Qwest Communications bigwig Philip Anschutz is up to something -- and Fresno may be part of his master plan. Buried deep in Jack Shafer's Slate analysis of the megazillionaire and his upstart Examiner newspapers in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., is this little tidbit: Fresno is one of the 70 cities where Anschutz has filed a trademark application for the name "Examiner."

That's right, prepare yourselves for the Fresno Examiner.

With Anschutz's San Francisco Examiner now cleaning up its act after getting nearly run into the ground by the Fang family, and with his Washington Examiner now taking up space on upscale neighborhood porches, Shafer suggests Anschutz may be planning something much grander, much smarter, than throwing his money away on 70 local newspapers:

"As Anschutz builds his 6-percent-margin newspapers, he must realize that a business model already exists that delivers news and advertising more efficiently. Without looking like a shill for my bosses at the Washington Post Co., may I point to the washingtonpost.com and other online newspapers? No printing plants, no rolls of paper, and no delivery trucks -- just a whole lot of computers and people. You don't suppose that the newsprint Examiners are stalking horses for a nationwide network of Examiner Web sites, do you? It's no crazier a business proposition than Ted Turner's 24-hour news channel was in 1980.

So, what is the Fresno Bee doing to head off this potential online competition? Apparently, they are participating in cult-like rituals to simultaneously celebrate "casual Friday" and worship at the altar of Scoopy the Bee. Added bonus: Read in delight as Opus Bee members gripe about their photos being made public. (The Beehive editor will probably be banned from the next staff-wide honey-wrestling match, but we applaud him for his courage.)