 This 1983: Doomsday page is a Proposal.
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The Press Enterprise is the primary newspaper for the Commonwealth of Susquehanna, serving the entire nation.
This is a copy of the article released the day after Doomsday. It was written as reports came in over the news, and then information afterwards. It included a list of assume and confirmed targets in the USA. They did not print papers, but instead posted dozens of bulletins around Bloomsburg. This is the last surviving copy in the Bloomsburg Archives.
USSR LAUNCHES PREEMPTIVE NUCLEAR STRIKE ON THE USA
8:53 PM EDT; September 25th, 1983- Emmys cut off air to NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT. Reporter Chris Wallace tells the country that they will be cutting to the White House.
WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES EVACUATION OF PRESIDENT REAGAN AND HIS WIFE FROM NEW YORK CITY AHEAD OF PRESUMED STRIKES, MARTIAL LAW DECLARED
8:53 PM EST; September 25th, 1983- White House Press Secretary, Larry Speakes comes out to the podium. Reports that eight minutes ago the Soviet Union launched a nuclear strike on the USA.
8:54 PM EST; September 25th, 1983- Secretary Speakes announces that President Reagan, the First Lady and other government officials are being evacuated to Air Force One from New York City.
8:55 PM EST; September 25th, 1983- MARTIAL LAW DECLARED
8:56 PM EST; September 25th, 1983- Mass panic in the streets. Bloomsburg Police and the National Guard are attempting to calm people. Mayor declares martial law and troops move to defend government and stores from rioting and looting.
8:59 PM EST; September 25th, 1983- Speakes collapses from presumed heart attack.
9:00 PM EST; September 25th, 1983- Wallace gives last statement.
9:01 PM EST; September 25th, 1983- EBS takes over. WE ARE ON OUR OWN NOW.
9:05 PM EST; September 25th, 1983- Mayor of Bloomsburg tells people to 'remain calm, the situation will handle itself.'
BEGINNING OF THE END
EMP cuts off electricity, radios, TV's, cars, phones, and lights black out. Panicking people continue to flee west by foot.
One blast heard and seen from the direction of New York City.
More nuclear strikes detected in the vicinity of NYC. Philadelphia presumed destroyed after a blast detected from that general direction.
Mayor orders shelter in place. Soldiers and law enforcement going door to door, ensuring people are complying with it.
Two blast seen and felt from the direction of Scranton and Wilkes Barre. Government is ordered to 'prepare for refugees'.
Gas main in Bloomsburg toward the Susquehanna River explodes, leveling about 50 homes and killing dozens.
Tidal wave of water floods lower Bloomsburg, Mayor evacuates anything in the flood zone.
LIST OF KNOWN DESTROYED CITIES (By State)
- New York
- New York City (Multiple nuclear detonations caused minor ground tremors from the north east, Note: Confirmed by Ithaca and Birmingham)
- Pennsylvania
- Bethlehem (Unconfirmed, possible strike on Reading; Note: Confirmed by Reading)
- Erie (Unconfirmed scattered radio reports; Note: Confirmed by North Pennsylvania)
- Harrisburg (Note: Confirmed by Gettysburg)
- Philadelphia (Note: Confirmed by Reading and Delmarva)
- Pittsburgh (Note: Confirmed by North Pennsylvania and Virginia)
- Scranton/Wilkes Barre (Note: Confirmed by scout teams and overflight)
(It is presumed that the entire District of Columbia and most major cities were destroyed by Soviet nuclear strikes. A complete list of destroyed cities is unavailable, but as information comes in, we will add additional targets)
History
Publication
The Press Enterprise releases a paper five days a week (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday), except for holidays. The paper uses black and white coloring for the paper, due to the prohibitive cost of color ink. Most of the comics and puzzles are repeats, or made up by employees. It prints papers for the Hazleton based Standard-Speaker on Tuesday and Thursday, though the Press Enterprise is going to switch to a daily format on June 1st, 2016.
There are typically ten pages in each paper. The weekend papers have twelve to fourteen pages depending on the amount of news and comics, as well as the amount of ads for the paper that week.
Local/National News
The local news now makes up national news as well. There are six reporters who cover this section. All information focuses on specific news within Susquehanna and the communities within. Most of the paper consists of this type of news, with this being the easiest news to obtain. The first six pages make up the local/national news.
World News
World news is a relatively new section. It encompasses any information acquired from politicians, and reporters sent out. Most of this comes from State College, Reading, North Pennsylvania, Gettysburg, Niagara Falls, Vermont, or Canada. World news also covers resolutions by the United Communities and information from the League of Nations if shared by Canada and Vermont. There are five national news reporters, and they are assigned to various embassies Susquehanna operates in foreign nations, as well as one reporter assigned to the United Communities headquarters in Niagara Falls.
