This could be trouble

While Debbie is harmlessly spinning in the central Atlantic and posts no threat to land, a tropical low that has not even reached depression status is a much more real threat. Check out this satellite loop. The system is just entering the far eastern Caribbean. A NOAA aircraft will investigate the system today. The Caribbean is highly charged with warm water and if this system forms it could grow explosively. Long range models indicate that the system could very well enter the Gulf of Mexico sometime the week before Labor Day. Watch this one closely.

Football season

Starting to get pumped about prep/college/pro football getting cranked up.

Quick assessment on "my teams." (don't have a local prep favorite -- I'll leave handicapping of that Fab Four to Alan and Randy.)

Panthers: Always makes me nervous when my team is the trendy pick, as the Panthers are this pre-season.
Key questions:
1) Will D. Foster stay healthy and if not, will D. Williams be ready to take his place?
2) Will Dan Morgan stay healthy and if not, and with W. Witherspoon gone, will the LB corps hold up.
3) Will the OL continue last year's improvement trend.
4) Will Keyshawn shut up?


Florida State Seminoles: This is a "no-excuse" year for Bobby Bowden. No more Chris Rix to blame (Weatherford is a very experienced sophomore now). No big pre-season injuries (yet). The schedule is as easy as its ever been (Troy, Rice, Western Michigan along with ACC slate and Florida).
Key questions:
1) Will Oline perform. If not, it's another 3-5 loss season
2) Will young D-line step up?
3) Will Weatherford continue to grow, or regress like Rix did his sophomore season?
4) Can the Noles get by Miaim to open season and establish positive momentum?

Let the politics begin!

I received this e-mail today:

I assume you will be publishing the republican response to the Chairman of the Democratic party on gas prices. Also your front page head line indicates because these people attended a breakfest they are supporting Don Allen for sheriff. If you read the article none of them say they are supporting this candidate.

Here was my response:
Thanks for writing.
Regarding a response to Betsy Wells, we open up our editorial page to commentary from all who want to write. As I'm sure you saw, we recently published a column by Wes Westmoreland, the GOP candidate for state senate. If the head of the local Republican Party would like to write and respond, she is more than welcomed.
Regarding today's story, I think our headlines (and this certainly isn't always true!) were quite accurate. We basically posed the question -- are these Democrats being loyal to their party by going to a fundraiser for a sheriff's candidate in another party? I think that's a fair question that was accurately captured by our headline. I didn't see anything that said those folks were necessarily supporting Don Allen. You're right -- none of them said they were. Of course, they didn't say they weren't either!
Thanks again for writing.

Skip Foster

Keep an eye on Chris

If you are headed to Florida next weekend, or anywhere on the Gulf coast next week, you'll want to stay closely tuned to the weather.

Here is the latest tracking map on Tropical Storm Chris.

As you can see, it is forecasted to be approaching the southern tip of Florida by late in the weekend.

Stay tuned.

Tough call

We spent a lot of time in the newsroom debating about how to handle this story, which finally ran over the weekend. Mainly, we were trying to balance concern for the family of the deceased with the news value of the story -- that news value being that the victim of the fatal car crash should not have been on the road in the first place, because of a series of "driving with license revoked" arrests.

We did a couple of things to mitigate any pain the story might have brought -- first, we waited until after the funeral; second, we ran the story inside, rather than on the front.

So, do you think this story was newsworthy, or should it have been left out altogether?

Out to get Burns?

Interesting thread to which I responded on the Star message board regarding the use of Burns in the lead of the tragic story of an apparent homicide.

Unbelievable!

Note the passages in bold. This is everything that's wrong with modern-day environmentalism.



LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge temporarily stopped construction on a $320 million irrigation project Thursday, ruling the changes could disturb the habitat of a woodpecker that might or might not exist.
Scientists had thought the ivory-billed woodpecker was extinct until a kayaker reported spotting one in 2004 near the White River in eastern Arkansas. Ornithologists flocked to the area but were unable to prove conclusively that the woodpecker exists.
U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson said that, for purposes of the lawsuit, he had to presume the woodpecker exists in that area. He said federal agencies may have violated the Endangered Species Act by not studying the habitat fully.
``When an endangered species is allegedly jeopardized, the balance of hardships and public interest tips in favor of the protected species,'' Wilson wrote. ``Here there is evidence the IBW may be jeopardized.''
At the same time, aquifers beneath eastern Arkansas soybean, cotton and rice fields have become less reliable water sources. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last year began construction on the Grand Prairie Irrigation Project, 14 miles from where the bird was spotted.

The Star gets some ink, er .... pixels

Steve Buttry, of the American Press Institute, wrote a column on API's web site about The Star's innovations. I'd be interested in any comments on his column.

It is very interesting to see and hear the responses of industry folks to the things we are doing. You might be surprised at how few papers have on-line video, blogs, etc.

Even some television stations have yet to feature video on their web sites!

Too long ...

Been too long since I've updated -- sorry about that.

Wanted to open the floor to story ideas -- topics, people, events you would like to see covered in the paper.

Let's have 'em!

Print Star changes

A heads up for my devoted (?) blog readers.

