We know that newspapers -- though more people are reading their content than ever (many on the internet) -- are no longer the sole gatekeepers of information for most Americans.

"You can stand by the gate if you want," said Howard Weaver, McClatchy's news VP on Friday , "but you're going to look pretty silly because the fence is down."

He and other newspaper executives from several companies spoke on the future of news at the North Carolina Press Association conference.

Read it by clicking . . .

=> Read more!

Read this, from the Washington Supreme Court's opinion in Cheryl Miller v. Tacoma, a case similar to the issue involving the Tacoma school board (previous post).

[HN10] The statutory definition of "final action" must control. That definition consists of two parts, either: (1) "a collective positive or negative decision," or (2) "an actual vote by a majority of the members of a governing [*19] body when sitting as a body or entity" when either follows "a motion, proposal, [436] resolution, order, or ordinance." RCW 42.30.020(3). The definition does not rule out the legal possibility that the chosen course of action might be altered at a subsequent date, as is arguably the case here

It seems to me that the board made a collective negative decision against hiring Ethelda Burke. That means it took a final action in secret, does it not?

At least part of one, it appears. Here's an interesting sentence from today's story on the Tacoma school board's selection of an interim superintendent (Art Jarvis, the CFO of Seattle Public Schools).

The sentence quotes Ethelda Burke, the deputy superintendent in Tacoma, who's been running the district while the board searched for an intereim. Burke resigned when she didn't get the nod.

In announcing her resignation, (Ethelda) Burke said she made her decision based on a conversation with board President Connie Rickman on Wednesday afternoon following the board’s informal vote on the interim appointment.

Of course informal votes are illegal. That's what the board did earlier this year on Charlie Milligan's performance appraisal.

That embarrassing oversight had to be rectified at great cost to the board's credibility.

The "real" vote occurred Thursday night. Whatever happened Wednesday it appears the board decided something in secret that it communicated to Ethelda Burke. And here you thought they worked for the public . . .

We're looking into all of this for a story scheduled for Saturday's paper. Stay tuned.

Business editor Marce Edwards reports UWT economics professor Doug Will will debut his new column in the Sunday business section.

The idea came from discussion between the TNT and the Milgard Business School at UWT about how we might work together.

The result is a monthly business column on the intersection of economics and modern life/culture. Doug's first column – about "price gouging" – will appear this Sunday on the cover of the business section.

Based on the the news meeting this morning, here's some of what we're planning for the Friday morning paper.

News

SUPER: The Tacoma school board is expected to name an interim superintendent at a meeting this evening.

VOTERS: Seven people have been charged with submitting fradulent voter registrations in King County, officials announced Thursday, as the county canvassing board voted to remove the names of 1,762 people from voter rolls.

Sports

MARINERS: Oakland at Seattle, 7:05 p.m.

SONICS: Veteran big man Kurt Thomas is introduced to the Seattle media at the Furtado Center.

FIGHT: Story out of press conference for Saturday’s WBC Super Welterweight title fight between Carlos Balomir and Vernon Forrest at the Emerald Queen.

SoundLife

SIMPSONS: Movie critic Soren Andersen reviews the Simpsons movie.

We took some heat for our Monday story about local Christians reacting to the Vatican's recent pronouncement about the primacy of its doctrine. Perhaps naively, we thought readers would walk away with a sense of local collegiality and cooperation. Instead, a few folks took exception with the article, especially the first paragraph, which said the Vatican "reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church as the only path to salvation."

Two readers said the document says just the opposite, and they quote:

"It follows that these separated churches and Communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church."

To read the full document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, click here.

In hindsight, our use of the expression “only path to salvation” may not have been the best choice of words. And it sounds like a feeble excuse to say that the Associated Press used the same or similar language in its reports on this document.

The Vatican document is very complex. Talk to a dozen different theologians and you might get a dozen different interpretations.

We can’t think of a way to clarify the salvation point that meets everyone’s liking. But we do believe our story, when taken in its entirety, reflects the Vatican's published stance: that the Catholic Church is the one, true church and fullest source of salvation.

We also don't believe our story defames or encourages hatred against Catholics, as one reader claims.

Other Vatican sources:

• Commentary on the Document

• "Dominus Iesus"

• Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution “Lumen gentium”

• Second Vatican Council, Decree “Unitatis redintegratio”

The NFL, in its insatiable quest to turn a fine game -- professional football -- into a just another business, has hit upon a brilliant idea: make sideline news photographers wear vests that advertise our sponsors (in this case Canon cameras and Reebok athletic equipment).

Here's a news story about the ploy.

Here's how the American Society of Newspaper editors has responded, in a letter to the NFL from Gilbert Bailon, ASNE president:

. . . Newspapers are committed to maintaining their integrity as independent voices of news and opinion. We separate advertising messages in our pages from news and editorial content for that reason. We work assiduously to avoid conflicts of interest, or appearances of them. For that reason it is anathema to us that our employees should be put in the position of becoming walking billboards or be viewed as troublemakers for refusing to wear advertising materials just to do their jobs. (Complete letter here.)

