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October 2006 - Posts

Tuesday, October 31, 2006 9:00 AM

Today's Slaves

They work as camel racers, prostitutes, servants and field hands. They are some of the estimated 1.2 million children forced into indentured servitude around the world every year, and Sharon LaFraniere chronicles their plight in Sunday's New York Times
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Monday, October 30, 2006 8:15 AM

The Scoop on Poop

I don't usually laugh when I hear about environmental degradation, but John Ryan's "As the Sound Churns" series on KUOW "Puget Sound Public Radio" in Seattle left me giggling. Ryan manages the trick of combining great descriptive and explanatory
posted by jonmarshall | 1 Comments
Thursday, October 26, 2006 7:05 PM

The Sex Offender at Your Door

Last May and June, Rebecca Aguilar of KDFW Fox 4 News in Dallas reported that the U.S. Postal Service had registered sex offenders on its payroll, some of them delivering mail door to door. Until Aguilar informed them, Postal Service officials had no
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 26, 2006 8:45 AM

17 and All Alone

One day Jerrick Blue's aunt went to the store and never returned. And with that, 17-year-old Jerrick was all alone with no family to help him and no place to call his own. In "One Thin Thread," Brady Dennis of the St. Petersburg Times tells the story
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, October 24, 2006 8:45 AM

Protecting a Predator

Ken Armstrong and Justin Mayo of The Seattle Times continue to come up with amazing stories in their "Your Courts, Their Secrets" series. On Sunday, they reported a doozy: the courts and a local school district have worked together to keep hush-hush an
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Monday, October 23, 2006 9:00 AM

News Cornucopia

Is Los Angeles Times Editor Dean Baquet a magician? Despite the efforts of Tribune Company executives to turn the financial screws on the Times, Baquet and his staff consistently turn out some of the most interesting news packages in the nation. Consider
posted by jonmarshall | 2 Comments
Friday, October 20, 2006 8:15 AM

Most Dangerous Job in America

No one uncovers City Hall scandals as often as the Chicago Sun-Times. Thursday the reporting team of Tim Novak and Art Golab revealed another beaut: patronage workers for Chicago's city government claim injuries at a rate far exceeding any other occupation.
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 19, 2006 8:30 AM

Life of the Poet

G. Wayne Miller of the Providence Journal has crafted a stunning profile that reads like a novella. "The Growing Season" tells the story of Frank Beazley, who endured a childhood living in an orphanage ruled by harsh nuns and working on a farm with an
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, October 18, 2006 8:30 AM

Garden State Trifecta

I've seen some interesting stories recently in small and mid-sized New Jersey newspapers. For example Bob Ivry of The Record in northern Jersey has a winner with "Challenges for Adults with Autism." Ivry examines how many of the services available to
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Monday, October 16, 2006 5:28 PM

Too Busy for Himself

Darryl Fears of the Washington Post does a brilliant job of personalizing an important, disturbing trend in "His Last, Best Cause." Fears explores why African-American men suffer in disproportionate numbers from cancer, lung disease, heart disease, hypertension,
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Saturday, October 14, 2006 7:06 PM

Don't Drink the Water

Reporter Matt Hanley of The Beacon News in Aurora, Ill., has taken on one of the state's Goliaths. His "Did Bad Water Make Nicor Workers Sick?" investigates whether faulty plumbing in the giant gas company's local facility made many of its workers desperately
posted by jonmarshall | 3 Comments
Friday, October 13, 2006 8:30 AM

Young, Gifted and Broke

The weekly Creative Loafing in Atlanta has a terrific story by Alyssa Abkowitz describing how "Generation Me" is marching into adulthood with a strong sense of entitlement and heavy debts. Abkowitz's "Their Cost to Bear" details how the average college
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 12, 2006 9:00 AM

Whale of a Story

I've read some great profiles, but never before have I seen one about a killer orca. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is running a wonderful series this week by M.L. Lyke that follows the life of one of these massive mammals. Lyke's "Granny's Struggle"
posted by jonmarshall | 1 Comments
Wednesday, October 11, 2006 9:00 AM

$2.5 Million Mosquito Bite

I've been collecting some gems lately from The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. Last month Jean P. Fisher wrote about Jerry Ansley, a Carolina man who suffered acute viral encephalitis after a mosquito bit him and who ended up needing medicine that cost
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 11:00 AM

View from a Ghost House

In September, News Gems rejoiced in the release of Chicago Tribune reporter Paul Salopek, along with his translator Suleiman Abakar Moussa and driver Idriss Abdulrahman Anu, more than a month after their arrest in Sudan on trumped-up charges. Salopek
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Thursday, October 05, 2006 5:40 PM

Disorder in the Court

I've seen a couple of great reporting jobs recently from the Empire State. William Glaberson and Jo Craven McGinty of The New York Times had a great story last week showing how New York's 1,250 town and village courts are often havens of judicial incompetence.
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, October 04, 2006 7:17 PM

Osama's Friends

PBS Frontline correspondent Martin Smith has produced a superb documentary that shows us the area where Osama bin Laden may be hiding and where Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies are regaining strength. Smith's "Return of the Taliban" takes us to the lawless
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, October 04, 2006 12:54 AM

Parent Abuse

In "Teen Trouble," The Cleveland Plain Dealer explores the growing phenomenon of adolescents being charged with domestic violence for abusing their parents. Rachel Dissell's main story looks at the data that shows more teens ending up in detention centers
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, October 03, 2006 11:00 AM

When Your Life is on the Line

Reporters in Iraq constantly confront life-or-death decisions. Time Magazine senior correspondent Michael Weisskopf faced such a choice when riding through the streets of Baghdad one night with American soldiers in an open humvee. Last week's cover story,
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Sunday, October 01, 2006 3:40 PM

Special Favors

Too few journalists are assigned to dig into the goings-on in state governments, but James Salzer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution struck gold when he did. His "3 Minutes, One Tax Bill, $100,000 for Perdue" in Sunday's paper reveals that in the waning
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments