Car crash on Page One?

Was Saturday’s fatal crash on I-90 underplayed? One editor felt that the story should have at minimum led the Region section, or even be moved to Page One. Steve Smith replied that auto accidents in general don’t warrant frong page coverage. Regardless, the fact that the driver blamed for the crash has a previous manslaughter charge related to a shooting death in Spokane Valley last year brings a lot of depth to the story, and we’ll be following it closely.

Another placement question

British police revealed that a man shot in a subway Friday wasn’t a suspect in the past two weeks’ bombings. A reporter questioned whether we buried the story by placing it on page A16, whereas the original story on the shooting ran on page A3. Some things to consider - Sunday papers generally have a more regional focus, fewer starts on the front page, as well as more room to combine stories on a particular subject on the same page.

Christmas in July

Our “freebie sale” - a newsroom clearing-out of books, coffee mugs and the other swag people send us - generated $2,369 for the 2005 Christmas Fund.

Coming up

We’re following the hunt for John Rollins Tuggle and will hopefully have more information soon - a press conference was scheduled for 11 a.m. today.