How'd it play?

The result of the Alabama-Colorado bowl game in Shreveport, La., received different play in Alabama and Colorado newspapers. The Bama victory was displayed prominently on the front pages of at least a half-dozen state newspapers here. In Colorado, the loss get much less attention. The Rocky Mountain News, above, reduced the game to a small headline above the masthead.

See for yourself at the Newseum's front page gallery.

More from a Star alumnus

I blogged recently about Star alumnus Jim Yardley, now The New York Times' correspondent in China.

Here's his latest work - an incredible look at the wide-ranging effects of the smog in Beijing.

From Medieval to Mideast

This week's Bookshelf page has a variety of selections from a variety of sources, modern and ancient.
Former Congressman Glen Browder reviews the sometimes controversial The Israel Lobby, which gives an overview of the loosely connected individuals and groups which lobby the United States to support Israel. The book not only explains why and how they lobby to help that country, but how Middle East diplomacy could be improved upon.
JSU English professor Carmine DiBiase reviews the latest translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a pre-Renaissance epic tale by an anonymous writer that could be just as well enjoyed and received as the new Beowulf. Can anyone say "screen adaptation?"
Steve Whitton adds to the fiction reviews with Hotel de Dream, a "fantasia" written by Edmund White about author Stephen Crane. The novel beautifully melds fact and fiction about Crane's possible end-of-life work.

Who made this stuff up?

Coming Sunday in The Star's Insight section -- headlines we'd like to see in 2008.

Election calendar for Alabama's local governments

Found this handy link while working on a project for Sunday's paper.

It's a keeper for both community journalists and readers of community journalism.

Star alumnus sighting

If you're a regular reader of NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman, you may notice today that he mentioned Jim Yardley, a Times reporter based in China.

Yardley is a former reporter at The Star -- and a good guy, from what I remember of his somewhat brief time here -- so I always make a point to pick up The Times and look for his byline. He's always a good read.

By the way, in 2002 -- yep, five long years ago -- The Star produced a lengthy list of former newsroom employees who no longer work at The Star. Many moved on to other jobs in the journalism field; a few retired or decided to do something else. Here's a link to that list. Despite its age, it's still quite interesting.

And here's a story that goes along with that list.

Happy reading.

Grab the dictionary, someone at The Star's gone nuts

Nibletted.

Rileyspotting.

Jaxfoleation.

Raincantation.

Rufuslinked.

Confused? Then make sure you check out The Star's op-ed page on Friday. It'll all make sense then. Maybe.

Coming Thursday on the editorial/op-ed pages

Star Publisher H. Brandt Ayers is giving readers his take on the passing of Dr. Gordon Rodgers, the first black city councilman in Anniston:

By the time I got to know Gordon Rodgers, it was unthinkable to imagine him as an incendiary young radical. He was urbane, sophisticated, and his handsome wife, Agnes, had a certain stylish flair. They were a couple who would be unremarkable at a table in the Rainbow Room in New York. As time went on, it seemed to me that Gordon developed a kind of weary wisdom, the knowledge of a man who has seen a world of folly.
And that’s the thing about Gordon Rodgers and men like him in those days before the Old South died and sank to the bottom of history, not unremembered but dead. He was from a good family; his father was a doctor. He was educated, a graduate of elite Talladega College, where black professionals of the time sent their sons and daughters, an institution which turned out doctors and lawyers in assembly-line numbers.

The Star's editorial board also is looking at the comments made across Alabama following the arrest of three white teenagers for the defacing of the Confederate monument in Montgomery earlier this fall:

John Napier, who was identified as “a historian and former member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans,” summed it up quite well. The vandals “must have learned something in school even though they applied it rather poorly.”
True enough. And it is the application, not the education, that society must now address.

We'll also have our daily dose of letters to the editor and syndicated columnists.

For what it's worth, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman -- a regular in The Star on Thursdays -- is taking a break to write a book. His final column until April is on Thursday's op-ed page.

Bobcast nears 100

We're closing in on our 100th episode of the Bobcast. (See player on the right-hand side of this blog.)

Friday's Bobcast features Anniston Star reporter Todd South talking about his story on travel agents on today's Business page.

Wanna make sure you don't miss new editions of the Bobcast? Want to go back and hear previous podcasts?

You can sign up for alerts here.

Or visit Bobcast headquarters.

News from Oxford High

The latest from the Hoover High search for a news football coach is here.

We'll have more in Friday's newspaper.

Thursday in The Star

Check out Thursday's Star for these stories:

There will be an announcement at noon about the Hoover High School head football coach position. Oxford Yellow Jacket head football coach Josh Niblett said he has interviewed for the Hoover job opening. We'll have a story about that and updates online when the announcement is made.

Markeshia Ricks has a story about midwives. They're banned in Alabama, but somebelieve they could play a key role in reducing infant mortality. A bill has been sponsored to get them recognized to practice in the state and it's going back to the Legislature this year.

Retired Associate Editor Basil Penny has a story about a Cherokee County couple who have scoured East Alabama for materials from old barns and homes to create their unique living space, what they call "the barn house."

Anniston High School students are involved in several holiday community service projects. Steve Ivey has this story.

We're all about Brad Pitt in the editorial department

We've got Brad Pitt -- yes, BRAD PITT!!! -- on The Star's op-ed page on Friday morning.

And you thought the editorial department was boring and out of touch.

(Don't tell anyone, but it's only one small photo, and only one small mention, but it's still worth your time. Don't miss it.)

Coming Thursday on the editorial/op-ed pages

The Star's editorial board is taking a look at New Jersey's decision to stop executions in that state -- and what that means for states like Alabama that still use the death penalty:

We’ll let the Texas editorial pages get to the heart of the problem there. As for punishment in Alabama, it is not dished out fairly, especially when it comes to the death penalty.
The quicker we come to that realization — and admit that this is as much a political issue as it is an issue of justice — the better off all of us will be.