We will be making a few tweaks in the print Star in response to some reader complaints. Namely:

1) We will return the obits back toward their original form. All of the personal information will be in paragraph form. Only the details on the funeral, burial, etc. will be in the bulleted form.
2) We will bump up the size of the type we use with graphics, lists, calendars, etc.
3) We will replace our Page 2A celebrity news with a Top Nation/World story of the day feature. We have added so much local to the paper, it often squeezes out national and international news. This will ensure that at least the top story of the day will be in that spot.

We will be tweaking some other design elements, which you probably will not notice (some leading, fonts, etc.).

Biblical basis for big government?

Very interesting story today on a Kings Mountain councilman who argues that there is no Biblical basis for government spending on social programs.

We have an editorial going on this Friday -- basically saying he's right.

Your thoughts?

Bumper sticker

I think I saw the most offensive bumper sticker ever yesterday.

It read: "Work harder: Millions on welfare are counting on you."

That someone would actually put that on their car says a whole lot about where this country is headed.

Also, speaking of things I see while driving, what with those signs stuck in the ground offering mattresses for sale. Why mattresses? I don't get it.

Post-EOG week

Lots of debate being generated over our stories on post EOG "celebrations" and such.

One argument I'm hearing a lot is: "We need a break after those stressful tests."

Isn't that what summer vacation is for?

A quiz

I have been so pleased to see an increase in the number of local names and faces in The Star. Last Thursday, I decided to count them all.

Question: How many local names or faces appeared in last Thursday's edition of The Star (I did not count survivors in obits - if a name appeared with a face (i.e. mug shot), I only counted that once).

The closest guesser gets a Star coffee mug.

Couple changes in The New Star

First, we have bumped up the point size in what we call our "graphics copy." Basically this is non-body copy. Hmmmm -- that still may confuse you. Let me put it this way, the typeface that appears in regular stories did not change during our overhaul. But we did change the typeface that is used for "non-paragraph" copy, such as lists, honor rolls, jail logs and the left hand rails that were created.

We increased that point size to make for easier reading.

Also, we went back to a 1-column format for the obits. We found that readers didn't like following one line of copy all the way across two columns.

Anyway, hope you are enjoying the increase in local news in the paper.

Terrible bill ....

How can anyone defend a law which would require 80-year-old people to be carded??????

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee is one step away from becoming the first state to require stores selling beer to check the age of every buyer, even those obviously older than 21.
The universal carding legislation sponsored by Rep. Gary Moore, D-Joelton, is on its way to the governor for his signature after passing the House Thursday on a vote of 75-20. The legislation was unanimously approved in the Senate last week.
``This bill will put Tennessee first. It's an innovative approach to prevent the sale of beer to minors,'' Moore said.
Besides requiring carding, the legislation would also create a voluntary ``responsible vendors program.''
In return for training and certifying clerks, stores in the responsible vendors program would face lower fines and couldn't have their beer permits revoked for a first offense of selling to underage drinkers.
Some local governments, which control beer permits, opposed the bill over that provision.
Universal carding would apply to all vendors regardless of whether they enroll in the program. The carding rule would expire after one year unless the General Assembly renews the law next legislative session.

Predictions

OK, I reserve the right to change these as the election draws near, but I'm going to stick my neck out and make predictions for the main local races in November.


Sheriff:
Incumbent Raymond Hamrick will barely hold off a strong bid by Republican Don Allen -- it will be something like 52-48 or 51-49 Hamrick. And this definitely could change in the next 5 months.

Commissioner:
Again, the Democratic ticket will prevail as Jo Boggs and Eddie Holbrook win over Kelly Hastings and Bill Chambless

Clerk of Court:
I see Sharon Jones emerging from the Democratic runoff and besting Claudia Glenn.

DA:
Democrat Rick Shaffer (helped by the loss of commissioners candidate Ron Schaeffer who might have caused name recognition problems) will defeat Republican lawyer Colin McWhirter.

N.C. House
Finally, a Republican who will win! Incumbent Tim Moore will hold off Democrat Betsy Fonveille.

N.C. Senate
I think this is the toughest race to call. When in doubt, though, go with the incumbent. I'll take Democrat Walter Dalton over GOP challenger Wes Westmoreland.


So, it's a long way until the general election, but if these predictions hold true, it will be a big night locally for Democrats.

We shall see.

What do YOU think?

New Web site

First of all, we appreciate your patience as we convert to our new site design. We are doing this while simultaneously moving to a new, better, faster server, so lots of complications arising, as would be expected.

Once we work the kinks out, I would love to get your feedback on the new site. While the changes to the print Star involved content and design improvements, this is mainly a redesign, because we've been adding multi-media features to shelbystar.com over the past few months.

Anyway, we are compiling a list of tweaks we need to make on the site-- feel free to post here with things we need to add or, heaven forbid, things you LIKE about the new design!

Duke case

Here is blog post I was asked to make for the Poynter Insitute, a journalism thinktank in St. Petersburg.

Rod Stewart night???

What's the matter, Englebert Humperdink wasn't available?

Why do you have to be a washed up rocker to get a theme night on American Idol.

Oh well, at least I don't have to watch Bucky sing "Do ya think I'm sexy" .......