August 29

The CAL
I have to be honest. It has been an extremely tough week for the Cal. I partially blame those useless candidate profiles because it takes time away from reporters to do actual news reporting.
The Local section was basically a follow up to everything the PE did earlier in the week.
Rani Gupta covered the fun painting guy. Ms. Bustamante from the PE easily outdid her. While Gupta paints a beautiful picture, it took 7 grafs to get to the point. After reading Gupta’s story I still don’t know why the district would pay for this guy to do his show? Can someone answer that? I believe I know but it’s never spelled out.
What gives the PE the easy win in the battle of the paint guy is Frank Bellino’s photo over Steve Thornton’s. Bellino’s picture popped then caused the reader to linger and stare at it. It was intriguing. Thornton’s is blurry and you brush right over it. He also has it cropped so there are what appears to be speakers hanging down over the MLK painting.
Link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/28/news/californian/murrieta/zdc6d7d1682d36491882574b300684314.txt
John Hall followed up Sarah Burge’s story about people pretending nurses to scam the elderly. While they did get beat on the story I take my hat off to the editors and Mr. Hall. It was a story that needed to be done and every reporter knows – to follow a story you have to suck up a lot of pride. Not shocking or beautiful prose but a much needed warning for the community.
Link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/28/news/californian/murrieta/zc06f8507b88fbb5b882574b300835e87.txt
The PE
I do not want to reap such praise upon the PE – but boy, oh boy are they having a helluva week.
Today’s A-1 has THE defining story on the ex-marine found not guilty by Sonja Bjelland. This reporter weaves in the appropriate amount of intricate details, color and backstory. She even talked to the police officer Jose Nazario has been staying with and painted a picture of what happened the night before as he had to wait for the verdict.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_News_Local_S_nazario29.448c9e5.html

Okay Okay I jumped the gun on today. The PE local for Friday is blah.
Aaron Burgin needs to take a step back or have his editors make him slow down. It’s constant meeting coverage and petty stuff that no more than 5 people in the city care about.
Voluntary green liens by a water district for foreclosed homes.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_E_sgreenlien29.49fca1c.html
Boring. He also uses the phrase “Green liens are a go.” A go—huh.
Mr. Burgin then proceeds to write a barn burning Mayor’s address story. Bore me once shame on you. Bore me twice – still shame on you.

Sarah Burge you dastardly devil of great stories and scoops. You got another one today.
She updates the Chad Huber case. This is the twat who killed a Winchester family, including a 4-year-old, then fled to Mexico. She uses court records to detail the night, the accident and what proceeded. http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_huber29.4768dbd.html

Carl Love’s column once again has a few nice lines in it about Menifee planning a city hood party.
A city that built a program around Halloween is not a place to be taken seriously, given how some people are already frightened by the prospect of higher taxes when towns incorporate. Trick or treat -- we just doubled your property taxes!
By comparison, Wildomar, a new city that started July 1, knows how to time things. Not only did it happen when school was out, but Wildomarians had July Fourth to connect to. Independence from the shackles of county government; that's a battle cry!
Funny stuff Mr. Love.
http://www.pe.com/columns/carllove/stories/PE_News_Local_S_slove29.47694c4.html

Other Papers
Terrible terrible tragedy in SD. I’m glad both the PE and the Cal put the story in their A-1s. People here really connect to the city and it was such a freak accident. Good reporting by the UT to uncover past violations.
Link:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080829/news_1n29collapse.html

The LA Times has a scary story about a serial killer who has come out of hiding to start work again.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-killer29-2008aug29,0,334507.story

Here is why people get the Times and why this paper still matters. This is why journalism will never die. I am still wiping away tears. The Column 1 stories are sometimes freaking unbelievable. This one is beautifully written and takes a different look at Obama’s speech and the convention.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-bertha29-2008aug29,0,2952712.story
I also love these Southern California Chronicle stories. So well written and it takes you directly to that neighborhood.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-outthere29-2008aug29,0,1431651.story
I could have done without the first sentence. Sometimes color is used solely for color. It does not advance the story but it does messes with the flow.

I'm still looking for someone to do the week-end reviews and Monday morning quarterbacking. It's too much work for me.

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.

August 27

Let's be honest tuesday was a boring day for all.

