Zoink!

Today’s paper was a break from the recent “relentless run of bad news,” editor Steve Smith said.

Kudos, short and sweet:
• the recent placement of columnists on page 1, notably Cheryl-Anne Millsap’s column on Tuesday (5/22/2007) and John Blanchette’s column today.
• The first sentence of ” Pole barn contractor sentenced to 19 years ” reads, “When one of his hundreds of upset clients called to complain that no work had started on his pole barn, Sam Cover told the caller that he ate guys like him in prison.”
• Voices section story by Cindy Hval about World War II veterans , Pearl Harbor Survivors
• the centerpiece story on the Northwest page, ” Millwood market makes debut ,” and the accompanying photo seen below. “It’s not the simple Greenacres or Mayberry,” assistant city editor Dan Hansen said about how standards and regulations complicate what most people generally think of farming (simple and sweet).

• Speaking of photos, editor Steve Smith said he has seen the first draft of the new newsroom ethics policy, notably the part about how The Spokesman-Review does not do staged photos. He suggested changing the wording a bit to accommodate for the use of portraits as seen on A1 centerpiece today, artistic reflection shots, etc. “Tell him to do this” would be staged, sports editor Joe Palmquist said.

• A Spokane SiDEKiCK’s latest issue includes an editorial written as a letter to Spokesman delivery drivers, noting “please keep your newspapers out of the SiDEKiCK’s racks!” The accompanying photo showed a wire newspaper rack with an attached SiDEKiCK sign. According to folks from The Spokesman-Review circulation department, the wire rack in the photo is recycled, made from a rack belonging to The Spokesman-Review.

For those who haven’t seen the SiDEKiCK, it’s the new twice-monthly entertainment tab , proudly ” 100 percent Cowles Free .”