WTF is with the ff's, WW?

I've been reading Willamette Week exclusively on line these days. Sadly, I don't get out any more to places that carry the hard copy. But I'm not missing anything, in that the pdf-like version they have on their website shows you, page for page, what the paper version looks like. At least, I assume they still print some on actual paper.

One thing I've noticed lately is that whenever the letters "ff" are supposed to appear, the online version just drops them, and the next character too.

I'm sure it's unintentional, but it adds to the weird vibrations they invariably surround Betsy Johnson with. They could call her an "independent," but that might identify her with the Independent Party, and she isn't a member of that party. (Also, it might sound too positive.) So "una   liated" it is.

Does anybody know what's going on here? They've lost their "ff's," FFS!