Randy Wilson, editor of the Arizona Daily Sun, visited the newsroom recently. He was here for a regular vacation to visit Puget Sound relatives. But he also wanted to visit our newsroom to talk about how we're all affected by the digital news world.

Part of his Sunday column on the TNT and his visit:

Anyone reading The News Tribune or its Web site that day couldn't help but appreciate the critical role that a vigorously competitive press plays in building community — no matter what platform it is using.

To read the full column, go here:

=> Read more!

Based on the morning news meeting, here's some of what we plan to have in the Thursday morning paper. (Keep in mind it's all subject to change.)

News

ADAAHN: A Pierce County judge today ordered Terapon Dang Adhahn, suspected in the abduction and death of 12-year-old Zina Linnik, held in Pierce County Jail in lieu of $2,025,000 bail on rape charges involving two school girls. Not guilty pleas were entered on behalf of Adhahn, 42, during a brief hearing in Superior Court.

TOLLS: We're doing a follow-up on the story Joe Turner wrote this morning on tolls on the new Narrows bridge.

Sports

MARINERS: The Mariners don't play today. Darrin Beene is writing an off-day feature on Mariners pitching coach Rafael Chaves.

SoundLife

HAIRSPRAY: Movie reviewer Soren Andersen is writing a review on the movie "Hairspray".

Since Tuesday the TNT had a photo of the man charged in several rapes of young South Sound girls. But we didn't decide to print it until late yesterday.

Why wait?

Tacoma police asked us not to print the image while they were out questioning witnesses in other cases linked to the man. They wanted to present half a dozen photos of various men and see whether witnesses picked that of Terapon Dang Adhahn, charged yesterday in two complex rape cases.

Their concern was that -- once Adhahn's photo was widely circulated in the press -- people might choose it in a photo line-up simply because it's familiar to them.

We agreed to the TPD request as long as the photo wasn't widely circulated. (It was being distributed in the Tillicum neighborhood by Lakewood police, seeking information in the disappearance of Adre'anna Jackson.)

That narrow distribution ended yesterday when all four Seattle television stations broadcast his photo from the Lakewood police flier, and when it appeared on news Web sites throughout the region.

Once the image was widely distributed, there was no further purpose in us withholding the image from our readers.

Golfers Ryan Moore of Puyallup and Michael Putnam of Tacoma are in the field for the British Open this week in Carnoustie, Scotland.

Because of our interest in both of their careers, we sent golf writer Todd Milles to the U.S. Open last month and are planning for him to go to the PGA Championship in Tulsa next month. A trip to Scotland, though, is not in our budget. To fill the gap, we've asked golf writer Ron Green Jr. of the Charlotte Observer, a sister paper in the McClatchy chain, to follow Moore and Putnam for us at Carnoustie.

Ron had a short story on Putnam's preparations in this morning's sports section and will be checking in with both players after their rounds during the tournament.

Todd interviewed both golfers before they left the United States for the tournament. His story ran on Tuesday morning.

Based on the morning news meeting, here's some of what we plan to have in the Thursday morning paper. (Keep in mind it's all subject to change.)

News

KIDHEALTH: The Senate Finance Committee is working up a children’s health care package that could provide a boost to Washington state. The state has lost $200 million in federal funding over the years because it had aggressively moved to provide health care insurance. The new package could allow the state to start covering an additional 70,000 children. Les Blumenthal of our Washington bureau is doing this story.

SOIL: This summer, workers are digging up Asarco-contaminated soil from school playgrounds in Federal Way and Steilacoom. The state's list of soil removal projects identifies 27 public and private schools serving children from kindergarten through high school in Pierce and King counties. Enviornmental reporter Susan Gordon is doing the story.

Sports

MARINERS: Baltimore at Seattle, 7:05 p.m. Darrin Beene is covering the game.

SOCCER: The Seattle Sounders play a U.S. Open Cup match against MLS team Chivas USA. Don Ruiz is covering the game.

Adventure

STP: We will travel along with a group of riders who will tried to tackle the Seattle-to-Portland Bicycle Classic in one day. Craig Hill is filing the story.

This is from Jim Henderson, the TNT's Newspapers in Education program, which delivers newspapers and teacher study guides to schools all over the South Sound.

We have an agreement with a company based in St. Paul MN called AMR - A Marketing Resource. Other McClatchy papers also have used them successfully to raise money for NIE efforts.

They call only our subscribers who are seven day a week subscribers and who have a balance on their account of over 10 weeks of service. They let the caller know they are calling on behalf of the News Tribune and are asking if the subscriber is willing to donate to The Newspapers in Education program helping to provide literacy materials and newspapers to area schools.

They do not ask for a credit card, but they do say that if a subscriber is willing to donate from $1 upwards to $25 the money can be taken from their existing office pay account and credited to our NIE Program.

They are in week #2 of making these calls and probably will do them for three more weeks.

So far in 8 days of calling they have raised a total of nearly $4000 from a total of 555 subscribers that will go to our NIE program.

I will send a letter thanking the subscriber for their donation - specifying the amount donated and telling them the date their office pay subscription is now paid to, and letting them know how the money donated is used and supports our NIE Program.

