Word comes today of a January 9 legislative hearing on Governor Carcieri's global Medicaid waiver, which he bills as a big money-saver for the state.

It's end of year time, so let's take a look back at what I helped produce for you, dear reader, in 2008:

-- More than 1200 posts, give or take, on this here blog.

-- Fifty or so Tjis.

-- Thirty features, most of them a good 2500 words or more in length. Here's a look-see at some of them.

In January, I told you how Patrick Lynch was off and running for governor in 2010.

One of the more interesting things to arrive in the N4N mailbag of late was several issues of Tales of Rocky Point Park, Pawtucket-based artist Jason Mayoh's comic book about the dear departed amusement park. These make for a good read, for Rocky Point and comic book fans alike.

These works by Mayoh, 29, can be purchased at local retailers, including the Time Capsule, Incredible Pulp, and Wild Time Comics, as well as Benny’s, Borders, and Newbury Comics, and via his Web site, talesofrockypointpark.

My colleague Adam Reilly has a rundown of his top 30:

Granted, other years have had flashier media embarrassments (Jayson Blair, Stephen Glass, a complacent press cheerily abetting the march to war in Iraq — that sort of thing). But that doesn't mean that 2008 lacked for media misdeeds. Quite the contrary! In fact — thanks, perhaps, to the combination of a) the presidential race, and b) the ongoing immolation of the nation's newspaper industry — there was a veritable cornucopia of media low points to enjoy in the bygone year.

From NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley:

What: Town Hall Meeting to create a community-based economic stimulus package

When: Tuesday December 30, 2008

Event begins at 6:00 pm

Where: Chaplin Perez Community Center, 37 Center St. Woonsocket, RI

Details: We all know that tough times are here.

As we get ready to kiss 2008 goodbye, reporters aren't the only ones facing a shrinking job market. Get a load of this recent listing from Slate:

Before we get too weepy about lost journalistic jobs and folded publications, let's ask how often reporters lamented the decline of other industries, products, and services swamped by Rossetto's digital typhoon.

Although staff cuts have delayed, if not killed, "In Her Shoes," the ProJo's women's initiative, women-centric Web cites are increasing in number and prominence, reports Women's Wear Daily (h/t Romo).

Though most of the media is retrenching under economic pressures, the Internet still remains a potential growth area, thanks to its relatively low start-up costs and immediate delivery to consumers.

There's not uncommonly a link between a down economy and a rise in violent crime, so the streetworkers based at the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence in Providence have their work cut out for them -- more so than usual.

Appropriately, Ed Fitzpatrick took up the streetworkers and their efforts in a column on Christmas:

The New York Times continues its strong Rhode Island-based reporting on immigration, using a lengthy front-pager today to highlight the meager returns generated by the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility for its host community of Central Falls, and how the privately managed prison functions as a cog in incarceration's answer to the war on drugs

Ryan Stewart tells us why in the new Phoenix:

Even if we weren't aware that Obama collects Spider-Man comics or that, upon meeting Leonard Nimoy for the first time, gave him the Vulcan hand signal, there was still a clear "one of us" vibe emanating from Obama, a vibe at odds with his charismatic rock-star image.

As we now know, Pat Crowley is taking on the reins at RI's Future from Matt Jerzyk. I talked with these two for a Q+A in this week's Phoenix:

Jerzyk's choice of a successor (for undisclosed terms) makes good sense, on a number of levels. The two men share a common grounding in community- and union-organizing. They are unapologetic liberals who each have a good nose for real news (Crowley has demonstrated this, for example, with posts, which received subsequent ProJo attention, about how Governor Carcieri and his wife owed back taxes on a vacation property, and about how a putative new reform group, TransformRI, was linked to Carcieri supporters).

There were points this year when it felt as if the Sox needed another big bat in their lineup. Considering that, Mark Teixeria seemed like a perfect target, the kind of player around whom the offense could be built for years to come. Now, of course, he's a Yankee.

The immediate reaction to this development yesterday afternoon was one of bewilderment.

I recap 2008 in this week's Phoenix:

For a good metaphor of the year experienced by Rhode Island in 2008, consider the economic-development summit called by Governor Carcieri in November.

On the surface, the notion of seeking fresh thinking about the Ocean State's deteriorating economy was eminently reasonable.