Here are the top local stories in Thursday's News Tribune:

• A proposal to name the new Tacoma Narrows bridge after the late Sen. Bob Oke is moving forward in the state Senate. Senate Joint Memorial 8026 asks the Washington Transportation Commission to name the new structure the “Bob Oke Bridge.” If the memorial passes both House and Senate, it will get a public hearing.


• Snowfall of near biblical proportions is keeping the state's major mountain passes closed and threatening continued avalanches.


• Sound Transit is trying to figure out what to do next in the wake of last fall's election failure. One goal is to make the next proposal one that can be completed by 2020.

Here are the top local stories in Thursday's News Tribune:

• Ethical lapses and scientific mistakes at the state toxicology lab that certifies breath-test results in DUI cases have jeopardized hundreds of prosecutions. Soon, the ripples from the situation will be felt in Pierce County.


• State auditors say the Tacoma School Board violated the Open Meetings Act twice last year during its attempts to deal with the controversy surrounding Charlie Milligan, the district's former superintendent.


• Two Stryker soldiers were honored for their bravery in Iraq last year. Both were awarded the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest award for bravery in action.

Here are the top local stories in Wednesday's News Tribune:

• Two Washington representatives were among 10 Democrats who voted against a $146 billion economic stimulus package in the House Tuesday.


• A state appeals court has overturned a Tacoma man's conviction for attempted murder and in the process, delivered a rebuke to the judge who presided in the case.


• The Tacoma City Council wants the state of Washinton to rescind a $1.1 million grant awarded to a nonprofit group to house former inmates, citing serious concerns about the group.

Here are the top local stories in Tuesday's News Tribune:

• The chaplain at the McNeil Island prison is facing a dilemma – federal rules require him to minister to inmates who declare themselves to be adherents of more than one religion, including paganism.


• Don't look for legislative action to limit the high interest rates on payday loans any time soon. Despite continuing complaints about predatory lending, the payday industry's lobbying efforts have been too strong to expect lawmakers to act, consumer advocates say.


• The Puyallup police will add digital cameras to more than a third of the force's patrol vehicles before the end of the year.

Here are the top local stories in Friday's News Tribune:

• The City of Tacoma has long complained that the Tacoma Narrows Airport is nothing but a money sink. Now the city is about to unload the airport on Pierce County, which believes it can run the place more efficiently.


• Pierce County wants the legal authority to determine where sex offenders can live. The Legislature sukspended that authority in 2005 to give cities and towns a chance to develop statewide standards on housing for sex offenders. But with no consensus on standards, the county wants to be able to go it alone.


• Puget Sound Energy has reached a tentative agreement to sell Lake Tapps to the Cascade Water Alliance, a group of eastern King County cities and utilities. That could be bad news for Sumner, Bonney Lake and Auburn.

Friday, January 18, 2008

A1: Good pick to take the Husky Stadium story out front. The teasers were good, direct. Online today is also dressed up.

Write your own weather-joke or mistake? Joke. And a fun one.

Centerpiece on Alcohol Impact Area tells story from neighborhood point of view.

Ex-Cons: wanted Joe Turner to hit it harder higher in the story.

We need consistent style when we ask readers to comment on stories online.

Great photo on the back of A from the fire by Russ Carmack.

Southsound: Liked the packaging of the centerpiece. A2 story about three men charged with homicide should have been on B!. Ruston Police chief story was also great.

Sports: Bellarmine-Gig Harbor game sounds like a great one.

Biz: Interesting mix of stories on the page. Local feel to the page.

Soundlife: Reporter Jackie White writes about gray. We really wanted to know what the items were and how much they cost.

Go:

Here are the top local stories in Friday's News Tribune:

• Pierce County might start getting a smaller share of the state's recently released ex-convicts if state prison officials follow the recommendations of a citizen advisory committee.
Committee members say the Department of Corrections should build or rent work-release centers across the state based on each county’s share of the state population.


• The Sonics may be on the outs, but the Huskies may have better luck getting help from the state to refurbish Husky Stadium.