This section encompasses one page of the paper on most days. When there is not enough news to cover it, local/national news may fill the rest.
Comics
Comics fill up one full page of the paper. There are 12 comics that run each day. Most are new drawn by local artists, although there are a handful of pre-Doomsday reruns.
List of Comics
- Pre-Doomsday
- B.C.
- Family Circus
- Garfield
- Hagar the Horrible
- Peanuts
- Post-Doomsday
- After Hours (Satirizing downtown Hazleton at night)
- Clear Sky (Alien Invasion of the United States in a world where Doomsday never occurred)
- George (Satirizing a blue collar worker)
- My Dog Ate My Homework (Satirizing school)
- Running Out of Time (Hero trying to stop a second Doomsday from occurring in 2100, where Susquehanna controls all of the Susquehanna and Wyoming Valley)
- Susquehanna Justice League (A continuation of the Pre-Doomsday Justice League, following a group dedicated to protect Susquehanna)
- Why I left Scranton (Satirizing post Doomsday Susquehanna)
Classifieds
The classifieds are ads placed by people and businesses attempting to sell something. Each ad cost $1.00 plus 10% of the sale cost. The paper publishes 50 ads. This encompasses one page.
Puzzles
Puzzles are the last page in the newspaper. There are several types of puzzles run through each day. Two employees are the ones who create them and select which will run each day. They run criptoquips, crossword puzzles, sudoku, and word polygons.
Radio
The Press Enterprise purchased the radio station WALZ-1490 AM from the City of Hazleton on August 1st, 2014 when the city put it up for sale. It had been deemed impractical for the city to continue operating a radio station, when the nationally run Susquehanna Broadcasting Company had set up transmitters in the city. Also the city was strapped for cash due to the high usage of barter and the station was starting to have reliability issues due to ageing equipment.
The paper purchased the license, the building, and all the equipment for 5,000 US dollars. It was a substantial amount of cash and there was some trepidation over whether the news station would ever bring them in revenue. The station began operating with the same format as the city had run it, but there were plans to change the style of the station and rebrand it. The Press Enterprise closed the station for four months from March 12th, 2015 until June 28th of the same year. During that time it refurbished the transmission gear, had the studio remodeled, and trained additional staff as well as planned a rebranding effort.
When the radio station was brought back online, it was rebranded as WALZ, Hazleton Current Hits. It currently broadcasts in Wyoming and Sullivan County, while the Press Enterprise works on getting licensing for the rest of the nation.
Major News
2016
2015
June 2nd, 2015, 8:00PM EST: Election Results in, Lou Barletta Re-elected to a second term: Bloomsburg, Federal District- The citizens around the Commonwealth of Susquehanna went to the voting booths today to choose the national leaders who will decide the next five years of the nation's history. The Press Enterprise and Susquehanna Broadcasting Company covered the elections live from the General Assembly Building in Bloomsburg. Officials from the United Communities were in Bloomsburg, Danville, and Hazleton to oversee the elections and prevent voter fraud. The Republican Party was expected to win, which they did, capturing the Governorship by 4%, and 2,350 votes. In a surprise turn of events, the Libertarian Party did fairly well, winning 14% (8,225) votes, and Schuylkill County. Lou Barletta was reelected governor of the Commonwealth of Susquehanna. Overall, for the Senate and House elections, the Republican Party lost a single seat in the House, the Democrats lost a seat in the Senate, but picked one up in the House, and the Libertarians gained a seat in the Senate.
April 18th, 2015, 10:00AM EST: Hostages freed, four raiders in custody: Hazleton, Wyoming County- After tense negotiations through the night, the military and State Police agreed that the raiders would not surrender. Snipers were set up around the perimeter, and ambulances were brought in from as far as Bloomsburg.
The local government temporarily relocated to West Hazleton and released a statement saying: "We will not cow to the demands of these terrorists. Our affirmation in opposition of their attempts at regaining regional control is based in rock. No matter the outcome, we will not surrender."'
At 4:00 AM on the 18th, the Defense Forces took up positions around City Hall and breached the door. Two soldiers were shot in the chest with non-life threatening injuries, and the rest of the troops opened fire. Snipers outside picked off guards, and supported the soldiers.
After going room to room, the surviving raiders holed up in the council chambers armed to the teeth. They claimed to have rigged the building to explode, and one stated: "They would level the city as a statement to their authority."
The State Police began to evacuate surrounding homes, and the displaced citizens were taken to the Hazleton Area High School.
At dawn, a shipment of smoke and tear gas grenades arrived from Reading. The soldiers launched them into the room, them went in and freed the hostages as well as restraining the raiders.
