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Al's Morning Meeting

Home > Reporting, Writing & Editing > Al's Morning Meeting
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Al Tompkins
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A dozen sites
I'm diggin'


*1. "Wired" explains how to figure out who is behind a Twitter page.

2. Check out FarmVille, Facebook's fastest growing application.

3. Before any health care reform vote, watch Steve Kroft's "60 Minutes Story" on the $60 billion in Medicare fraud that poisons the system each year.

4. Slate reported that some companies under criminal investigation still received stimulus money.

*5. USA Today reporters Brad Heath and Blake Morrison, WNYC's Radio Rookies and others won Casey Medals for their coverage of children. Watch this video of Heath and Morrison talking about their 8-month investigation of toxic air outside America's schools.

6. The Washington Post reveals how Washington, D.C., which has the nation's highest rate of AIDS cases, wasted millions of dollars on AIDS care.

7. The Association of Independents in Radio has provided a one-stop shopping page for people trying to sell freelance radio stories.

8. Sidewalks are in such bad shape in some cash-strapped towns that people who use wheelchairs are having to ride along the street instead.

*9. There's a new wearable HD camera for sports and action video that costs less than $350. Watch this sample video.

*10. The Tennessean's "Life on Hold" project looks at the lives of 20-year-olds trying to "figure it all out." The project features some really nice multimedia.

11. What words do you use that your readers don't understand? The New York Times tracks the words that its readers look up.

12. Read Beth Macy's first-person account about her Roanoke Times' project, "Age of Uncertainty." The series is about her community's aging senior citizens and the people who care for them.

All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but relies on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.


State Governments See Growing Budget Problems
You no doubt have heard of the troubles California lawmakers are having with their budget.

But the issue is more widespread than California. At least 22 states are reporting big problems.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

"States have been confronted with bad economic circumstances in the past, but never so many states, all at once," said William T. Pound, executive director of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The revenue pools are shrinking for a number of reasons: Rising layoffs are cutting into payroll taxes. The credit crisis and housing slump are affecting taxes levied on real estate deals. Sales taxes are shrinking as shoppers worried about the economy stay home.

Every state in the union but Vermont legally requires a balanced budget. So state governments have begun cutting.
  • In Utah, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. called the Legislature back for a special session last month to slash $270 million with an across-the-board 3 percent budget cut.
  • Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine this month disclosed a sudden $900-million budget gap and announced 500 layoffs, the suspension of 2 percent raises for state workers and a hiring freeze.
  • Georgia, faced with a $2-billion shortfall, is contemplating cuts of up to 10 percent at state agencies. Lawmakers are also discussing eliminating funding for the state's Music Hall of Fame in Macon.
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Posted at 11:05 AM on Oct. 22, 2008
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