The Cal

I picked up the Cal and thought they had a scoop of the day when I saw Aaron Claverie's story about immigration protests. Then I read the story. I'm still trying to figure out what the point is. People get up and gripe at every Council meeting. Rather than continue to talk about this story I will highlight a little editing note. Here is his story text:
The protest followed marches and other types of demonstrations targeting City Hall and the city's police station that attempt to call attention to what the protesters contend is a crackdown on undocumented immigrants that is breaking up families.
Well Claverie it's a call to attention is the same as an attempt to call attention. In fact, by you writing the story you just got rid of the attempt word --you did give them attention. Oy Vey.
Link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/26/news/californian/lake_elsinore/zc0244b9d96e297cc882574b200142e12.txt

Nelsy Rodriguez did a profile on Warnie Enochs. I was waiting to see this. Wow. Shocked. There is no mention of his myriad of felonies until the 8th graf. Yep the 8th. She even talks about term limits before bringing up that he is charged with some pretty bad stuff. Then again this is typical of the Cal so it makes you wonder is it the reporter? Or the editors?
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/26/news/californian/murrieta/z4524989c9a54e20c882574ac00730238.txt

Catch up of the day award goes to John Hall as he follows Burge's story about another car arson to another political candidate's car. And he pegs the lede on Chris Hyland who just went out and had a panic room put in her house and had her cars towed by the police so they could be safe in the impound yard. Poor Ms. Hyland is, "scared. I'm really frightened for my life."
Thanks Mr. Hall for going this poor lady publicity now every person running for office is going to be calling the papers with claims of a fire torching boogeyman hiding under their neighbor's rusting Camaro. Or those candidates might start lighting their own cars on fire.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/26/news/californian/lake_elsinore/z9cb8ef69d30b1c42882574b2000763ce.txt

The PE
This paper had a lot of meeting coverage. An update on a freeway interchange and information about Cal State San Marcos in Temecula. I guess you could make the claim the stories provide information to readers. They still were kind of boring.

Julissa McKinnon did a story on Menifee working to get a public safety contract. Wasn't that spelled out in the cityhood finance reports? Those aren't varying much and the only new news I got was this shocker: The police cars will, "be emblazoned" with Menifee on them. Yep. Emblazoned. Hey maybe the Menifee police are torching them Elsinore cars. Why don't reporters turn down these stories to work on bigger picture more important stories? Don't ask me I'm just emblazoned with disbelief.

Sarah Burge follows up the story of the dog left to die with a follow up.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_yahoodog.12c4928.html

In more regional news, why was this John Asbury story buried in my paper: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_E_tooth27.4a45822.html
This story scares the hell out of me. I hate dentists. I hate teeth. I hate death. Now a report comes out detailing how this thing happened and includes a quote from a firefighter who was there and I have to sift through the paper to find it. Editor Error of the Day.

Paige Austin. Take a bow. Your coverage of the off-duty office shooting was good. The quotes near the end were amazing. The top of the story probably turned off a lot of readers because it's nothing new to anyone who follows a shooting. Of course agencies are investigating. That's not news. But the real life description from those who saw it was amazing.
Joe Varela, a salesman at the Seven Oaks Nursery, watched the incident unfold.
"A truck came into the parking lot at a high rate of speed with screeching tires, and I started to walk over there to tell him to slow down," Varela said.
But then the Hummer pulled into the parking lot and a man jumped out with a gun, Varela said.
"I didn't know he was a cop," Varela added. "(Mendez) kept telling him to get down on the ground two or three times, but he wouldn't listen. He just kept walking forward aggressively like he wanted to fight."
As the driver of the truck closed the distance, Mendez shot him in the chest at close range, Varela said.
"I didn't hear him identify himself and I didn't see his badge at all," Varela said. "At the time, he just seemed like some guy to me, but given the warnings, I don't know why the other guy didn't get down on the ground. It was obvious that the next thing that was going to happen was that he was going to get shot."
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_shoot27.496a623.html

That's good cop reporting there Paige Austin. Getting out of that seat and hitting the streets. An amazing string of quotes.

And the winner for today -- tied.

August 26

A little late but better than never.

