Weekend Wrap Up

Nice weekend to pick up your local newspaper
Let’s start with the PE, which does better regional news than local news on the weekends.
First off – Kudos to Leslie Berkman who writes the most important article of the region and one that other papers have been too ditzy to do. It’s about house cheaters. These are the people who buy homes although they own a home, so they can get a newer home at a cheaper price. Then they let that first home go into foreclosure. There is also another scam using relatives to buy a short sale home then handing over the deed to the original owner. Amazing stuff. She has people and realtors saying they understand and that they are just taking advantage of the market. This cop who is doing this should be fired. It’s illegal and it’s cheaters like this who got us into the foreclosure crisis in the first place because it seems the motto continues to be: everyone else is doing it why can’t I.
http://www.pe.com/business/local/stories/PE_News_Local_S_cheaters31.45b183a.html

Tammy McCoy sifted through some court documents to come up with another nugget of information on this alleged Murrieta murderer.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_E_jarka02.49205d9.html
Do these murderers not watch Law & Order? I don’t see how people can still back this guy. As the French would say “He is as guilty as sin.” Wait. He is allegedly as guilty as sin.

Gail Wesson covers an issue I find interesting – those animal hoarders. I can never get enough stories of reporters trying to describe what the reasoning is behind hoarding. I still would have like Ms. Wesson to interview that cat throwing lady from The Simpsons. That would also make great video.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_W_hoarding02.4920b45.html

Aaron Burgin redeemed himself a bit. Anytime you can get dwarves in the lede you got yourself a reader. Nice to see what out of the box ideas candidates are doing for publicity.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/lakeelsinore/stories/PE_News_Local_S_playdate30.476a1f2.html

There were some other good stories but alas there are too many to jot down.
Saturday was a great day for the PE in beating the CAL. Julissa McKinnon had a great centerpiece of dogs in Menifee. Jeff Horseman broke news that a power plant is being proposed near French Valley.

The CAL
John Hall wrote an interesting story about Murrieta residents helping out with foreclosed lawns. The real question I have is why is John Hall doing this? http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/30/news/californian/murrieta/z64ef6febb449abf8882574b4000727e7.txt

The Cal also did a story about summer season. It made for a nice photo even though a story wasn’t needed with it.

Please don’t get me started on the Cal’s Cyberbullying press release. First off, this issue is as old as camera phones so why continue to harp on it. Second off, this little package makes for a nice spread advertisement for the cyberalert software. I wonder how much cut the paper gets for subscriptions to this software? What went through the minds of the editors to think that this really was a good idea. Because it’s not. It makes newspapers seem biased and unprofessional.
Thanks for the black eye on the industry. I won’t even link the stories because the Web Site doesn’t deserve the hits.

Let us now play a game called compare two simple stories from Cal Reporter Nelsy Rodriguez to one from PE reporter Rocky Salmon.
This is a story basically on a report to City Council about three initiatives to limit spending and term limits. It’s amazing how these two come up with differing points on what’s the most important issue.
The Cal’s Lede (rest of the story is here)
A city-commissioned report on the possible effects of three initiatives that have qualified to go before the public for a vote indicated that one ordinance would put the city at a great disadvantage to employ qualified staff members and another could prevent lower-income residents from running for office.
The report, produced by Management Partners Inc., a San Jose consulting firm, will be the focus of a discussion at Tuesday's City Council meeting. After the three initiatives qualified for a public vote by receiving more than 3,700 signatures of Murrieta registered voters, the council voted to spend nearly $22,000 on the report before deciding how to proceed with the initiatives.

I am not a fan of big words. And Nelsy’s story is littered with words and phrases that she should have been changed to her own voice: “market share”, “it would not be a financially sound practice to base a salary or compensation package on an arbitrary income that fluctuates with the market,” Electorate, “Cap”…it goes on and on. Tip to reporters. Use your own words please because we are simple-minded readers who didn’t become lawyers for a reason.

The PE’s story is here
The lede is: Two initiatives aimed at limiting pay for Murrieta City Council members and higher-ranking city officials are littered with enough legal problems that, if they passed, could end up in court, the city attorney said.
On Tuesday night, the City Council will decide whether to adopt three initiatives without an election or send all three to a November 2010 general election. Council members had voted for further studies by city staff and a legal consultant after questions were raised about the legality of two of the initiatives.
The legal concerns were raised in a city attorney's letter and a consultant's study of the three initiatives.

Which story do you like better? While Mr. Salmon’s story was much more terrible than Ms. Rodriguez’s last week I’m giving the leg up to Mr. Salmon. The story is way shorter, complex words and legalese have been taken out and paraphrased and the first graf actually tells me why I care. Because those initiatives if passed would cost us taxpayers more money in more court fees.
That’s not saying Mr. Salmon’s story was the cream of the crop or Pulitzer material. But it’s definitely the lesser of two evils.

The UT
Why run this story about cities cutting services? Isn’t Tanya Mannes a little behind the 8-ball here? This information came out months ago and to run it now is silly. Way to be about 10 months behind your news Mannes.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080902-9999-1m2sales.html

Good take on the lights that appear during concerts. And by lights I mean Pineapple Express.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080901-9999-1m1weed.html?imw=Y&lid=mostpopular