August 28

Before you begin reading glimpse to the right and see a new poll. Please respond.
It’s over whose lede was worse about Murrieta’s hospital:
Mr Salmon’s – Residents near a proposed 46-acre full-service hospital campus near Interstate 215 can expect more noise and traffic. But the benefit of more hospital beds in the area and the introduction of nearly(It's official Mr. Salmon must be in debt to the word Near) 700 new jobs outweigh those problems, Murrieta officials said.
On Wednesday night, the Murrieta Planning Commission unanimously recommended to the City Council that it approve the environmental reports and plan changes to the proposed Physicians Hospital of Murrieta. Only the City Council can approve a change to a land-use plan.

Or Ms. Rodriguez’s – One Murrieta resident told planning commissioners Wednesday she couldn't wait for the day her commute to San Diego for specialty medical attention for her daughter is cut down to 10 minutes.
Another speaker said she wants more assurance that health care is readily available now that she's in her "bonus years." (what are bonus years)
A third said there's no question about the need for expanded hospital services in Southwest Riverside County.
So it was no surprise that light applause accompanied the Planning Commission's unanimous vote to approve(according to Salmon it was a recommendation not an approval) a conditional use permit and a tentative tract map for the construction of the proposed $256 million Physicians Hospital of Murrieta.

Now on to the games.

The PE
Yeah for Jennifer Bowles. Good story on water cops. I spend my days walking through my neighborhood shaking my head. Some gutters have had so much water algae is growing. Hey people don’t water your lawn at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. It defeats the purpose. Bowles stories tend to take complicated environmental issues and spell it out so people like me can understand it. Story of the day.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_watercop28.47b28b7.html
Good picture by Frank Bellino too.

The local centerpiece was surprisingly catchy and the story worked perfectly. The photo by Bellino of the painter is awesome. Check out Mr. Einstein peering over the shoulder and the paint that is on the wall appears to rising like a water fountain. While it’s not going to change my world I also get the paper for fun stories and plain good reads. This is one of them. And Ms. Bustamante knew what I wanted.
Kicks. Flying paintbrushes. Then, in minutes, finished portraits.
All good active words and great description. I kind of wanted to be there. And good idea to use the beats of Kanye West. You can just hear the song and operatic vibe.

The Cal
Cathy Redfern buried her lede three grafs into her story on the dangerous parking situation at Paloma Valley High School. Instead she led with this:
Paloma Valley High School seniors might be cramming for finals next year, but school officials have a fix in mind that will allow them to avoid cramming into the campus parking lot.
Reporting Tip #50 – please don’t use might in a lede. Seniors might be cramming. It also could read: Dinosaurs might be walking the earth. Or. Penguins might drive cars if they had opposable thumbs.
Reporting Tip #36 – Don’t refer to something that happens next year. Why right the story then? Cramming for finals next year. Well that immediately changes my frame of reference to think of next year and I think “Well I don’t have to care it’s next year.”
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/27/news/californian/menifee/zc84c0015c237cb20882574ac00669158.txt
I did like the photo of the two people on the motorcycle.

The editors get a win today for playing up the Ronald Reagan charter issue on the front page. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/27/news/californian/wildomar/z78b0bc3b40457891882574b200821138.txt
Did Bustamante totally miss this to cover a paint party? Nope. Her story was banished to the back of the local section. Since when did local stories end up there? Weird. So Rani Gupta and her editor get a pat on the back. Both stories sounded almost the same, which is fine. Sometimes you have to suck it up and keep it simple. Give me the news and give it fast. Don’t pretty it up with might haves, would haves.

Other Papers
The LA Times has taken a real hit with lay-offs. Today’s paper is boring.
The A-1 is nice and the simple illustration of Obama is simple yet stunning. The Local section puts me to sleep.

At the UT:
Put down that bag of chips, maggot, and give me 50!
Gen. James Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, didn't say those exact words when he issued a shape-up-or-ship-out message to all Marines, but he might as well have.
Craig Gustafson writes a semi-humorous take on a new call to make sure Marines are in fit shape. This article busts me up because a week earlier I saw a bumper sticker in San Diego that basically said he was still a marine just a little fatter than his other marines. That gave me a good chuckle. Now I’m not Mr. Universe and admit I have a love for the ice cream but these are Marines. Just like cops they need to be in shape.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080828/news_1n28marines.html

I found this column from Logan Jenkins well written and certainly interesting. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080828/news_1mc28jenkins.html
We might not have these problems at Temecula and Murrieta parks but I know of certain parks in Elsinore that have this feel. Just a nice slice of life type of column. I wish more of this work could go into actual news stories rather than columns. I think Gregor McGavin is the sole guy in the area to do this work. Too bad he writes about Riverside and San Bernardino.