can safely make it over to the Rec Center this evening, there’s a Public Imput Session on the Master Plan at 7p.  From Dan Magee…

City Residents: You are invited to the next public input session for the Decatur Recreation Center master plan on Monday, April 13, at 7 p.m. at the Recreation Center, 231 Sycamore Street. The City of Decatur is developing a master plan to direct future improvements to the city’s 50 year old recreation center. The first session was held on Tuesday, Dec. 9th and focused on a review of the existing facility, an overview of recreation/community center facilities in similar communities, and invited public discussion around a series of questions to identify program needs and priorities for the building.

Decatur’s Active Living division needs your help in planning how the building can be modernized to serve future community needs. After mid-2009, the Center will no longer be used for high school athletics. This offers an opportunity to consider its future use, especially the 10,000-square-foot gym. LP3 Architects have used information gathered at the December public meeting, from user surveys and from discussions with patrons to develop a preliminary plan for improvements to “the Rec.”