• Dozens of Stryker armored vehicles damaged or badly worn in the Iraq war will be back in service soon after extensive refitting and repairs at Fort Lewis.

In the Wednesday paper we identified a 27-year-old deputy being held on suspicion of rape and burglary as "a married Iraq war veteran who has been on the force about a year" (quoting the sheriff's department). Story here.

A reader wrote to complain:

If you are a vetran or know any vetrans you may want to let them know that the News Tribune regularly engages in this sort of sordid quasi journalistic slandering of vetrans

(An aside: The reader begins this invective by citing a piece in The Wall Street Journal that complains about a no-statistics NYTimes story correlating returning veterans and murders they commit. The reader commits the same sin The Times is guilty of -- stereotyping without sufficient, or any, evidence.)

In this case we discussed the matter and agreed that the veteran status wasn't pertinent based on what we printed. Would it be if the deputy had been a military policeman, for instance?

Today's story(Thursday TNT) makes a better case for why the reference was in the story. The sheriff's department hired the deputy, in part, because his status as an Iraq war veteran was seen as a positive.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

A1: Group liked the overall design of the teasers and the "Dream On" part of the Boeing refer, but thought the delay was the oldest news in the paper.

Centerpiece design was great. Loved the photo and the breed mugs, but these are not the actual dogs and we should have said so. Could the kicker have been more specific to the cost, which is the central theme of the story?

South Sound: Story about the chlorine leak fine we well-reported and written. Reporter Susan Gordon writes with authority.

Centerpiece was great. It would have been nice to get the Tall Ships Tacoma reference higher in the story or in the display type.

Sports: McGrath column is a classic from him. There might me one too many photo of a coach in action on the cover.

Business: Nice page, design. Timeline is good.

Soundlife: The centerpiece about how to purchase a boat is great. It was an opportunity to do an infographic maybe with more detailed information, but we still liked the numbers and how it was written.

In a story in today's paper about the death of well-known local builder Kaz Nakamura, we said:

" . . . Nakamura spent much of World War II with other Japanese Americans in a U.S. concentration camp."

Reader Bud Holland wrote to say:

I was startled and almost choked on my sandwich at the use of the term "concentration camp". In the interest of accuracy, I would suggest that (the reporter) be given a copy of the " Oxford English Dictionary " 1989 Edition , to learn the exact/ modern usage of the term "concentration camp" and it's various connotations as opposed to "internment camp" .

The OED's "Military History Companion" says of concentration camps:

Not to be confused with internment camps such as those employed to quarantine Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor, concentration camps are now associated with, at best, punishment and forced labour, as in what Solzhenitsyn called the ‘Gulag archipelago’ of Stalin's USSR. At worst the concentration camps of Nazi Germany were used for the systematic extermination of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, Russian prisoners of war, and a variety of others.

What's your take? Please comment.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

A1: More readers are calling about how the paper is folded these days. Yes, it is on purpose to make it easier for carriers to add the inserts.

We liked the notebook teaser. Very grabby.

The story about the delay of the Dreamliner would have been a good A1 pick. Or at least a teaser.

The Online Today works well for readers. It has a specific time element for updates and offers.

B1: Good hustle Tuesday night to get the late-breaking story about the deputy on the cover. We could have moved the Ebersole story inside instead of bumping the Edgewood story to B2.

SPORTS:

BUSINESS: Do we really need the word "dramatically" in the caption. We try not to use the caption to say what people are thinking or overly describe action that can easily be seen in the photo. Does the photo speak for itself? Or does Jobs' flair need more description?

SOUNDLIFE: We wanted more recipes for paninis. It was a good trend story and provided service to readers.

From the editors at Parade:

Sunday, January 20th:

"Something New Can Always Happen"
By James Kaplan
Bette Midler acts, sings, dances, and tells raunchy jokes. This entertainer extraordinaire will soon be replacing Céline Dion as the headliner at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Find out how Midler feels about being on stage at age 62 and whether she’ll ever retire.

Everyone's New Love
By Jeanne Wolf
Jeffrey Dean Morgan, best known as Katherine Heigl’s dying love interest on the ABC show Grey’s Anatomy, is fast becoming one of the hottest men in Hollywood. Morgan talks about his hard-won success and his relationship with Weeds star Mary-Louise Parker.

