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April 2007 - Posts

Sunday, April 29, 2007 12:40 PM

Helping Children

The Spokane Spokesman-Review deserves a round of applause for devoting itself throughout April to highlighting child abuse and neglect in its community. The Spokesman-Review's "Our Kids: Our Business" project starts with JoNel Aleccia's "Confronting
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Friday, April 27, 2007 7:43 AM

Murder Mystery

Jon Wells of The Hamilton Spectator is one of our best writers of crime stories. In his latest masterful series, "To the Grave," he describes the police hunt for the killer of young women in Ontario, Canada. Wells writes in a novelistic style, backing
posted by jonmarshall | 2 Comments
Thursday, April 26, 2007 8:30 AM

When Mom and Dad Go to Jail

Yesterday's "News Gems" featured a story from The Orange County Register profiling a 21-year-old man raising his sister's three children while she is in jail and battling drug addiction. Today I want to highlight two small but wonderful Chicago publications
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 8:30 AM

Two Princes and a Princess

After all the bloodshed in the news lately, I want to focus today on a couple of stories that warmed my heart. "'Dad' Pulls Double Duty" by Gwendolyn Driscoll of The Orange County Register profiles Joseph Democko, a 21-year-old janitor who valiantly
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 8:30 AM

Underground Time Bombs

I've seen a couple of great stories from California newspapers this weekend about land problems. In "Wastes of War," Russell Carollo of The Sacramento Bee details how active and abandoned military bases covering an area more than twice
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Sunday, April 22, 2007 12:56 PM

The Way to Class

Dan Barry is a writer to admire. His "This Land" series for The New York Times is always a great read as he chronicles day-to-day life in America's hidden corners. This Sunday he tops his usual standard of excellence with "Planning a Path through Life
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:12 PM

Exit Strategy

Producer Marcela Gaviria and correspondent Martin Smith of PBS' Frontline spent two months embedded with American forces to learn what is actually happening with the $15 billion effort to train 300,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, a centerpiece
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 7:21 PM

A Police Chase and Taxing Times

I've seen two great stories this week in the St. Petersburg Times. "A Chase, an Outcry, then Shots in the Dark" by Thomas Lake and Molly Moorhead is the kind of brilliant narrative that the Times regularly offers. Lake and Moorhead weave together
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 8:29 AM

Virginia Tech Coverage

Monday's shootings at Virginia Tech severely tested the skills of reporters. Officials were slow to release information, and rumors were flying right and left. While journalists from around the world came to Blacksburg, I was especially impressed
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, April 17, 2007 8:30 AM

Homecomings

I saw three interesting and well-written stories in the Sunday papers about how different Americans are coping, or not coping, with the aftermath of serving in Iraq. In "Broken Warrior," Carol Smith of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer writes about Rob
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Monday, April 16, 2007 8:30 AM

A Roll of the Dice

Whether inmates are executed is largely a matter of political chance, Dan Horn reveals in Sunday's Cincinnati Enquirer. For "The Politics of Life and Death," Horn investigated death penalty cases in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Friday, April 13, 2007 7:30 AM

Heat Wave

As I shiver through a Chicago spring that resembles winter, it's hard for me to imagine how hot it got in California last summer, how terribly, deadly hot. But with her terrific story, "Silent Inferno," in the spring edition of Stanford
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Thursday, April 12, 2007 9:00 AM

Take the Money and Run

Are charter schools a good or bad idea? Vicki McClure and Mary Shanklin of the Orlando Sentinel move beyond the heated rhetoric to take a hard look at how Florida's more than 300 charter schools are actually performing. In their brilliant four-part
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, April 11, 2007 8:30 AM

Fired up over Firings

Some of the best reporting on the Bush administration's controversial firings of U.S. attorneys has come from bloggers Paul Kiel and Justin Rood of Talking Points Memo. If you scroll to the bottom of Talking Point's Memo special "TPM Muckraker" site
posted by jonmarshall | 1 Comments
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 8:30 AM

Wasted on the Way

If you have a serious accident, you'll want the people responding to your emergency to be functioning at their best. But what if they're drunk or stoned? Andrew McIntosh of The Sacramento Bee reveals in "Some Rescuers Pose Threat" that increasing
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Monday, April 09, 2007 1:46 AM

The Street Musician is a Star

What happens when a world-renowned musician, who a critic says "does nothing less than tell human beings why they bother to live," plays his violin in a subway station? Will anyone stop to listen to this man, whose concerts can cost more than $100
posted by jonmarshall | 1 Comments
Friday, April 06, 2007 12:45 PM

A Long Night's Journey into Hell

Most courtroom stories are organized in a standard inverted pyramid, putting the most important news at the top and letting the information dwindle to the least interesting stuff at the bottom. Peter H. King of the Los Angeles Times tries a
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Thursday, April 05, 2007 12:02 AM

The Friends We Left Behind

George Packer has remained one of the best chroniclers of the war in Iraq since the U.S. invasion four years ago. In last week's New Yorker, he demonstrates the depth of his reporting skills with "Betrayed." It tells the story of the Iraqis
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, April 04, 2007 9:00 AM

The Musician and the Governor

Sally Jacobs of The Boston Globe gives us a rare glimpse into the emotional life of a powerful politician with her profile of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. "Pat's Boy" explores the turbulent relationship between Patrick and his father, Pat
posted by jonmarshall | 2 Comments
Tuesday, April 03, 2007 12:00 PM

Down and out in the Public Library

I don't usually feature personal essays on News Gems, but I'm making an exception for Chip Ward, whose "What they didn't teach us in library school" does a splendid job of reporting on the plight of America's homeless who seek shelter in public
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, April 03, 2007 9:15 AM

The Friends Left Behind

For the last four years, George Packer has been one of the best chroniclers of the war in Iraq. In The New Yorker last week, Packer offers a penetrating look at the shattered optimism of Iraqis who dared to help Americans following the 2003 overthrow
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Monday, April 02, 2007 8:30 AM

Uninsured

Nicole Foy of the San Antonio Express-News does a tremendous job of humanizing the plight of the 46 million Americans without medical insurance. Her two-part "Life, Death and the Bottom Line" tells the story of Bonnie Terry, who devoted her career to
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments