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August 2007 - Posts

Friday, August 31, 2007 7:15 AM

Storm Pictures

Last August, News Gems featured a photo essay Brenda Ann Kenneally created for the New York Times Magazine showing how families have fared after Hurricane Katrina's devastation. Kenneally continues her fantastic work focusing on Katrina's aftermath with
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Thursday, August 30, 2007 8:30 AM

The Story of a Gun

How do crooks get their hands on guns so easily? Mario Quadracci explores the answer in his brilliant story "Revolver" in Milwaukee Magazine. Quadracci probes the epidemic of gun murders in America's cities by tracing how one gun made the passage
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Wednesday, August 29, 2007 1:45 PM

Hurricane Katrina Revisited

Journalists from around the country are giving us a spate of stories covering the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The most comprehensive coverage I've seen comes from the combined efforts of Time, Essence, People, Sports Illustrated and other
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Tuesday, August 28, 2007 8:25 AM

Hospital Costs

Yesterday I featured a great multimedia project from the St. Petersburg Times that lets readers weigh the evidence in a murder case. Today I want to highlight a terrific graphic idea from the Times' rivals at the Tampa Tribune. "A Bill of Health
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Monday, August 27, 2007 8:30 AM

Did He Really Do It?

In Sunday's St. Petersburg Times, Meg Laughlin and Don Morris explore whether Leo Schofield really murdered his wife, Michelle, in 1987. Their intriguing story, "Doubt," describes the Schofield's stormy marriage, Michelle's disappearance one
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Friday, August 24, 2007 7:15 AM

One Boy's Dream

I love stories about heroes, kids and baseball. All three of these themes come together in the thrilling "Alec's At Bat" by Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press (this is the second week in a row that I've featured one of his
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Thursday, August 23, 2007 8:30 AM

Egyptian Nights

It's a rare story that takes the time to give us a strong sense of place. "Cairo's Bridge of Dreams" by Jeffrey Fleishman of the Los Angeles Times does so wonderfully. Fleishman takes us to the Qasr el Nil Bridge in the heart of the Egyptian capital,
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007 7:20 AM

Credit Squeeze

John Gittelsohn and Ronald Campbell of The Orange County Register have done a great job of localizing the national crisis over foreclosures and risky loans that has rocked the housing market and Wall Street. In "One Street's Subprime Struggle," Campbell
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Monday, August 20, 2007 1:14 PM

Friends and Lovers

Joann Klimkiewicz has a beautiful story in Sunday's Hartford Courant about a couple who thrive together despite, or possibly because of, their physical disabilities. In "Her Eyes, His Hands," Klimkiewicz describes the budding romance between
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Monday, August 20, 2007 8:20 AM

Two Sides to Every Teen

How can a teen be so charming on the outside and so full of turmoil on the inside? Douglas McGray explores this question in the wonderful radio story "Mr. Successful," which aired on Chicago Public Radio's "This American Life." McGray
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Friday, August 17, 2007 12:35 PM

Virtual Love

Alexandra Alter of The Wall Street Journal dives deeply into the world of fantasy relationships with her "Is This Man Cheating on his Wife?" Alter explores the real and pretend marriages of Ric Hoogestraat, a Phoenix man who is one of the 30
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Thursday, August 16, 2007 8:15 AM

From Boys to Men

What happens to a team of 12- and 13-year-old football champs once the boys become adults? In the excellent "Tackling Life," Jocelyn Wiener of The Sacramento Bee tells us by following the lives of 31 out of 35 members of the 1992 Raiders Junior
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Wednesday, August 15, 2007 10:00 AM

The Contractors

Steve Fainaru of The Washington Post has been doing tremendous reporting this spring and summer on the more than 20,000 private security contractors who are supplementing U.S. troops in Iraq. His "Private Armies" stories have investigated a
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Tuesday, August 14, 2007 7:00 AM

Searching for Mom

Last week the Detroit Free Press ran a terrific series by Jeff Seidel about a Louisiana woman who went searching for her mother, who disappeared mysteriously more than 18 years ago. Seidel's "Mothers and Children, Lost and Found" uses a narrative
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Monday, August 13, 2007 8:20 AM

Minor League Life

I confess to a weakness for baseball stories, and this one from the The Boston Globe is a beaut. "Gabe's Game" by Charles P. Pierce profiles former major leaguer Gabe Kapler as he adjusts to life as manager of the Greenville Drive
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Friday, August 10, 2007 8:00 AM

The Most Difficult Baseball Season

The start of the baseball season is a time of joy and hope for most baseball teams. But for the players and coaches of the Bluffton University squad, this spring was a time of pain and doubt. After all, five of their players had died just five weeks earlier
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Thursday, August 09, 2007 8:00 AM

Sharing Children

The Los Angeles Times ran a fascinating story Monday and Tuesday about the open adoption movement. In "A Pioneer in an Experiment Called Open Adoption," reporter Sonia Nazario tells the story of Kendall McArthur, her birth mother and her adoptive
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Wednesday, August 08, 2007 8:30 AM

Dying Wishes

Brian Voerding of the Winona (Minnesota) Daily News demonstrates how powerful narrative writing can be with his lovely "A Year to Live." Voerding takes us through the last months in the life of Norene Oppriecht, a 65-year-old mother who
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Tuesday, August 07, 2007 7:40 AM

The Angry Judge

Alfred Lubrano of The Philadelphia Inquirer has written a thrilling profile of Shannen Rossmiller, a former Montana municipal judge who has dedicated her life to hunting down terrorists. In "An Unexpected Patriot," Lubrano describes how Rossmiller
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Monday, August 06, 2007 8:00 AM

Unprotecting Our Troops

Peter Eisler, Blake Morrison and Tom Vanden Brook of USA Today have written a tremendous story on steps the Pentagon could have taken to better protect its troops. In "Pentagon Balked at Pleas for Safer Vehicles," Eisler, Morrison and Vanden Brook's write
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Friday, August 03, 2007 12:28 AM

Disaster Coverage

The Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press have distinguished themselves with their coverage of Wednesday's collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi. In addition to giving quick news updates on its Web site, the Pioneer
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Thursday, August 02, 2007 9:15 AM

Wildlife

The always fascinating Media Storm Web site is featuring two great multimedia stories on wildlife. In "Ivory Wars," conservationist J. Michael Fay and National Geographic photographer Michael Nichols go to Zakouma National Park in Chad
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Wednesday, August 01, 2007 8:30 AM

Wounded Cops

For an exciting read, check out "Officer Down!" by Wendy Thomas Russell of the Long Beach Press-Telegram. "Part One" of Thomas Russell's story describes how two police officers, one a rookie and one a nine-year veteran of the force, tried
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