BREAKING NEWS
PITTSBURGH - Henchmen believed to be associated with the leadership of both houses of the Pennsylvania state legislature kidnapped award winning Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Brian O'Neill early this morning, in apparent retaliation for O'Neill's crusade against the hefty pay increase that state lawmakers gave themselves, then decided to repeal yesterday in a bow to public pressure.
O'Neill's persistent harangues are widely credited with torpedoing the pay hike. Harrisburg insiders say that the kidnapping had broad support in both houses.
Post-Gazette writing guru Peter Leo issued a statement on behalf of the newspaper: "Although Brian is physically gone, the Post-Gazette is pleased that it will be able to run almost a full year's worth of columns that he wrote prior to his kidnapping. Unfortunately, all of those columns deal with the legislators' pay increase."
Reaction at the Post-Gazette otherwise was mixed. Sports writer Bob Smizik's column this morning is titled: "O'Neill had it coming; pay hike good for state."
