Starting next week, I’ll have a new beat at the paper. I’ll cover the military, primarily Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base. It’s an interim assignment while we figure out who’s gonna cover what at our paper.

Reporter Mike Archbold is shifting gears to blog here and write the kinds of stories that I’ve worked on the past year. Columnist Kathleen Merryman will still post here as well. And I’ll still occasionally contribute to Word on the Street if I see something good (or at least until the higher-ups wise up and pull my access).

The switch starts Monday. So if you’ve got any good story ideas, shoot an e-mail to Mike. And check out my new home on the Web, FOB Tacoma.

I’m heading to the Greek Festival at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Tacoma today. It's my job to eat the goodies and write about it. Mmm... expense account.

I'm at the University of Puget Sound this morning to write about garbology. Facilities service crews and sustainability committee members will go through garbage cans outside the school's residence halls and see how much recyclable stuff they find in the garbage. Should be fun.

Later today, I plan on swinging by Pierce College's Puyallup campus to continue my reporting about increased higher-ed enrollment.

Today I'm going to begin reporting for a story about the boom in college enrollment during the economic downtown. Most of the local institutions have reported double-digit growth.

I'll put the question out there: Have you returned to college recently? If so, shoot me an e-mail.

I'm back from vacation and figuring out what I'll work on this week. But for tomorrow, I've got something on the Northwest Detention Center coming down the pipeline.

I’ve got a story about a court-watch program at the Northwest Detention Center in the works. And this afternoon, I’ll be dealing with a three-legged goat.

I'll be talking to board members of the Tacoma Tall Ships Organization this morning about their financial status. And I'll be at the meeting of the Tacoma city council's economic development committee. They'll be discussing the fair's economic impact.

I'm heading to the Puyallup Tribe of Indians headquarters for a press release. Details upcoming.

I’ll be in Belfair this morning to cover the United Way’s Day of Caring. More than 1,100 volunteers – including 500 from Tacoma School of the Arts – will complete service projects throughout the area today. I'll cover volunteers from Tacoma Public Utilities splitting and hauling wood and building benches at the Girl Scout camp.

I'm juggling reporting for several bigger stories today, but I'm gonna be heading out to look for some off-beat stories. Got any ideas? Shoot me an e-mail.

I'm going to be at Dick Scobee Elementary School in Auburn this morning to Dick Richards, a former NASA astronaut who will be talking to students in Auburn today. He's one of dozens of astronauts and cosmonauts in Seattle for the Association of Space Explorers' "planetary congress."

(A bit of background: The school is named after Scobee, an Cle Elum native who grew up in Auburn. He was spacecraft commander astronaut on the ill-fated Challenger mission.)

Talking immigration with nonprofits in the morning, and then I'm going to continue some reporting on Tacoma Fire Chaplain Wilby Casey (hilarious guy with plenty of good stories).