Most of my time is spent behind a desk or running around the newsroom. I therefore jump at the chance to go out in the field, especially if I get to use some of the new technology the company has equipped me with.

For the special elections Tuesday night, I covered the 20^th District candidates for the West Hartford News, one of the papers we run out of our office.

After a quick stop at one of the polling places around 8 p.m., I situated myself at a table in a private room at The Corner Pug in the Elmwood section of town, where the Democratic candidate who was slated to win was expected to meet and celebrate with his friends.

My Netbook with Verizon wireless access was set up, and I had my iPhone, regular cell phone and Nikon D3000 camera out on the table.

In addition to writing, Tweeting and Facebooking the 20^th District election for the weekly West Hartford News, which was going to print that same night, I was also in charge of posting news alerts and Tweets for the 13^th District Senate race and the 36^th District House seat so the Middletown Press staff could focus on getting the print paper out.

Next to me sat a reporter and photographer from a competing weekly newspaper. After polite introductions, we started discussing digital media and the changing newspaper industry. The reporter, who was only carrying a notebook and a Canon, said his paper doesn’t believe in putting the news on the web because it devalues the print content for the advertisers.

So while I posted my stories to the web, e-mailed the appropriate editors at the office, took video with my iPhone and e-mailed it from the phone directly to our new video platform Syndicaster, received texts from other reporters about the results of their races, then walked around the room with my Netbook to make sure I had people’s names spelled correctly, the other reporter feverishly scribbled notes on paper, snapped a couple of shots with his Canon and then told me he was heading home so he could write his story.

I spent an extra hour at The Corner Pug making sure the video had uploaded correctly and was embedded in the story, then updating the story with more information as the winning candidate had granted me a longer interview after the immediate frenzy had calmed down.

When I was ready to head out, I sent a text message to a friend saying, “You were right. Joe Verrengia won the election.” She wrote back, “I know, I already saw it on your website.”

I packed up the technology and drove home.

Here were some of the most watched videos on www.middletownpress.com from Feb. 14 to Feb. 20:
DEMOLITION DAY

FIRE ON WASHINGTON STREET

CROMWELL VS. MORGAN

Do you live in Middlesex County and have your own blog?

The Middletown Press is looking to partner with local bloggers. If you are interested in having your blog added to our local blog network, simply send an e-mail to editor@middletownpress.com with a link to your blog and a brief description of who you are and why you would like to participate.

Don't have a blog yet but interested in starting one? The Middletown Press staff can help you with this. Send us a note via e-mail (editor@middletownpress.com) explaining what you would like to blog about and a brief description of yourself. We will pick the top 5 ideas related to Middlesex County and help those five people get started with a new blog in the next couple of months.

The Middletown Press has a new publisher.

Matt DeRienzo, who has served as publisher of The Register Citizen and Foothills Media Group since February 2008, was named Central Connecticut Publisher for the Journal Register Company this week.

You can read more about the announcement here.

Matt has done some great things at The Register Citizen in Torrington, including creating a newsroom cafe, digitizing all newspaper archives and making them available to the public and taking a tough stand on comment moderation.

We are looking forward to working with him more closely here at The Middletown Press and expect many great things to happen in the months to come!

One year ago today, an explosion at the Kleen Energy plant on River Road shook the area.

Six men went to work that day like any other day, but they would never see their families again. More than 20 other people were injured and some spent weeks recovering. Some may never be able to return to work.

Barely five months on the job, I got a frantic call from a colleague who was visiting a friend in Portland around 11:30 a.m. "There's been some sort of explosion," she said. "It was really loud and it shook the ground."

I tracked down a freelancer who has a police scanner at home. "It's at the Kleen Energy plant," he said. "Multiple units at the scene and more coming. They fear many casualties."

Super Bowl Sunday was put on hold, I told my husband. "Order some pizza or something - I am going to work."

From the second I stepped into the office, the phones were ringing off the hook. News agencies from across the world were calling us - The Middletown Press - to find out what was going on. Sister publications called to see what support they could send our small paper, and we scrambled to find extra staff that could come in just to get the "regular" stuff taken care of - like paginating the weather page or typing obituaries. Somehow, those things seemed irrelevant, but they still had to get done.

The news of the blast went viral quickly since it was the largest explosion that had occurred to date at a natural gas plant. Up to 50 people were reported dead at one point, which was then brought down to 2 casualties, and later confirmed at five. A sixth victim died later in the hospital.

Getting any sort of real information - either at the scene or on the phone - was difficult, and the information we heard on the police scanner was scattered, at best. The entire River Road was shut off to secure the scene. Staging areas were set up. A no-fly zone was ordered. Press conferences were arranged.


Then the officials began coming to town: Rosa DeLauro, Chris Dodd, Joe Lieberman, and each wanted to issue a statement on this horrible tragedy.

While no official cause of the blast has been determined, it is believed to have happened because of a spark from an unknown source igniting gas during a gas buildup. The gas purge procedure has now been banned, the company has been cited by OSHA and numerous lawsuits have been filed by the victims and their families.

But the city has also come together to honor, remember and support the victim of the blast. A pub crawl raised money for the victims, and several thousand people came to a fundraiser last April at Middletown High School. In June, the Lions Den hosted a fundraiser at the XL Center in Hartford.

Of course, the money can never replace what was lost that day. So today, on the one-year anniversary of the blast, let's take a moment to remember the six workers who will never come back home.