The CAL
Not a strong front page.
But Aaron Claverie gets a scoop of the year for Wildomar opening a new City Hall. That is sarcasm folks. Who cares? Also, is Claverie went to the typical easy way out lede and is he going to use this line for every story:
"It's one more first for the city of Wildomar."
Future story: It’s one more first for Wildomar. The Clerk got a stapler.
It’s one more first for Wildomar. Wendy’s opened.
Link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/25/news/californian/wildomar/z55236e2395729949882574ac006ead3e.txt

Nelsy Rodriguez played catch up to The PE with her Ice Rink story. Give her credit, she did try to spin it with a lot of comments from the city. The comments from the city officials make them look like putz’s. Let the people build the arena. Let them fast track it. I did find the lede a bit dry and boring. To any future reporters out there, please never start a story with "Proponents". Could there be a more boring word in the English lexicon?
Link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/25/news/californian/murrieta/zd8c4f0ebb0624ff2882574b0007a06b1.txt

Cathy Redfern did a centerpiece story on a Menifee man who holds Civil War events. The PE’s Sean Nealon did this story quite a long time ago. The lede is too much and it takes to long to get to the point. And also when did it become okay to run a 2005 file photo as a centerpiece?

The PE
Why PE? Why stick Andy Dick on the Local cover again? I’m sure that story had the most reads because people care about this clown for some reason. But on to real stories.
Sarah Burge does it again. Super Reporter scoops the Cal on the fact that another political candidate in Elsinore had their vehicle torched. Is it the work of faulty wiring or have those amoebas in the lake climbed into engines? Harold Knapp tells us in what I find an amusing, but sad, quote: "It's obvious that it was a torch job," Knapp said.
Link: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_W_sarson26.488fad7.html

Photographer Terry Pierson got creative for the Centerpiece of the local section. He shoots a picture on Saturday of a car show. He gets a reflection of some souped up rides in the background with a dad and his two kids taking it in. Creative, artsy and cute. The story itself – I would rather the lede be less boring.
“Two groups”, might as well have said “Proponents”. How about painting a scene of what this car show is?
Link: http://www.pe.com/localnews/lakeelsinore/stories/PE_News_Local_S_scarshow26.4768ea9.html

I will also briefly mentioned Julia Glick’s story on the DA’s office getting a building of their own. Really? Is that needed? Oh I guess so since the department is such a nice money making machine.

Other Papers
Here is an interesting story (and my pick for story of the day) from the UT’s Sacramento bureau about lost fishing gear floating in the waters. I have never heard of Mike Gardener but the writing is tight through-out, the quotes are serviceable and it is something I never knew about. Kudos to you.
Great lede:
The state is preparing to launch a fishing expedition, but it's not angling for tuna, squid or flounder.
In this case, the catch is tons of fishing equipment lost or discarded in the ocean every season, posing serious danger to marine life.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080826/news_1n26fishgear.html


Ornell Soto did a story on a lawsuit involving Viejas. It’s basically a he said/she said pissing contest. What’s the need for this story? It seems like Soto thought maybe he could allude to a giant cover up by the Indian Reservation. But it’s pretty much boring. Blah.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080826/news_1m26viejas.html

The LA Times had a nice approach to the housing crisis with this story on low income families who are being affected even though they weren’t the greedy people who maxed out the equity on their home or bought a home they couldn’t afford:
Link: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-section26-2008aug26,0,3965437.story

Monday Morning Quarterbacking

In the IE it was an eventful weekend with a Perris fire at a home for disabled adults, a Temecula shooting and abduction, and a Perris Ultralight crash. So without further ado here is my look at the competing papers.

The PE
This weekend kind of showed us why the PE still is a pretty darn good paper. You had breaking news, great local stories that analyze facts, and great service stories. I can’t write about them all but here are some:

Thanks Duane Gang. As one of those people who got my property value lowered I had heard that I could get whiplashed on the way back. This answers my questions.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/murrieta/stories/PE_News_Local_S_taxes25.2bab324.html

Murrieta reporter Rocky Salmon has been around for awhile and he uses that knowledge for this story on what it means that Councilman Warnie Enochs is running again. http://www.pe.com/localnews/murrieta/stories/PE_News_Local_S_senochs24.48d8d90.html
The story does have some holes but mostly it answers that question of Why. Mr. Enochs answers it. We are still waiting Nelsy Rodriguez on a story about why this election is important. So far we have nothing at the Cal.

