A couple of significant local news stories are attracting lots of comments from readers on fresnobeehive.com:

• As Mike Oz notes above, it's over for Gottschalks. A liquidator won the bidding for the bankrupt company's assets. It's the lead story in Tuesday's paper.
• The killing of a 23-year-old man in a confrontation with Fresno police early Saturday morning has sparked numerous comments. (Here's the first day story that ran Sunday; here's the second day story from Monday; here's a Tuesday morning update on the autopsy report.)

I find myself drawn to these kinds of comment strings. I guess I'm fascinated by the general tone of the remarks, and while I realize it's a very unscientific way to assess the mood of a community, it is a glimpse of the zeitgeist of a moment. In the case of the police shooting, some of the remarks are written in haste, poorly argued or just plain bizarre. It amazes me how many people are willing to pass definitive judgment -- either pro- or anti-police, say -- on an exceedingly complex incident that hasn't yet been thoroughly investigated. (More than 150 comments have been made so far about the police shooting.) Others are more measured -- wondering, for example, why this police shooting is generating so much publicity when others are virtually ignored. (Could it be that the dead man was white?, some ask.) In the case of Gottschalks, some people seem to care less that a 104-year-old Fresno mainstay will cease to exist, while others have sympathy for employees. (And anger toward management.)

One thing is clear: There's no shortage of opinions, and in this instant-feedback society of ours, it's a lot easier to keep track of them.