By BILL KOVARIK AND KEN WARD

The 18th annual SEJ conference in Roanoke, Va., Oct. 15- 19, hosted by Virginia Tech, is shaping up to be one of the most memorable and practical yet.

• Memorable, because of the extraordinary speakers, the beautiful location, and the easy access to fun networking events.

• Practical, for you as a journalist, because of the wide variety of craft sessions in fully equipped computer labs focused on helping you survive and thrive in a changing news business.

 Here are some of the details:

By BILL DAWSON

 "Doing more with less."

The phrase is now often lampooned as a preposterous cliché, but newspaper executives must have thought at first that it was an artful way to spin the bad news of escalating staff cuts.

Publisher Joe Pepe of The Commercial Appeal, for example, used the words when he announced in late 2005 that the Memphis newspaper would slash its workforce of 774 by 170 employees.

SEJ member Janet Pelley writes about her experience with EC scientists, policy and a press 'minder' at the recent Central Canadian Symposium on Water Quality Research.

Results of EPA's 2008 "National Dialogue" to develop an "Information Access Strategy" are now online.

Don't miss our earlybird rate! SEJ members who register by August 10 for SEJ's 11th Annual Conference (October 17-21, 2001, Portland, OR) pay only $145.

The deepening standoff between the White House and Congressional investigators over access to information about how the Bush-Cheney administration formed its energy plan may start coming to a head Sept. 6, 2001.

Visit http://www.sej.org [18] today and every day for SEJ's all-new information service designed and run by SEJ members.

In the wake of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism is likely to continue to impact all beats, including the environment beat.

News media across the country will again be undertaking open-government projects in 2009. The Sunshine Week website offers you ideas on stories you could dig out of hard-to-see public records.

A Jan/Feb 2009 Columbia Journalism Review article enumerates many kinds of information the Bush administration veiled with secrecy; argues that disclosure is essential for democracy, yet the harm will not be easily undone.