Now it's the end of November and there is no Quad to be found. A recent check of the website now says "October, 2001 - Start-up delayed pending litigation. Stay tuned. This will be interesting." It sure will be, especially since there's no word about what that litigation might be about -- nobody's even seen an issue of the Quad.

Although it no longer says so on the website, back in June when the N-G article appeared, the Quad said it would be "pro-Chief." Maybe the Quad's backers thought better of proclaiming such alliances?

Part of what's interesting about the Quad is the relative mystery of who is behind it. The June N-G article didn't offer any information, nor any guesses. But back in May when one of our IMCistas noticed the site I did a bit of searching through the 'net and determined that the most likely suspect is Dennis Toeppen, who has owned the Suburban Express bus service and the Net66 ISP. Click here to see this message thread.

Another eagle-eyed IMCista noted that Toeppen had quite a few troubles with disgruntled students who used his Suburban Express service -- something the DI provided quite a bit of coverage for. Is it possible that some of the Quad's legal problems stem from this?

So, as the year comes to a close, there is only one new newspaper in town, and that is the U-C IMC's public i, which shows no signs of going away. Is there room for yet another newspaper in Champaign-Urbana? I think there sure could be, but not if it just retreads the same territory as the News-Gazzette and DI. Who needs more AP wire stories and inane reports on U of I sports?

Heck, I'd love to see a few more newspapers doing original reporting and pursuing stories that our two main newspapers seem allergic to. It's really too bad that there is no local competition for the type of reporting the public i is trying to do. We need more ideas and voices, not fewer.

Is that what you're planning, Mr. Toeppen?