When I entered the newspaper business in 1972, it was well established that to boost circulation, small papers put peoples' names and faces in their pages so their friends and relatives could see them. Today, in a new twist on an old idea, Facebook drives enormous Internet traffic by giving friends and relatives a convenient way to reach one another.

The Internet didn't exist in 1972 in anywhere near the form we know today. In the last 38 years, it has changed the media in many ways, but I still believe newspapers and other print media will continue to exist.

During my years as a reporter and editor, I've covered local government, the Salmon River wilderness debate, the Teton Dam flood, a legislature, special assignments, the military, and a murder trial. Years ago, I decided to try covering business, and I've never been sorry.

Business people work hard to keep current on events great and small and constantly weigh information about markets, products, trends, and management issues as they make crucial decisions. In a way, they are the real news junkies, though they don't seek to be seen as such. They try out their ideas in the marketplace of economics, and succeed or fail there.

Norm Thorpe and Scott Crytser succeeded when they started the Journal of Business in 1986, and were rewarded when they sold the paper in 1995. I'd known Norm earlier at The Spokesman-Review, and I still remember looking up at a lighted Journal of Business billboard in downtown Spokane a year or so after the Journal launched and thinking, "They're going to make it." Not long after, Norm called and asked me to join the Journal. The urge to be part of something new was irresistible.

At the Journal, we broke stories about Boeing Co. sizing up Spokane for a new plant, offers from Japan to buy Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Co.'s Trentwood Rolling Mill, the reopening of the Bunker Hill Mining Co., and how a memo retrieved from a mining company executive's wastebasket figured in the removal of high-ranking company executives.

That was all in my first few months. Later, we reported on the near demise, plan to save, and return to financial health of Avista Corp., and the crisis that struck Sterling Financial Corp. and its eventual recapitalization, including efforts by new President and CEO Greg Seibly to consult with old friends who were among the nation's most successful former bankers and now will help guide the company.

We chronicled the rejuvenation of downtown Spokane and the growth and eventual demise of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. Some stories about really small businesses have been just as dramatic: When a new entrepreneur puts his or her life savings on the line to start a small business, that's a risk worth reporting.

We've produced a lot of solid business coverage during my 23 years here, but one thing that has stood out is the strong interest in the paper by those who aren't in business. People from all walks of life have told us how much they like the Journal. That's a good feeling to me as I complete my final issue with the Journal.

At the end of my career, I'm troubled most by one thing: Our economic woes of the last three years didn't have to happen. Sub-prime loans? Collateralized debt obligations? Credit default swaps? Where was the sober judgment that we all possess? Where were the regulators?

Once again, the local scene is a big part of the story. The bursting of the mortgage bubble hurt many small businesses and ordinary Americans, adding to the pain from the downturn. Let's do better next time.

Thanks for reading.