Is it just me or are billboards becoming wordier?
 
And the longer it takes a driver to read everything on the board, some in small print, the greater the chance that driver will end up in in a wreck.

There's a lot of talk about how cell phones distract drivers. But billboards have been doing it for a lot longer.

And how many billboards do you pass wondering what the message really is and what the sponsor wants you to do about it?

That big billboard south bound on I-77 for years just said 'Goodyear.'

Certainly that was an easy message to understand. I have no idea what it's about now or who the sponsor is.

Too many words.

Driving along I-77, there's nothing quite as nice as seeing the hot flame shooting up from a blast furnace. 

And the smoke belching from the stacks. 

It means the mill is turning out steel.  And that's good for everyone here.

In a long career reporting news, the story of 11 deaths at a house on Imperial Avenue in Cleveland's southeast side is probably the most horrifying local story I've had to tell. 

Man's inhumanity leaves us confused and sickened. 

All we can do is hope that this is the bottom of the scum pond and offer prayers for those who died and their families.