Aaron Burgin -Not a brilliant beautiful flowing article by Mr. Burgin about Elsinore campaign finance disclosure forms – but one that residents should find intriguing.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/lakeelsinore/stories/PE_News_Local_S_developer24.26835e7.html

Julie Farren reported a story about a surge of usage to public libraries. I have noticed this myself when I went to the Murrieta library to check out “An Idiots Guide to Blogging.” So the idea is good but the lede is confusing and completely unnecessary. There is no reason to introduce Wayne Disher so high when this is obviously a story about increase in library usage not layoffs and budget cuts. Good idea, bad result.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_library25.3d1c2be.html

I feel sorry for those who have to report on fires, murders, any of that junk on weekends. The PE had a lot to do. Starting with a fire at a home for disabled adults in Perris. It’s obvious Tammy McCoy really tried to follow it up but I don’t think there is much you can do on a Sunday. She tried to answer all the questions most of us had but I’m guessing a bigger look follow up is in the works. If there isn’t then I should be working at these papers as a freelance editor. Call me.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_fire25.451f6ad.html

Sarah Burge did her typical magic making sure important stories get into the paper. I could not find anything about this in The Cal, but this is a great public service piece on thieves posing as nurses to scam the elderly
http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_selder23.4a8fd6b.html
Someone remind the Cal. Papers are supposed to serve as a service to those who get them. If someone is ripping people off posing as nurses. That’s something people in the community need to know about.

John Asbury brought an interesting story about the stretch of freeways heading to vegas and Phoenix. As someone who has driven them both its nice to see him tie together a series of accidents for a take out piece. This is why people get papers. Tie everything together for us. I don’t want to work too hard when I’m eating my bagels (shout out to Brueggers Cinamon Sugar Bagels).

The CAL
This was not a stellar weekend for The Cal. Weekends, especially Mondays are tough for The Cal. When reporters are asked for stories everyday, which I feel must be the case at The Cal, it affects stories on the most important day of the week – Sundays. Both papers competed to get the Temecula abduction story in.

John Hunneman took the reigns – unfortunately. Just thought it lacked that special oomph. Also it was too long. John Hall would have done a much better job.

Hunneman also had a great idea for a story but it did not pan out well. The lede tried to be wayyy wayyy wayyy too cutesy. He tried to build suspense by not answering whether Temecula Valley made it to the World Series, instead he just ticked me off. Great idea though pegged to the Little League World Series. Let me know if you agree with me. I thought the story could have been way better for such great material. But it shows what having veteran reporters can do for a paper. I’m sure most reporters in the area didn’t even know Temecula existed 20 years ago.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/23/news/californian/temecula/zf293b3ab1e94eaed882574a3007307ba.txt

Honestly Hunneman wrote the only stories that stood out. Otherwise it was extremely painful. Also I am shocked there were no Murrieta or Wildomar city stories at all.

Other Papers:
Interesting little read about those stupid converter boxes for our televisions. Jonathan Sidener tells me about 34,000 are gonna be screwed when analog goes ghost.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/tech/20080825-9999-1n25digital.html

Also another foreclosure story: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080824/news_1n24repo.html
I would say good job but umm, hasn't this been going along far too long to be considered kind of a trend story. What's next a story talking about the rise in iPhones?

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080824/news_1m24brandon.html
Sad story about another child welfare system failing the children. The PE has done a few of these gems and this is one in SD is as heartbreaking. Thanks Government.

Weekends

Like many of you I have a weekend life so I usually will not post any paper updates on the weekends. Those will just get posted Monday mornings.
If someone is interested in writing those for me I would be willing to post those. I don't have the time on the weekends. Contact me.

As for Saturday Aug. 23, I have a problem with the Cal's election coverage. I hate these take out profiles on every single City Council and school district candidate. It's too much. It's overkill. It's silly and it makes the writer turn to gimmicks just to get a story out. The candidate coverage of the Wildomar election was intolerable. Who decided that these stories were needed? They aren't.
They answer no questions that people might have about the candidate. So Cal you get my Raspberry Award.

