One of the reasons I’m such a social outcast (well, OK, one of the many reasons) is because of my smug insistence on following Associated Press style. So, yes, I’m the one in the newsroom who wanders over to a younger reporter (and, yes, they’re all younger) to say something like: “You know, AP style says ‘shortchange’ is one word.’”

My faith in AP style has been shaken over the years. And we still have occasional debates in the newsroom about style rules that seem vague. (This could be because newsrooms are filled with social outcasts, but there’s no need to get into that just now.) But I have shrugged off more than a few lost debates and the occasional AP style rule revision (“Over” is now acceptable for “more than”? We now use the percent sign instead of the word “percent”?) to maintain my faith. 

Now, though? AP style gurus recently visited the annual conference of ACES: The Society for Editing, where they frequently unveil new changes in the Stylebook, and dropped these bombshells:

Health care is now “healthcare.”

Day care is now “daycare.” 

Child care is now “childcare.” (Well, I guess if you’re giving up the fight, it might as well be a total surrender.)

Is our economy so fragile that we can no longer afford the spaces that used to nobly separate these words? 

And, besides, those particular words don’t even look right together – “healthcare” in particular. 

Worst of all, according to a Poynter accounting of the session at the ACES conference: Many of the editors cheered the changes. One wrote: “Am I the only one who saw this and excitedly burst into the next room to tell my partner that ‘healthcare’ is finally one word?”

Probably not. This is part of the reason why I fear for the future of journalism. 

And I fear for the future of the language – not to mention the future of all the spaces between words thatmakethewrittenwordeasiertounderstand. Where will all those laid-off spaces now find meaningful employment?

Elsewhere in the journalism world: 

David Hoffman, the Florida billionaire who is the new chairman of Lee Enterprises (the owner of the Gazette-Times and the Democrat-Herald), says the newspaper chain is adding reporters in a few of its markets. Hoffman joined Lee’s quarterly earnings call this week for the first time since he acquired a majority stake in the company, and said Lee was undergoing a “decisive transformation.” Lee has trimmed corporate overhead, he said, and while it’s still losing money ($1.7 million in its second quarter), that’s better than the $12 million it lost during the same period last year. (Lee’s fiscal year begins in October.) Lee is advertising for a new reporter for the Gazette-Times, but it’s unclear if this is part of Hoffman’s initiative. Also, I’m told that the new reporter’s beat will be: Corvallis. Not the City Council. Not the courts. Not the county. Just Corvallis. There should be plenty of interesting news stories in, well, Corvallis. 

Four months after FBI agents searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, seizing her iPhone, Garmin watch and other devices, she (and other Post reporters) won a Pulitzer Prize for their work to uncover the extent of cutbacks to the federal government. The New York Times, to its credit, has this profile of the hard-charging Natanson. 

Speaking of cutbacks to the federal government: That hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship is not just another reason to avoid cruise ships. Infectious disease experts tell The Associated Press that the very limited response from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a warning about how the cuts have sapped the ability of the agency to respond to more widespread outbreaks that might occur outside the confines of cruise ships – like, perhaps, in the United States.

One more story this week about federal cuts: This week, a federal court overturned the administration’s cancellation of grants that had already been awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The ruling could restore more than 1,400 grants totaling more than $100 million, but the administration could appeal. The Atlantic has the details. 

The latest battle over free speech in the United States? It’s all about “The View,” The New York Times reports. 

Oregon already has experienced at least one wildfire this year that triggered evacuation warnings, and a prescribed fire southeast of Bend got out of hand this week and now is a 2,800-acre wildfire. (It’s bad news whenever that happens, especially considering what a valuable tool prescribed burns are in managing forests.) We’re not even midway through May. State and federal officials this week warned that this year’s wildfire season could be – well, let me quote Gov. Tina Kotek here – “challenging.” Alex Baumhardt covered a fire briefing this week with state officials for the Oregon Capital Chronicle. (A related note: If you’re not yet familiar with the WatchDuty wildfire app, check it out – and, if you’re interested, consider donating to the effort.) 

The Oregon Legislature’s top budget writers met this week with a room full of advocates for more school funding – and the discussion quickly turned heated, Julia Silverman reports for The Oregonian/OregonLive. This is one of those stories where a number of different things are true: For example, school districts throughout the state are suffering big financial shortfalls that only became more pronounced once districts burned through their federal COVID relief money. It also is true that the state is facing big financial challenges of its own as the federal government backs away from social service programs such as Medicaid and food assistance. And it also is true – as one of the legislators present had the gall to point out – that Oregon has invested more in its public schools but has seen little in the way of improvement in academic outcomes. 

The chair of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission is calling for a federal hotline that features this automated recording: “There is no separation of church and state.” The Associated Press has this story about other initiatives being pushed by the commission, which is chaired by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. 

Comedy films are an endangered species at your neighborhood multiplex. Jake Coyle of The Associated Press lists his top 10 comedies from the last decade, and it’s telling that at least four of his picks had very limited, if any, theatrical release. (Of course, his No. 1 choice, “Barbie,” picked up a buck or two or a billion at the box office.) I would have added last year’s reboot of “The Naked Gun” with Liam Neeson and “Splitsville” to the list. 

Here is the kind of story that you expect Your Weekend Reader to unearth for your pleasure: You can visit the Oregon Donkey Sanctuary in Oregon City, but not until October at the earliest. It’s pretty much fully booked through 2026. Turns out that many people enjoy spending time in the company of these stubborn but sweet critters. The sanctuary has plans to expand.

An astrophysicist is unimpressed with the recent government release of the so-called “alien files,” documents purportedly about the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial encounters. His plea, published in The Atlantic: Show me a spaceship – or, in the alternative, one of those alien corpses. 

If you need an actual extraterrestrial encounter, check out this stunning new image from the James Webb Space Telescope.  

That’s it for this weekend. Let’s gather here next week to discuss our favorite entries from the AP Stylebook. Hello? Hello? Anyone there? This always happens.