Fight For Your Health Care
By Lori Andrews
Fighting the health-insurance bureaucracy on even small matters can be draining, and winning seems like such a long shot. Fortunately, people who what gets results and are persistent often win. Find out what you need to know.

In Step With: Sarah Michelle Gellar
By James Brady
Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar talks about breaking into showbiz at age 4 and reveals what really happened at the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Here are the top local stories in Wednesday's News Tribune:

• Two state senators are pushing a plan to name the new Narrows bridge after the late Sen. Bob Oke, a prime sponsor of its construction. But that doesn't sit well with Randy Boss and other critics, who strongly oppose naming the bridge after the man they believe thwarted the will of the voters.


• Hungry sea lions are on the prowl again, eating their way through a prime natural resource. But this time, salmon are not the targets. Instead, Columbia River sturgeon are falling prey to the depredations of Stellar sea lions.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A1: We could have don a lot more with Niki Sullivan's online coverage of the legislature on the political blog.

Are we sick of the Holmgren photo with snow on his hat? Three decks of all-caps teezer is a lot. We're not sure the second line under the car teeze works. Looks the like the Jeep is called a HAMMER.

Centerpiece is interesting, glad we linked to the BusRadio stream online.

Brent Champaco's story on the University Place Town Center was interesting. Maybe we could have done multimedia from the meeting. Audio?

B1: Liked Pete Calaghan's column. Lively coverage of the Legislature. Glad we covered the Hill Ward demolition.

Sports: Centerpiece photo is out of focus and flat. Lifeless color. Eric Williams is doing such a job covering the Sonics. Glad he went to Olympia to talk to the Legislature about the SuperSonics. And "House" should capitalized in the headline.

Biz: There's a better point to be made with the Airbus story. Airbus is proposing to build planes with American jobs, where Boeing send many jobs over seas.

Both the promo on Aa and the lede in the Town Center Biz story don't mention that these discussions happened online. Otherwise, it was a nice piece.

Soundlife: Could we have done done something, even small, about American Idol starting its seventh season?

Reader John Stella of Tacoma (Wakato Heights, close to Prospect Hill, near The North Slope Historic District), writes to say:

This morning (Sat. 1/12) my wife asked me if I considered the location of the Hostess Bakery outlet as being in Hilltop. Being a lifelong resident of Tacoma, and having attended Jason Lee Junior High in the Sixties, I had never thought of that area as the Hilltop. The question arose because of the business article stating that the old Hostess Bakery outlet was closing at 1720 S. Seventh, near Sixth and Sprague. Then the headline caught my attention. It indicated that people could still shop at the Wonder Bread Thrift Store at 10014 Pacific Ave. in Lakewood. I never thought of Pacific Ave. as being Lakewood. Which brings me to the question I am sure could bring a great deal of debate among Tacoma residents. Exactly where are our neighborhoods?

I know where Old Town is, and the Proctor District is easily identifiable, as well as the Dome District. (Now that I think about it, maybe the Dome District's boarders aren't easily identifiable.) But what exactly makes up Hilltop, where does the North End end and the West End begin? What separates the North End from the South End? Is it 6th Avenue or Division? Or something else? Where does South Tacoma begin, and when am I leaving Tacoma and entering Lakewood? The geographic confusion could go on and on with all of the Historic Districts scattered throughout the city.

Does the city have an official map that answers this? If not, is there a general consensus? I am not sure whom to ask, so I leave it up to you. I think it would be a fun question to ask your readership.

I don't know how the city would answer the question, but here's how we define the neighborhoods or districts in the TNT, according to our Stylebook:

Downtown: area west of Thea Foss Waterway , east of Tacoma Avenue, north of South 21st Street, south of Sixth Avenue.

East Side: any east address in Tacoma south of Interstate 5.

Hilltop: the area bounded on the west by South Sprague Avenue, on the north by Division Avenue (includes Wright Park), on the east by Tacoma Avenue South and on the south by South 28th/27th streets.