If you have questions about the program, you can phone Jim at 253-597-8791 or e-mail him at jim.henderson@thenewstribune.com

The business team is working on several stories this afternoon including one on a labor agreement between Macy's and its union at the Tacoma Mall.

Here's what's posted on the Biz Buzz:

Workers at the Tacoma Macy's stores agreed on a labor contract with the retailer last month, ending a year-long disagreement about health care costs and credit applications.

Blaine Sherfinski, secretary/treasurer of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 367, said a majority of the union's 300 members agreed in June to a cost-of-living wage increase each year during the three-year contract. They also agreed to a stipend to offset an increase in health insurance premiums.

We got some complaints about the headline we ran on Page 1 about the state's robust economy. Here's what the headline said.

State triumphs
all Gregoire’s,
aides brag

And the subhead:

With Gov. Chris Gregoire out
sick, Cabinet officials to the
talking at a news conference.
They cite state improvements
and credit everything to her.

The governor's spokeswoman, Holly Armstrong, took exception:

I think anyone at the press avail yesterday would attest to the fact that, while we definitely were celebrating and highlighting good news in the state, it was hardly an exercise in taking credit.

Dave Ammons, the AP reporter whose story we ran, said this:

the head and subhead seemed a little over the top. the Gregoire crew was definitely in triumphalism mode, but didn't say every good thing about the economy is due to gov and her policies.

Politics editor Hunter George proposed this correction late today:

A Page One headline and sub-headline on Tuesday incorrectly stated that Gov. Chris Gregoire’s administration is taking full credit for a recent run of good news about the state’s economy. The governor’s spokeswoman, Holly Armstrong, said the administration was “celebrating and highlighting” the good news, but that it’s a product of a joint effort by the government and community and business leaders.

Look for something very much like that tomorrow.

Based on the morning news meeting, here's some of what we plan to have in the Wednesday morning paper. (Keep in mind it's all subject to change.)

News sections

BLAZE: Twenty-four women between 16 and 19 years old from around the Puget Sound area and across the U.S. and Canada will gather in Tacoma on Tuesday for training exercises as part of Camp Blaze.

ZINA: We continue to follow developments in the Zina Linnik case.

FIREWORK: The Tacoma police are issuing a report that looks at how the fireworks policies worked this year and how they might enforce them next year.

Sports

MARINERS: The Mariners play Baltimore in the second game of a three-game series at Safeco Field.

GREEN: We take a look at the other Sonics first-round pick: Jeff Green of Georgetown.

Business

JOBS: The Washington jobs report comes out this morning.

SoundLife

JERKY: Wednesday is food day in SoundLife. The main story is on jerky.

Yesterday, a reader posted a comment to our breaking news story about a local murder-suicide. In the comment, the reader identified by name the man who died. Our story didn't have the name yet because we hadn't confirmed it with the authorities. So we removed the comment and all the follow-up comments that also used the name. (Here's the full report on the incident.)

Our policy is to always verify as fact any detail as important as the identification of an individual in a tragedy like this (or any other fact, for that matter). Because someone hears a tip by word of mouth does not make it fact.

We allow more latitude on readers providing information in the comments on our stories when the articles aren't this sensitive. In fact, we encourage readers to offer insight and information to supplement our reporting. But in this case, that particular piece of information needed to be checked out and verified to avoid the potential mistake of identifying the wrong person.

We get a monthly report from the MCT (McClatchy-Tribune) news service that gives us data on how they performed in the past month. One element of the report are the number of stories our wire service had before anyone else. Those are called "exclusives."

Here's the list for June:

• Three weeks before his assassination in Baghdad, a tribal sheik was keenly aware that his life was in peril, saying that his home had been destroyed, his cars burned and five of his bodyguards slain by al-Qaida (McClatchy Newspapers).
• Former lawyers in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division say a voter fraud campaign by the department is a partisan effort to disqualify legitimate voters (McClatchy Washington).

=> Read more!

Heat: Hot today and hotter tomorrow. We'll be out talking to people about how they're coping with - and in some cases even enjoying - the weather.

Rodeo: We fly to Moses Lake today with airmen from McChord as they practice assault landings and other exercises in preparation for their competition with other units at McChord later this month.

PC terms: The Pierce County Council today takes up the issue of extending term limits for the county auditor and assessor-treasurer.

Medical brigade: A Fort Lewis medical brigade leaves for its third tour in Iraq.

Tagger: Tacoma's city manager will propose a stricter ordinance against graffiti.

Missing girl: We'll stay on the story of the 12-year-old girl missing from Tacoma's Hilltop since July 4.

Crisson: Tacoma Public Utilities chief Mark Crisson announced he's leaving. We'll get the details about where he's going.

Work release: We expect the state Department of Corrections to announce today where it will place its next work release facility. For once, we expect it not to be in Pierce County. At least that's what the corrections chief has promised.

Key Pen Middle School: One of the students accused of planning a Columbine-style attack a year ago at Key Peninsula Middle School was cleared by the courts, but remains expelled from school. The boy's parents and district officials are negotiating a way to get him back in class.