Links to the News

The Washington Post, Dec. 19, 2008

The Washington Post, Dec. 19, 2008

December 19, 2008: Today we are featuring "Page One" and the "Homepage" from The Washington Post. Here is an excerpt from their coverage on the death of Watergate's 'Deep Throat':

'Deep Throat' Mark Felt Dies at 95

By PATRICIA SULLIVAN 

W. Mark Felt Sr., the associate director of the FBI during the Watergate scandal who, better known as "Deep Throat," became the most famous anonymous source in American history, died yesterday. He was 95.

Felt died at 12:45 p.m. at his home in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Felt "was fine this morning" and was "joking with his caregiver," according to his daughter, Joan Felt. She said in a phone interview that her father ate a big breakfast before remarking that he was tired and going to sleep.

"He slipped away," she said.

As the second-highest official in the FBI under longtime director J. Edgar Hoover and interim director L. Patrick Gray, Felt detested the Nixon administration's attempt to subvert the bureau's investigation into the complex of crimes and coverups known as the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

He secretly guided Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward as he and his colleague Carl Bernstein pursued the story of the 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate office buildings and later revelations of the Nixon administration's campaign of spying and sabotage against its perceived political enemies.

Also from The Washington Post:
Editorial
Complete Coverage: The Watergate Story
FBI's No. 2 Was 'Deep Throat'
Woodward Reflects on Friendship
Deep Throat on Trial
After Deep Throat: Could We Uncover Watergate Today?

Video:
Bob Woodward talks about 'Deep Throat'
Felt Dead at 95

Photographs:
'Deep Throat' Revealed
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Lidove Noviny, Dec. 18, 2008 Newseum Image

December 18, 2008: The Prague, Czech Republic newspaper, Lidove Noviny, reports on Time magazine's 2008 Person of the Year. Here is an excerpt from the original Dec. 16th Time magazine story --

Person of the Year 2008
Why History Can't Wait

By DAVID VON DREHLE

....It's unlikely that you were surprised to see Obama's face on the cover. He has come to dominate the public sphere so completely that it beggars belief to recall that half the people in America had never heard of him two years ago -- that even his campaign manager, at the outset, wasn't sure Obama had what it would take to win the election. He hit the American scene like a thunderclap, upended our politics, shattered decades of conventional wisdom and overcame centuries of the social pecking order.
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Detroit Free Press, Dec. 17, 2008

December 17, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Detroit Free Press:

Free Press unveils historic changes
Emphasizing online, paring home delivery is strategy to survive

By JOHN GALLAGHER

The Free Press announced Tuesday a first-of-its-kind plan in the struggling U.S. newspaper industry -- emphasizing more online delivery of information and cutting back home delivery days.

Detroit Media Partnership Chief Executive Officer Dave Hunke, who also is publisher of the Free Press, said that starting in spring 2009, both the Free Press and the Detroit News -- also operated by the partnership -- would deliver to homes only on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, the heaviest days for advertising and the most popular papers for readers.

The printed newspapers will remain available seven days a week at stores, newsstands and coin boxes across Michigan, and through mail subscriptions. In addition, subscribers will have access to an electronic edition that will replicate the printed paper on their computers, with added features.

Hunke said the moves would allow both papers to maintain their news-gathering forces, shift resources to their Web sites -- and, for the foreseeable future, keep Detroit one of the nation's few remaining two-newspaper towns.

The changes come with a human cost. Hunke said the moves would lead to a reduction of about 9% of the Detroit Media Partnership workforce, which now totals about 2,100 people. But unlike the deep newsroom cuts at many other newspapers across the country, the Detroit plan involves no job reductions in the newsrooms of either paper.