Three civilians were injured in the rescue, one soldier was killed, two were wounded, and five raiders were killed. The other four were detained and taken to the Susquehanna Federal Prison in Danville.
All injured were treated at Geisinger in Danville.
April 17th, 2015, 1:00 PM EST: Raider attack on Hazleton: Hazleton, Wyoming County- Raiders launched an attack on City Hall in Hazleton yesterday. They were armed with assault rifles and handguns, and carried Molotov cocktails and homemade bombs. Sixteen raiders, dressed in civilians clothes walked into the building around 9 AM and opened fire on the security guard at the front desk, killing him. They proceeded to throw their firebombs and explosives in an attempt to destroy the building. The National Guard, Hazleton City Police, and the State Police quickly arrived on the scene, and cordoned off the area from civilian traffic. Local schools were locked down and officers checked office buildings in the downtown as well.
The Susquehanna Guard deployed ten soldiers and managed to rescue several employees and the mayor from the building. The city council was not in session at the time, luckily. Unfortunately, the raiders had taken several hostages and captured some firearms that were in the building. They demanded that Susquehanna withdraw its troops, arm the raiders, and surrender the city of Hazleton to them as a base.
Due to the threat, Bloomsburg was locked down as were the steel mills in Danville and the hospital.
The Military Police, State Police, and Hazleton City Police were all sent to the scene as well as to aid the Wyoming County Civilian Militia in locking down the roads to the city.
Danville deployed a medical unit, and several militia members to the city, using a city bus from Bloomsburg as well as an ambulance.
After attempting negotiations with the raiders failed, the military began to discuss another rescue attempt.
January 1st, 2015, 12:00 AM EST: Accession to the United Communities: Navy Island, Niagara Falls- At midnight, Susquehanna officially gained an honorary member seat in the United Communities. Governor Lou Barletta championed this as "The first step in regaining our position on the International stage." Canada had supported the nation's admission, as has the other Pennsylvanian survivor states, eager to gain another allied vote. Saeguney opposed it, pointing to Susquehanna's hostility to the nation.
2014
November 27th, 2014, 1:24 PM EST: Run for the Diamonds: Berwick, Columbia County- Today was the 76th Run for the Diamonds. It is the second time the event has been held since November of 1982. First Place overall received a ring with a piece of quartz cut to look like a diamond, and the other placements received glass diamonds. Canadian Robert Taylor won with a time of 48:31.72.
September 25, 2014, 12:00 Noon EST: National Commemoration of Doomsday: Bloomsburg, Columbia County- Today is the 31st Anniversary of Doomsday. The General Assembly held a moment of silence during a debate over the war going on. Schools around the nation held a moment of silence and prayer during the lunch break and bells tolled fifty times, one for each state in the United States. The governor released a statement saying- "Thirty-one years ago, the worst war humanity has seen threatened to wipe our race off the face of the earth. We need to work for peace and prosperity." He promised to push for membership in the United Communities, and seek an observer seat in the League of Nations.
The Commonwealth Party criticized the governor for his call to work for peace while waging war on the raiders. The chairman stated- "The governor calls for peace, while waging war in the east. He is a hypocrite and I call for the people to pick the party that will truly give us peace, the Commonwealth Party." Both the Republicans, the Democrats and the Unionists condemned the Commonwealth Party, pointing out that the USSR had been the one to start Doomsday.
September 12, 2014, 11:00 AM EST: Independence Day: Hazleton, Wyoming County- Governor Lou Barletta, Lieutenant Governor Paul Kanjorski, and Mayor Allen Vincent all spoke today at the city park in honor of Independence Day. Work was cancelled and children did not have school today as there were mass celebrations around the nation.
August 17, 2014, 2:30 PM EST: Susquehanna is sending a team to the 2018 Winter Olympics: Bloomsburg, Columbia County- Lieutenant Governor Paul Kanjorski announced to the press that Susquehanna will send two cross country skiers to the 2018 Olympics in Saint John's Canada. It will be the first time that the nation will participate in the Olympics as an independent nation. Jim Connelly and Zachary Nicholas will participate in the Olympics, with Joe Maddon serving as the coach. There will be nine people going all together, with a support team of six along with the coach and medical personnel.
July 4, 2014, 10:00 AM EST: Fourth of July celebrations begin: Bloomsburg, Columbia County- Parades occurred around the nation as people commemorated the formation of the United States. A telegraph was sent to Torrington, Wyoming in the United States, congratulating them on the birthday of the nation.
Small protests were held by CRUSA supporters who wanted to rejoin America. As usual, the governor released the same statement that he has made in the past, pointing to feasibility and logistics being the major roadblock.