We're also commenting on the Joint Powers Authority's hiring of Angelou Economics to lead the search for McClellan's CEO:

It’s no secret that it’s been a frustrating year on the McClellan CEO front. Dan Cleckler resigned as executive director in January, and months were wasted due to what appeared to be miscommunication between the JPA and the Angelou firm. Like many others, this page wishes the CEO search was further along than it is.

Get energized in Sunday's Insight section

We're still tweaking this thing, but we're trying our darnedest to make Sunday's Insight section all about our nation's energy policy. Our plan it to highlight the possibilities of solar energy and the need to include conservation in our nation's long-range energy plan. One of the pieces is written by Richard Raeke, a former Star reporter and editorial writer who now works in the solar-energy field in Massachusetts.

Check it out Sunday. Once we get through with it, it should be a dandy.

Anybody know where we can get a leisure suit?

Imagine one of these guys walking down Noble Street.

In broad daylight.

On purpose.

That could have been me.

As faithful Star readers may know, we did our first video editorial the other day, and it's brought mixed results. We've learned that we need a tripod and that I need to learn there's a difference between a script and a printed editorial. A big difference.

Anyway, our finished product -- a takeoff on the Charlie's Angels TV show from the 1970s -- wasn't our first choice. Our plan was to dress me like those dudes in the photo, in a crazy leisure suit and an Afro, take me to 10th and Noble in downtown Anniston, and have me narrate a portion of our editorial.

I was game. My reputation's already cemented, plus I'd look good in an Afro.

Problem was, we couldn't find a leisure suit. Or at least that's the story we're trotting out there.

We'll do better next time. I hope.

So, how much do you know about the presidential candidates?

Unless something quirky happens, The Star's editorial department is going to try something different on Friday -- a quiz, courtesy of our wire services, about the 2008 presidential campaign.

I took the quiz today, and I admit I made a 100. Which means either I cheated -- wink, wink -- or I'm actually paying attention to this 24-hour campaign. Not sure which one I prefer.

Oh, well. See if we can pull it off in Friday's Star.

Coming Wednesday on the editorial/op-ed pages

The Star's editorial pages on Wednesday will carry some interesting items that I'd love to tout, but instead I'm gonna urge everyone to read columnist Hardy Jackson's weekly offering.

It's a reprint of a Christmas-themed column he penned a few years ago, but at the urging of others he's giving it to us again in 2007. It's heart-warming, tear-jerking and everything else you want during the holiday season.

Here's a portion:

I grew up among folks who didn’t have much. Today, people look back through rose-tinted glasses and talk about being poor but not knowing it. These children knew it. They were the ones who spent the year collecting the tinfoil from discarded cigarette packages to make shiny balls to decorate their Christmas tree because they could not afford the store-bought kind. It was all their parents could do to buy a Christmas gift for their own children, much less someone else’s. Name-drawing reminded them, and us, of their situation.
Taddy’s family fell into that category.

Coming Wednesday in The Star

Coming Wednesday in The Star:

The JPA hired a search firm to find it a new chief executive. Dan Whisenhunt has this story.

JSU and Oxford schools are teaming up to apply for a grant to demonstrate and study co-teaching, a method of putting special ed students in classes with a general ed teacher and special ed teacher both at the front of the classroom. Under the grant JSU would study how the program works at Oxford. Markeshia Ricks writes about this project.

Markeshia also has a story about the state BOE adoption of a background check policy for all postsecondary empoylees. The BOE plans to ask the Legislature for a new law to make the results of those checks private (as is done with K-12). But felony records are already public information, so how will that work?

'Tis the season for giving: Todd South covers the delivery by Anniston Army Depot workers of a tuckload of donated toys to the Department of Human Resources to give as Christmas gifts to children. Todd also has a story about the depot's new child care center for employees.

Like wow, dude

We were working on a special Christmas peom for the editorial page when we were reminded of this gem from our pal Rick Horowitz, a humorist and columnist for Wisconsin. Enjoy the brilliance.

The Perfect Storm

Boy, did we goof today.
The Almanac page – where we run Dear Abby, the daily calendar and the police blotter – accidentally ran in two places in today’s paper.
It ran on page 4A, where it should have been, and on page 2B, which should have been the daily box scores for Sports.
So how did it happen?
Bear with me …
The editor who designed the Almanac page on the computer, labeled the page as 2B, which is correct five days of the week.
Wednesday through Sunday, The Star is a four-section paper – News (A), Local News (B), Sports (C) and Features (D). The Almanac page is always 2B on those days.
But, on Mondays and Tuesdays, The Star is a two-section paper – News (A) and Sports (B). On those two days, the Almanac page is never 2B, but that’s how it got labeled for today’s paper.
Nearing midnight Monday night, as press workers prepared the pages to be run on the press, the page that was errantly labeled 2B was placed in the 2B position – in Sports.
A different press worker later put the same page in the 4A position, which is where it was supposed to be. And, since it was labeled 2B instead of 4A, he erased the page number. (If you look at today’s paper, you’ll notice that 4A doesn’t have a page number.) However, he didn’t know a different press worker had already put that same mislabeled page in the 2B position.
After the paper prints, the press workers routinely check to make sure the pages are numbered correctly. A quick pass through the paper will show they were.
It was the perfect storm.
There are a couple of places along the way where the mistake possibly could have been caught.
We’ll look today to see if there are things we can work into our routine to prevent such mistakes in the future.
We regret the mistake and any inconvenience it may have caused, but there’s a reason newspapers are called the “daily miracle.”