"We're here because we're fighting for our survival," Hunke told a news conference at the Detroit Athletic Club on Tuesday morning. "We're also here because we have an absolute resolve to not only save but rethink and rebuild two of the greatest newspapers in the country."
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The Detroit News, Dec. 17, 2008 Newseum Image

December 17, 2008: An excerpt from a story in The Detroit News:

Dailies reveal unique delivery changes
News, Free Press print editions remain but home distribution reduced; Web sites enhanced

By MIKE WILKINSON and NATHAN HURST

DETROIT -- In a plan both bold and unprecedented, the partnership that oversees The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press announced radical changes Tuesday to how it will deliver the news: less home delivery and more use of the Internet.

Dealing with decreasing revenues and rising costs in a state hammered by a long economic downturn, the Detroit Media Partnership unveiled a plan that seeks to preserve papers born in the 19th century by maximizing the technology of the 21st.

By late March, home delivery will end except on Thursdays and Fridays at both papers and Sundays at the Free Press. During the rest of the week, smaller "compact" editions of both papers will be available at newsstands. Subscribers also will be able to view the paper online through an "electronic" edition that will resemble the printed page.

The plan ensures The News will continue to be printed six days a week and the Free Press seven days. Both detnews.com and freep.com will provide expanded content.

"We think the strategy can break the cycle of buyouts and downsizing and send us on a path of innovation and growth. And I mean it," said Jonathan Wolman, editor and publisher of The News. "With this initiative, we're laying plans to modernize the daily paper while expanding the immediacy and impact of our digital services."


(See also: For background information about the evolution of new media and online journalism visit Poynter's "New Media Timeline (1969-2008)")
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The Dallas Morning News, Dec. 16, 2008 Newseum Image

December 16, 2008: The Dallas Morning News presents the third of five parts from the series, "At the Edge of Life: Life and Death in 21st Century Medicine." Here is an excerpt from the series introduction:

Palliative care strives to improve final days

By LEE HANCOCK

Nobody wants to die a slow, lingering death. But many Texans do. Half die in hospitals. One in five passes away in intensive care. Often, their last months of life are expensive, painful exercises in medical futility.

Health care reformers in Dallas and around the nation are pushing for a better way to help people at the edge of life.

Practitioners of "palliative care" combine traditional medicine with pain relief, spiritual counseling, and practical advice for patients and families.

Unlike hospice, palliative care can continue alongside aggressive, life-sustaining treatments. Palliative doctors, nurses and other clinicians guide patients and families through searingly painful choices, including decisions to avoid overly invasive care. They aim to help patients live as well as possible for as long as possible, and to help grieving families prepare for the inevitable.

....reporter Lee Hancock and photographer Sonya N. Hebert spent almost a year at Baylor, documenting some of the most difficult and meaningful moments in the life of any nurse, doctor, patient or family member.
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Duluth News Tribune, Dec. 15, 2008 Newseum Image

December 15, 2008: The Web site for the Duluth News Tribune asked its readers to share their storm stories. Here are a few examples --

Zaba S.
Ely, MN   
8pm Sunday - friends just made it in to Ely from the Cities with no trouble - they just went slowly - and they have a big heavy pickup that was loaded with stuff.

Dan H.
I spent my afternoon watching a Bulldogs hockey game at the DECC. Had the whole freeway to myself on the way down there. One good part about a blizzard is it keeps most of the idiot Duluth drivers off the road so the rest of us can get where we're going with relative ease. And the Bulldogs kicked Princeton's butt...that's always a plus.

Lisa L.
Duluth, MN   
12 inch tall dog + 20 inch snow drifts = lost dog.

Jim C.
Cape Coral, FL   
Hello, I remember a short time back when me and my family lived on Peidmont Ave in a three story home about thirty feet from the street. When we would be in a blizzard condition we would stand in the front bedroom at the window that would overlook the street. We had a birds eye view of all the traffic as it would try to travel Peidmont Ave. The snow plows would often times swerve to go around stalled and stranded cars. Being in a blizzard in Duluth has always been an enjoyable time of our lives. Wish we could be there instead of being in Cape Coral Florida today where we are in shorts and tee shirts watching the events unfold in our home town.
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Rocky Mountain News, Dec. 15, 2008 Newseum Image

December 15, 2008: An excerpt from a story on the Rocky Mountain News Web site:

Shoes thrown at Bush during surprise trip to Iraq

From the Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- On an Iraq trip shrouded in secrecy and marred by dissent, President George W. Bush on Sunday hailed progress in the war that defines his presidency and got a size-10 reminder of his unpopularity when a man hurled two shoes at him during a news conference.

