Shortly I'll be on the road to Buffalo to catch a flight to New York City.

While I'm gone, breaking news will be covered by Billie and WBTA.

I return Sunday.

In NYC, I'll be the guest of the New York Times and New York University for an event called the "Hyperlocal Conclave."

"Hyperlocal" is this made-up word that all of the news industry uses now without really understanding what it means to describe news sites like The Batavian. I think what we do is just good, old-fashioned -- the way newspapers used to do it -- local journalism. But it's such a radical concept -- to concentrate coverage on just one community, even though it's very old school, that the industry had to give a name to the business model.

The Batavian is unique among "hyperlocal" news sites in that it actually makes money -- not a lot, but we keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. There's only a handful of other sites in the United States that can make the same claim. So, when these conferences come up, I periodically get invited to talk about how and why we can get sponsorships from, say, more than 100 local businesses.

Obviously, I'm proud what what we've done with The Batavian and continue to be grateful for the support of the community, readers and advertisers. Thank you.

While in NYC, my short stay will be concentrated in the area around NYU, which I think is Greenwich Village/Soho -- an area of the city that I've never seen much of before.