On the road

Sending reporter James Hagengruber and photographer Jess Tinsley out to Fargo to look in to Joseph Duncan’s criminal history turned out to be a good investment: “You never want to think of it in terms of a transaction, but we got our money’s worth,” said editor Steve Smith of the rather costly last-minute excursion to North Dakota.

We haven’t received any complaints about Sunday’s front page photo, but a brief debate was touched off about whether shirtlessness is endemic to the Upper Midwest or is a more universal phenomenon.

If you were confused about the meaning of “model offender” in the headline, you weren’t alone. The story, however, makes it clear that it’s referring to Duncan’s behavior outside of jail.

Graphic content, once again

Careful readers may have noticed a couple of problems with the pie charts in Sunday’s story on secularism . The Washington percentages only add up to 90%, whereas the Idaho numbers add up to 109%. Also, some readers may have been unclear about the “Christian” category, which is separate from Catholics and Baptists. A quick scan of survey information on religioustolerance.org shows that the categories were self-defined by respondants — in other words, a Lutheran might respond “Lutheran” or “Christian.”

Coming up

The City Council tonight is expected to increase the fine for shooting off fireworks in the city from $100 to $500; also, Splashdown is opening its much-anticipated new waterslide.