Question marks

Today’s front page had a lot of incremental, unresolved stories, assistant city editor Dan Hansen noted: Jail death decision not ready , NSA database fallout growing , and I-90 work mapped out . Steve Smith said all of the stories deserved A1 coverage, even though none of them really puts a period on anything. “I think that’s the run of the news,” he said.

One story that was resolved, however, was the rape conviction of landlord Arlin Jordin . That story was originally planned for page one, but was moved back to the Northwest cover. Smith said that was a good decision - the story was “a little on the stale side” by this morning.

El presidente

We may try to do some Spanish-language coverage of Mexican president Vicente Fox’s visit to Yakima later this month - we’re looking for a bilingual reporter that might be able to help out.

Talking with Kevin Coe

Reporter Tom Clouse had an interview with the South Hill Rapist this week, and shared some excerpts with the table this morning. Coe evidently still holds out hope that he will eventually be cleared of his 1981 conviction. “All he thinks about when he’s not listening to talk radio or watching TV is his case and how he’s going to be exonerated,” Clouse said.

Read more about the interview next week…