New Sun-Times section embraces Mind & Body

New Sun-Times section embraces Mind & Body

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Dr. Laura Berman

In the first product expansion of the Chicago Sun-Times since its corporate ownership changed hands, a new weekly section focusing on health, nutrition, fitness and beauty will debut Wednesday.‚ The premiere edition of Mind & Body will be a 12-page tabloid-size pullout, targeted to all readers regardless of age or gender, according to its editors.

In addition to copy written by staffers and local free-lancers, the section will feature a familiar lineup of columnists, including Dr. Laura Berman, whose sex advice column had been running in the Sun-Times until last February, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Michael Roizen, whose Q & A column previously ran on Thursdays, and Chicago personal trainer Cornell McClellan, whose clients include President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

Overseeing Mind & Body is deputy features editor Sue Ontiveros, a 25-year veteran of the Sun-Times and former food editor. She’ll also continue to oversee Easy, the weekly lifestyle section which runs on Thursdays. Of the new venture, Ontiveros said:

“I truly believe that eating well and getting daily exercise is the formula needed to live a long and healthy life, so I am quite excited to be heading up this section. Mind & Body is a natural for me. While the food editor, I wrote extensively about nutrition and promoted eating well, so I am happy that this will be an area Mind & Body will cover.”

Elsewhere on the media beat:

  • From the White House to Chicago’s city rooms, tributes poured in Monday lauding Carlos Hernandez Gomez, the widely admired political reporter who died Sunday after a battle with cancer. None were more touching than those from friends and colleagues at Chicago Public Radio, where he worked before joining Tribune Co.-owned CLTV in 2005. He is survived by his wife, Randi Belisomo Hernandez, a reporter for Trib-owned WGN-Channel 9. A great newsman and a great guy, Carlos was only 36.‚ His wake will be from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Drake & Son Funeral Home,“¨5303 N. Western Ave. His funeral mass will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at St. John Cantius Catholic Church, “¨825 N. Carpenter St.
  • Dozens of Chicago broadcast outlets and other media organizations are teaming up on a daylong fundraising event Thursday called “Chicago Helps Haiti Relief Drive.” From 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., public service announcements will direct donors to call the Chicago branch of the American Red Cross at (877) 565-5000. Lincolnshire-based Hewitt Associates will staff phone banks with employee volunteers.
  • John Coleman, the former Chicago weatherman who provided comic relief to ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7’s “Eyewitness News” in the 1970s, is on a crusade to discredit the science surrounding global warming. Among other things, he’s accusing NASA of manipulating climate data. It’s all contained in an astonishing five-part series he reported for KUSI-TV in San Diego, where he’s employed as chief meteorologist.
  • There’s an interesting footnote on the official bio of veteran newsman Charlie Meyerson, news director of Tribune Co.-owned news/talk WGN-AM (720): “Disclaimer: Charlie’s wife, Pamela McLean Meyerson, is running for judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County in the Feb. 2, 2010, Democratic primary.”