Last week, an Iowa high school football coach was shot dead in the school’s weight room. Police charged a 24-year-old former player. The headline made Drudge but I quickly forgot the story and didn’t see much follow-up. Many people talk about the sports page as if it’s got the best writing in the whole newspaper. And they’re probably thinking of reporters like Josh Peter, an enterprise reporter with, of all outlets, Yahoo! Sports. He looked at the shooting and came up with a story about theodicy, forgiveness and the strength of tight-knit communities. Here’s how he began:
AP! St. Paul belongs to everyone
Granny get your gun
Since Barack Obama became President, the country has experienced a documented rise in sales of firearms and ammunition, not to mention concealed-carry permits. Recently Congress passed a bill allowing those of us who have permits and where the state allows concealed weapons to carry guns in national parks. And a columnist for Hernando Today says that he’s found an attempt by the National Rifle Association to link health care reform to an assault on gun rights.
Obama chooses worship over spectacle (maybe)
When Amy Sullivan of Time wrote one of the finest articles about President Obama’s church options, she quoted a creative idea from Flo McAfee, former religious liaison for the Clinton White House. McAfee recommended worshiping in the chapel at the Army’s Fort Meyer, where security already is covered.
Icons, idols and the Gloved One
If you run a Google News search for “Michael Jackson” and “idol,” you’ll get tens of thousands of hits. If you watched any news coverage of the death of MJ, “icon” was the go-to word for describing the King of Pop. Here’s Agence France-Presse, for instance:
'... and the subject was death'
The Column One slot on the Los Angeles Times frontpage is, according to a compilation of these tales, “a daily jolt of all-engrossing storytelling without rival in American journalism.” Unfortunately, too much emphasis is occasionally placed on the storytelling and too little on the journalism.
Moonwalking into eternity
The Michael Jackson funeral story continues to loom in the background of the current coverage about his death, while an even more bizarre angle about the future of the superstar’s body has emerged over in Germany.