I would like to give Kudos to John Berry and those San Bernardino folks for their coverage of that horrible Bullwinkle trial.

Paul LaRocco does a tremendous job with all those SB murders. Here he writes a story on 40 Glocc -- who signed to G-Unit records. Not a bad rapper but he ain't Mozart -- that's if Mozart rapped.

See everyone Monday.

August 22

A rather boring day for papers if I don't say so myself. I will lead this post off looking at the UT.

The UT today has ANOTHER story about foreclosures and homes and they rose in July. Any person with a pair of eyes would have known those problems jumped up.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20080822-9999-1b22foreclos.html
How about all these reporters writing about the housing sky falling actually take some time to come up with a new and interesting angle. Emmett Pierce what does this information mean to me? I know foreclosures are taking place and home prices are dropping but what is new to me.

Oh also check out Kristina Davis' story about the man who was killed when a portion of Torrey Pines Bluff fell on him. As someone who has visited this area I always pondered if these cliffs gave way. Looks like they do and Davis is able to get behind the story of who this man was.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080822-9999-1m22torrey.html

Also a good analysis piece in the sports section by Kevin Acee about Shawne Merriman.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20080822-9999-1s22chargers.html
Knowing that news of the injury would be old when the paper got out, Acee rolled it all together in a nice comprehensive piece that helps readers understand how it all goes together.

And Now On to The PE and The Cal

The PE

ARTS PROGRAM The Local CP on an Arts Program in French Valley at Lisa J. Mails has a wonderful picture by photog Frank Bellino. Please compare it to the NCTimes CP. Steve Thornton for The Californian shows two kids playing with a potato with no emotion and no action.

Bellino has a 4-year-old with a maraca and her face is priceless. I always said graphics and photos were the most important part of a paper. Because of the photo I actually read Claudia Bustamate's piece: http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_sadopt22.4969c35.html
The lede itself could have been much clearer on what the story was about. But she ends up grabbing great color, voices and quotes. Overall, a better package than the Cal, but I will get to those Tubers later.

Columnist Carl Love wrote an interesting column. He talks about what most of us have experienced -- traffic gridlock. I nearly fell out of my seat laughing when i read this from his column:

The jerks are kids (I guess they haven't learned that courtesy applies to them), parents who should know better and even a school bus driver. One woman who almost rammed me as she cut in front last week sported Christian bumper stickers on her SUV. Can't you practice what you preach?

Those of use who deal with this traffic nonsense daily knows exactly his feelings. Great column. Good laughs.

Wildomar Finance Reporter Rocky Salmon really fell flat with his Wildomar budget story. A day after scooping the Cal on a story about a new hockey arena in Murrieta contract, he blows it here. I won't even link the story -- it will hurt you too much. Mr. Salmon typically does better than this but it appears as if he plopped something into the paper for the sake of filling space. The question that needs to be answered is how the loss of a Wal-Mart and the upcoming reassessment of homes is coming. Mr. Salmon typically includes regular people in his stories. He choked big time here.

Story of the Day The PE does get story of the day. That award goes to Alicia Robinson and Sonja Bjelland for this gem:

http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_W_corson22.49b34dd.html

Its everything news should be. It takes a look back at an issue that came about in 2005 when these men had their property cleaned up. Man was that property filled with junk. It pits city issues with the issues of these men. The quotes and the color is priceless. The lede also flows. The pictures are superb. Good job ladies. I tip my Internet hat.

This description paints a beautiful picture from the PE story. The Jack Daniels hat tells you who Corson is without spelling it:

Paul Corson, with a Jack Daniels ball cap on his head and a bushy mustache on his weathered face, said a structural engineer said the house was fine.
They're still unhappy that the sheep and geese they kept on the property were taken, and they said some of David's gardening equipment was hauled away in the cleanup.
They want to build a house like the one that was knocked down, they said, but even the rocks their parents originally used from the property to build the fireplace are no longer there.

The CAL

Ugh the Californian did not have a good day. Not even average. I could say the Cal existed today. Nicole Sack's A1 story on the quarry was necessary but not thrilling. It was needed.

But the local section. Ouch.

Tubers Like I said earlier a CP on potato olympics is really stretching it. Thats B-3 material.