"This is a farewell kiss, you dog!" shouted the protester in Arabic, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.

Bush ducked both shoes as they whizzed past his head and landed with a thud against the wall behind him.

"It was a size 10," Bush joked later.

The U.S. president visited the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war off to his successor, Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence in a nation still riven by ethnic strife and to celebrate a recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.

"The war is not over," Bush said, adding that "it is decisively on it's way to being won."
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Orlando Sentinel, Dec. 12, 2008 Newseum Image

December 12, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Orlando Sentinel:

Is it Caylee Anthony? Remains in east Orange may be key to puzzle

By BIANCA PRIETO, SARAH LUNDY and WILLOUGHBY MARIANO

A plastic bag of child's bones found in a wet, wooded area Thursday could solve a months-old mystery: Where is Caylee Marie Anthony?

But can it answer a more perplexing question: What happened to her?

An Orange County utility worker discovered a child's remains among vines and twigs about two blocks from the home on Hopespring Drive where Caylee lived with her mother and grandparents.

The girl's mother, Casey Anthony, was charged in October with killing the girl, but she and her grandparents have insisted for months that the toddler was alive, kidnapped by a baby sitter.
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RedEye, Dec. 11, 2008 Newseum Image

December 11, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Chicago paper, RedEye:

State of confusion
Obama, Jackson Jr. speak out as G-Rod saga thrusts Illinois into spotlight

Illinois -- or, as Stephen Colbert called it on his show, the "Land of Stinkin'â€�€�" -- woke up Wednesday to find itself the talk of the country, if not the laughingstock of the country.

It wasn't too long ago that Chicago was the envy of the world, as millions tuned in to watch the celebration unfold after Barack Obama won the presidency.

Tuesday's arrest of Gov. Blagojevich at his Northwest Side home turned the tables. Video clips rehashing the governor's profane phone conversations -- secretly recorded for the FBI -- dragged the state's ugly political tradition back into the limelight. Allegations of fraud and corruption detailed in the FBI's criminal complaint against Blagojevich also raised questions about whom else his alleged actions might taint, including Obama and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

(See also: Additional Front Pages about the Blagojevich Scandal)
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Chicago Tribune, Dec. 9, 2008 Newseum Image

December 9, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Chicago Tribune:

Tribune Co. files for bankruptcy protection

By MICHAEL ONEAL and PHIL ROSENTHAL 

Facing what Chairman Sam Zell called a "perfect storm" of forces roiling the media industry and the broader economy, Chicago-based Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors Monday.

The move opens the most painful episode yet in a tumultuous period at the company that started when the former owners of the Los Angeles Times, which Tribune Co. acquired in 2000, forced the company to seek a restructuring more than two years ago.

That process culminated in Zell taking the company private last December in a debt-laden transaction, which exposed the Chicago Tribune parent, a longtime pillar of the city's business and civic life, to fierce economic forces it couldn't weather.

(See also: "A Note from Publisher Tony Hunter." Chicago Tribune, Dec. 8, 2008.)
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Chicago Sun-Times, Dec. 9, 2008 Newseum Image

December 9, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Chicago Sun-Times:

Tribune Co. files for bankruptcy

BY DAVID ROEDER

Nearly a year after Sam Zell took it private in a debt-fueled "deal from hell," Tribune Co. asked for bankruptcy protection Monday.