Northeast Tacoma: area across Commencement Bay from downtown Tacoma sandwiched between Marine View Drive and Federal Way city limits.

North End: area north of Sixth Avenue or Division Avenue, east of Orchard Street.

South End: Generally any part of Tacoma south of the east-west portion of South Tacoma Way, east of Interstate 5, west of Pacific Avenue.

South Tacoma: generally any part of Tacoma west of Interstate 5, east of Orchard Street, north of the city limits (South 80th Street) and south of Highway 16.

West End: area west of Orchard Street, north of South 19th Street. (The term is sometimes used to include Fircrest and University Place.)

Here are the top local stories in Tuesday's News Tribune:

• University Place residents get their chance to sound off on the city's troubled Town Center project at a public hearing.


• The City of Tacoma plans to hire an outside company to take a hard look at the cost of its proposed Urban Waters laboratory. The move follows revelations that the lab's cost has gone from $18 million to $40 million.


• A Spanaway couple were walking their dogs in the popular area of Fort Lewis when one of the dogs was caught in a leg-hold trap, which are illegal in the state. They want riders and other pet-owners and who often use the area to be alert.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

A1: Wish we’d said to look for the special section inside for the cute dog teezer. Headline was too small on the centerpiece. It didn’t look like game day in the box. Zoo story was well-written and reported. Glad we had it.

B1: Fun CLO. Nice kicker. “Forgot the gun was loaded” is a good head.

Sports: Masterfully designed centerpiece. Turning the page makes a normal Sports section feel like a special section. Nice focus on Lambeau Field. Great stories in the section. We were really glad we had our own photographer in Greenbay, since Dean Koepfler did such a great job.

Business:

Soundlife: We often discuss how well design works for readers. Reversing type on rich black is often a real problem. Today we have a lot of serif type reversed out. San-serif type workes better for this. It's still readable, interesting design.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

A1: Great photos on the cover. Dean Koepfler really nailed the mood, the game, etc. It would have been nice to get the Scott Fontaine story a little more play on the front, but it didn’t fit in the design. Nice package for the centerpiece. Online survey is cool.

B1: Glad we did the McEntee obituary. Interesting woman.
Fun centerpiece, photos on Rhubarb try-outs. History stories are really interesting. Why did Seattle want “Rainier”? On B3, we have a spotlight named “1/8”. Not happy with that error.

Sports:All-around great coverage by the staff. Nice headline, design. Excellent photos from Koepfler. Photos really captured the feeling of the players and the game.

Business: Interesting pair of stories on the cover. UP’s Town Center development versus Gig Harbor’s Uptown.

Soundlife: Muslim shelter story was interesting and about something we didn’t know was out there. Complete reporting job. Nice photos.

Monday, January 14, 2008

A1: We like the LA Times story from Iraq. Nice to see this kind of embedded story. We’re inserting local context.
Online Today should have tipped to Voelpel’s live chat Monday. Aditionally, we covered the dog show, not the agility show. Centerpiece was well-written. Reporter Rob Tucker did a great job with it.

B1: Nice basset cozies. We liked Merryman column. She’s plugged into neighborhoods and it’s great to get a column like this one.

Business: Only thing missing is the cost to use the service: It’s free.

Sports: We like the box on the Manning brothers.

Soundlife: Story about voicemail was a good pick. Everyone should read it and live by it.

I live in Shelton.

We don't subscribe because we travel, but we do buy TNT at the Agate Store every chance we get.

I must say TNT is a world-class paper. There's no comparison here, with the Mason County Journal, or the Olympian.

Your writers are first class and the photographers are phenomena".

Some times the paper does not arrive at the Agate Store either on time or not at all. When that happens, I become inconsolable and am tempted to turn to drugs or alcohol.
But, that would interfere with my other medications, so I simply stamp my feet and utter bad words.

I digress.

Keep up the excellent work.

We love TNT.
Best,

-- Robert Gilroy and Shirley Septon

This week we reported that Booth Gardner, a former governor of Washington, was interested in running either the Tacoma or Clover Park school systems.