Rani Gupta tries to lighten it up: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/21/news/californian/lake_elsinore/z28fbcde7f708308d882574ab0072eed9.txt

The "Killer hashed browns" line is actually pretty darn funny. But come on its a bunch of potatos. What has the newspaper world come to when this qualifies as CP news.

Then again it's not like there was much competition.

Corky Jennifer Kabbany does a story on a former "Silver Spoons" actor doing a workshop in Canyon Lake. Really. That's all you have. At least his name rules -- Corky Pigeon. And who was he in the show. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/21/news/californian/lake_elsinore/zd2ffc908daf2d801882574ab0077ca48.txt

Please also take note of Steve Thornton's photos. The one of Corky holding the People's magazine is so bad its great. And the Tuber Olympics. I know it's not much to work with but Bellino showed Thornton how to do it.

The Winner of Today

The PE

August 21

This is how this will work. I will highlight stories covering southwest Riverside County through sections including the PE and the Californian. When the LA Times and/or the UT have something interesting pertaining to our area or something so good or ridiculously bad I will highlight that too.

The Press-Enterprise
The A1 -- Surprisingly a nice strong front page. A great story on a shoe repair business in Riverside. There is one in Temecula and these are the types of stories that need to be done on a more regular basis. Gregor McGavin writes this beauty... McGavin typically can find these slice of life stories. They make great reads and are what is lacking in this paper. Here is the link
http://www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_News_Local_S_shoerepair21.4033fe1.html

Julia Glick also does a great piece on companies trying to take advantage of the tax reassessment business. This is a good example of spinning a story forward. The Cal's Nelsy Rodriguez recently wrote a story about tax reassessment and how people were getting theirs and discovering errors. She quoted one person and didn't mention that people got their tax reassessments at the beginning of July. An example of not how to spin the story.. See Glick's piece here:
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_assess21.415835b.html

The PE Local:
Lake Elsinore Panhandling Example of what new age journalism has done to the craft. A good editor would sit down with Reporter Aaron Burgin and say this lacks the most important voice -- the panhandlers. How can you write a story about a panhandler ordinance without talking to those affected? Instead it's obvious that Mr. Burgin heard about this in a meeting or from a source and made several calls and wrote it up. There was no color. No real human in it. This is NOT a good example of local journalism. The lede is boring. The writing is boring. All because it lacks that emotional pop.
LINK: http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_shandler21.475bcb6.html

Dog is killed in Car Whenever I see a Sarah Burge story in print I perk up. She has a great understanding of how to take official and sometimes complex issues and making them hit home. She knows how to tell a story that makes you want to read more. In this case, she writes about a woman who had her car stolen, with her doggy inside. When she asked to have Verizon ping her cell phone location she was brushed off. The doggy died. She uses the story to get into the process of authorities using cell companies to locate cell phones. Educational and emotional. The only issue...the story was downplayed at the bottom of the page. Should have been A1 bright or at the top where Burgin's story was.
Link: www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_News_Local_S_dog21.3109719.html


The CAL
The cops/courts reporter John Hall gets a great story about a 15-year-old who died from a fight. The sheriff's haven't made an arrest and they don't sound like the don't care much. It's a heartbreaking story that is a great Get by Hall....too bad the lede is terrible. The lede is too long and was done solely to show a newspeg. Nope the story is this girl and her family. And the lede needs to reflect that. Brush up on the lede writing but otherwise good story:
Link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/20/news/californian/temecula/z6430f7595a56e2b3882574ac0004078b.txt

The Cal beat the PE again...this time with a story about an investigation or an audit and missing money and a mystery cheer adviser getting fired. Ugh. What happened here? The story is a great Get for the Cal by Cathy Redfern but there are so many unanswered questions and the story is confusing and has too much code talk. The worst part is not listing the cheer adviser who was sent packing or really spelling out what happened. It sounds like political infighting to me. Obviously the former adviser wanted the Paloma cheer team to enter competitions similar to the ones in Bring It On. Which means more money for more competition. Some parents got mad. Didn't want to pay. So if the audit shows missing money or misused funds why isn't the DA's office involved. All questions that should have been answered.
Link: www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/20/news/californian/menifee/z2b442845d8c348ae882574a4007ed303.txt