Here’s a question no one would have asked 10 years ago: where can one purchase a national newspaper in Decatur?

I’ve subscribed to weekend home delivery of the New York Times for the past year or so, but the whole arrangement is beginning to feel like a chore that I pay over $40 a month to take on.  Especially on days when I don’t have time to sit down with that $6 Sunday monster, it just screams “waste of money!” from its place on the coffee table.

I yearn for a much less demanding relationship with my hard-copy.   To simply pick up a bundle of ink at the corner market on days when I have both the time and energy.  But of coarse, Decatur doesn’t really have a corner market.  So, beyond Starbucks, I’m not really sure where else you can pick up a New York Times or a Wall Street Journal or a USA Today.  (Can you even still get all of those at Starbucks?)

Are there other options of which I’m just blindly unaware?

From the Decatur School Board’s agenda for the upcoming meeting this Tuesday…

In the past year the nutrition program has greatly increased the use of fresh fruits and vegetables in school meals, this coupled with the fact that food and labor costs have gone up considerably has caused the program to use up the fund balance to cover expenses.

As discussed in recent budget meetings, a meal price increase will need to be implemented beginning with the 2010-2011 school year. The cost of a student lunches will go up 25 cents. The new meal prices will be as follows:

Elementary and ECLC Lunch $ 2.00

Academy, Middle and High School Lunch $ 2.25

These price increases will generate approximately $70,000 and will help to offset increased food costs.

In the past we have tried to keep our meal prices consistent with other metro districts, and this increase will not change that. Most metro school systems are implementing price increases for the upcoming school year.