In the same story, available here, we said he stumbled, fell and injured himself. Gardner has Parkinson's disease, and at least one reader said we shouldn't have run the piece.

Reader Barbara Myers of Tacoma had this to say:

Your article on Governor (Booth) Gardner seemed way over the top. This man has done as much for our city, the county, and provided leadership to the state at a critical time for such a demeaning article to have actually been published. We are lucky and should learn from his example to continue doing what you do best. And that is lead. The details regarding the incident added nothing to the story and probably did damage to this very prestigious individual. Shame on you.

What do you think?

Here are the top local stories in Friday's News Tribune:

• An advocacy group says health insurance companies operating in the state are making record profits but providing poor service. The companies don't argue with the numbers, but they say they have reasonable explanations for them.


• Twenty-five years ago, young Wallace Guidrox disappeared from Point Defiance Park. Now, a Tacoma police detective is taking a new look at the case in hopes of finding out what happened.


• "Capt. Jack Sparrow," the burglary suspect whose clumsy exploits amused YouTube audiences, was in court Thursday, pleading not guilty to charges he attempted to break into a Lakewood coffee shop.

McClatchy reporter Steven Thomma wrote an interesting piece for the news service on why all the polls missed the Clinton victory in New Hampshire.

Here's how he begins:

MERRIMACK, N.H. — When politicians see polls they don't like, they recite a cliche: The only poll that counts is the one on Election Day.

Tuesday, the voters of New Hampshire proved the cliche right.

For days, poll after poll showed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama opening a big lead heading into the New Hampshire Democratic primary. But when the votes were counted, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton won. Even she seemed surprised.

Were the polls all wrong? Did the pollsters misjudge how many women would vote? Did voters lie when pollsters called? Or were the polls right about Obama leading, proving that debates and campaigning the last weekend really do matter and can sway voters at the last hour?

Read the full story here.

Here are the top local stories in Thursday's News Tribune:

• A Stryker brigade soldier from Wisconsin has been killed in action in Iraq. He's the first Stryker soldier to lose his life in seven weeks.


• Area ski resort operators got just what they wanted for Christmas – a lot of snow. They're starting to measure their bases in feet, rather than inches, and local skiiers are taking full advantage of the situation.


• A man arrested by Puyallup police has been charged with four child pornography charges. Investigators believe he may have victimized dozens of children.

Several readers called to say they were upset we ran Benazir Bhutto on the cover of Parade magazine on Sunday, given that she was assassinated more than a week ago.

"I'm a little disappointed that your Parade section chose to run a story about Benazir Bhutto as if she were still alive."

Nels Parvi, Spanaway

" . . . Is it really appropriate to ask the question "Is Benazir Bhutto America's best hope against al-Qaeda?" on the front of the magazine?"

Nancy Taft, Tacoma

"The Parade article on Bhutto was inexcusable, and for TNT to rubber stamp the distribution of it, without editorial oversight or judgment, was appalling."

Mark Anderson, Gig Harbor

Actually we wrote about the unfortunate juxtaposition the Sunday before in the editor's column (last item). We should have come back with a box on Page 3, perhaps, telling readers that all 32 million copies of the magazine had printed and shipped before Bhutto was killed.

Not distributing wasn't an option. We have a contractual obligation to the magazine and its advertisers to distribute the material each week.

We get regular e-mails from panicky readers, concerned about one bogus "news story" or another that we MUST print or we're part of some conspiracy.

The latest was from a reader who said the news US $1 coin, featuring George Washington had omitted the words "In God We Trust."

Actually the e-mail is false. As this posting on the myth-busting Web site snopes.com shows, the phrase is imprinted on the edge of the coin, not on either side.

Here are the top local stories in Thursday's News Tribune:

• Pierce County had one more homicide in 2007 than in the previous year. But for most law enforcement jurisdictions in the county, homicides declined last year.


• Local Parkinson's Disease patients have new reason for hope. Hospitals around the Puget Sound area are offering a new technique known as deep brain stimulation, or DBS.


• The Pierce County Libarary System is offering a new service – online tutoring that gives students real time help.