Seeing red

Sam Zell has, indeed, bought Tribune Co. Shareholders still have to accept the deal, but: “If Tribune decides to accept another buyout offer before its shareholders approve the deal, the company will have to pay Zell a $25 million breakup fee.” (Why hasn’t anyone else thought of a break-up fee?) Part of the deal means Tribune Co. will sell the Cubs. RedEye (also owned by Tribune) speculates who might be interested.

The Sun-Times re-design technically launches tomorrow, but thanks to an inside source, here’s the video the publisher did. I don’t like the new logo … it doesn’t seem to give dominance to “Chicago” (which is bigger but gray) or the name of the paper (which is reversed on red). Everyone is using pipes in dates now. I love the time-stamped briefs in the P.M. edition. (That seems more effective online, though.)

There was a shooting at the CNN Center in Atlanta. CNN was all over it (although ABC News was first to send out a breaking-news alert.) and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wasn’t far behind. But AJC was smart — under their headline, they asked:
• Blog: Were you a witness?
• Send your photos from scene

ODDS & ENDS
• I was part of a design shout-out from Josh Awtry — part of the all-Smith dream team. Unfortunately, Ernie Smith was part of it, too.
• MSNBC.com has a new logo and tagline: A Fuller spectrum of news.” The NewsStream screen saver is interesting, although I’m hoping they work out some kinks (it’s still a beta). There will also be a game, NewsBreaker.
• Want to go to Dublin? Google has directions, but take your swimsuit.
• Story of the day: A coyote in the Loop.