Cole Gets Full-time Cartoon Job at 'The Scranton (Pa.) Times'

By: Dave Astor In a rare editorial cartoonist hiring, John Cole will join The Scranton (Pa.) Times on April 11.

Cole was with The Herald-Sun in Durham, N.C., until January, when the Paxton Media Group axed the cartoonist and about 80 other people (E&P Online, Jan. 7). At the time, Cole's wife was almost due with the couple's second child.

"Given the dwindling number of staff cartoonists around the country, it would be an understatement to say I feel very fortunate to land a paying job doing what I love," Cole told E&P.

Cole succeeds Dennis Draughon, who left The Scranton Times last summer after 15 years (E&P Online, Aug. 31). The paper called Draughon's departure a resignation, but did not say whether it was voluntary or not. Draughon's politics were more liberal than Cole's.