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Friday, August 29, 2008 5:51 AM

The Courageous Kid

It's not often that we feature stories about funerals on News Gems, but Mike White's "Funeral for a Teen Whose Bravery Touched So Many" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette grabbed my heart. White does an amazing job of using simple words to richly describe the
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008 6:11 AM

Two Fighters

I like columnists who go out of their way to do their own original reporting. Few do it better than the Los Angeles Times' Steve Lopez, who has a knack for finding compelling stories in places far from the corridors of power. For this column
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Thursday, August 07, 2008 5:46 AM

Death of a Runner

Lucas Sang was a hero to his neighbors near the Kenyan city of Eldoret, an Olympic runner known for his kindness and generosity. Yet when ethnic fighting engulfed Kenya after its tainted elections last December, Sang chose to lead a rampaging mob
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Thursday, July 03, 2008 6:04 AM

Olympic Dreams

NPR is running some inspiring stories about athletes who hope to compete in this summer's Olympics. "Olympic Profiles: Bound for Beijing" stories describing the Iraqi sprinter who dodges sniper fire as she trains, a shot-putter
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Tuesday, July 01, 2008 6:04 AM

Scenes From a Recovery

Bill Reiter, sports reporter at The Kansas City Star, visited storm-ravaged Iowa to report on the recovery efforts. The result, "Iowans Are Reclaiming Their Lives and Their Sports," uses scenes from Des Moines, Parkersburg, West Des Moines, Ames, Waterloo
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Tuesday, May 06, 2008 10:02 PM

Throwing Their Dreams Away

To protect pitchers' arms, major-league managers usually restrict the number of pitches they can throw in a single game. But, as Tom Wyrwich of the Seattle Times shows in "Former High School Pitcher Hopes Rules Are Changed to Protect Young Arms," high
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Sunday, May 04, 2008 6:34 PM

Flames on Planes

Reporter Phil Williams of WTVF Channel 5 in Nashville used the Freedom of Information Act to do an investigative story of national significance. Williams obtain Federal Aviation Administration videos and reports indicating that two kinds of wiring commonly
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Friday, April 04, 2008 8:00 AM

Winning Pictures

The National Press Photographers Association has finished its 2008 competition, and the winners show us the best of photojournalism on the Web. John Moore of Getty Images captured first place in the still photo category for a portfolio showing the causes
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Thursday, April 03, 2008 8:30 AM

When Daddy Goes to War

In "Bedtime Stories for Catherine," Wright Thompson of ESPN.com offers us a haunting portrait of Matthew Conley, a high school quarterback from Alabama who joined the Marines, went to Iraq and didn't come back alive. Thompson shares Conley's
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Tuesday, March 04, 2008 8:30 AM

The Boxer

Richard Hoffer of Sports Illustrated proves he is one of the best sportswriters around with an amazing profile of middleweight boxing champion Kelly Pavlik. Hoffer's "Forged to Fight" weaves Pavlik's story with that of his hometown, Youngstown, Ohio,
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Monday, February 11, 2008 8:30 AM

Should Sports Writers Blow the Whistle?

Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry of the Seattle Times have written an outstanding series, "Victory and Ruins," on the troubled University of Washington football team that won the Rose Bowl in 2001: An unprecedented look behind the scenes — based largely
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Thursday, January 17, 2008 8:30 AM

Song of Grace

Bill Reiter of The Kansas City Star has written a lovely article, "Virginia Tech Band Replies to a Terrible Day With a Song of Beauty," on how the school's marching band responded to last spring's shootings in which band member Ryan Clark was killed.
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Wednesday, January 16, 2008 8:30 AM

The Death of a Basketball Player

Wright Thompson of ESPN has written a powerful narrative about a former college basketball star who disappears into the wilds of Brazil. "The Last Days of Tony Harris" follows Harris as he plays his last days for a Brazilian team and runs from
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Wednesday, January 02, 2008 8:30 AM

Best Gems of 2007

When we sat down to create the Top 10 News Gems of 2007, we ended up with an initial list of more than 40 favorite stories. We had a hard time deciding among the many outstanding examples of journalism from magazines, broadcast outlets, Web sites and
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Friday, December 14, 2007 8:30 AM

A Fragile Strength

In "Autistic Powerlifter's Quest," Rex W. Huppke of the Chicago Tribune does a fine job in maintaining dramatic tension to the very end of this moving narrative. The story follows Jamie Smith, 24, as he prepares to compete at the Special Olympics World
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