The Chicago-based media giant resorted to filing for a voluntary reorganization in Delaware because its revenue declines have accelerated while the global credit squeeze has made it almost impossible to sell assets.

In its Chapter 11 filing, Tribune said it has sufficient cash to continue operations. It also said it has secured a letter of credit from Barclays Capital Inc. in case revenue continues to fall.

The company listed assets of $7.6 billion and debt of $12.9 billion.

Bankruptcy protection does not mean the company will fold. With the approval of a bankruptcy judge, Tribune can continue operations, principally newspapers and television stations. Its papers include the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun.
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West Hawaii Today, Dec. 8, 2008 Newseum Image

December 8, 2008: An excerpt from a story in West Hawaii Today:

We Remember
Pearl Harbor commemoration focuses on U.S. response

By HERBERT A. SAMPLE
(The Associated Press)

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- With smoke still billowing from the torpedoed ruins of the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, Thomas Griffin's B-25 group took off from its Oregon base to search for Japanese ships or submarines along the West Coast.

They didn't find any vessels from what they feared was an invading fleet. But four months later, the group flew from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet and attacked Tokyo, the first retaliation the United States inflicted on Japan.

The raid of medium bombers inflicted little damage but boosted U.S. morale and embarrassed the Japanese.

Japan responded by launching the ill-fated attack on Midway Island six weeks later, recalled Griffin, a keynote speaker at Sunday's annual ceremony commemorating the 67th anniversary of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, which marked America's entry into World War II.
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Detroit Free Press, Dec. 5, 2008

December 5, 2008: A message to readers from Detroit Free Press editor Paul Anger about the newspaper's open letter to members of Congress.

Why we're sending this message

The Free Press is sending copies of this edition to members of Congress.

We have chronicled the U.S. auto industry since its birth, as Detroit became the world's Motor City, as cars and trucks changed the American culture and landscape, as assembly line jobs gave rise to the American middle class. Our journalists have reported the automakers' triumphs and exposed their troubles. We know this industry better than anyone.

We also know that while a newspaper needs to inform, there are times when a newspaper needs to speak up for what's right.

We know what automakers and autoworkers mean to this nation. We know what will happen if one of the auto companies is allowed to collapse. We know because this industry has been our story since it started.

And we know that America needs this story to continue.


(See also: Poynter's "Freep Editor on Front-Page Editorial Supporting the Big Three." By Steve Myers.)
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Rocky Mountain News, Dec. 5, 2008 Newseum Image

December 5, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Rocky Mountain News:

Rocky Mountain News for sale
Parent company says it will entertain offers -- if any -- for next four-six weeks

By JAMES PATON 

The Rocky Mountain News is on the sale block, facing an uncertain future as Colorado's oldest newspaper approaches its 150th anniversary.

The head of Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps, the Rocky's owner, acknowledged in making the announcement Thursday that if a buyer does not step forward in the next four to six weeks that the paper could be closed - a move that could occur as soon as early 2009.

"We're not here today to close the paper," Rich Boehne, president and chief executive of Scripps, told staffers gathered in the newsroom late Thursday morning. "We're here today to say the status quo is not going to work."

Scripps expects the Rocky to lose $15 million this year, Boehne said.

"It's too early to write the obituary of the Rocky Mountain News - way, way too early," said Mark Contreras, senior vice president of the newspaper division for Scripps.

The paper is caught in a complex and fast-changing media world and a crumbling economy that has seen newsrooms across the nation decimated in recent months. Just this week, Gannett Co. Inc., the country's largest newspaper company, began a round of layoffs expected to eliminate at least 2,000 jobs at its 85 U.S. newspapers. And nearly every large paper in the country has laid off workers in 2007 and 2008.

The Rocky and its rival, The Denver Post, have struggled with sagging income - including the loss of an estimated $100 million in classified advertisement revenues. Although the two papers are separately owned and competitive, they are partners in a third company, the Denver Newspaper Agency, which handles the business operations of both publications.
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The Kansas City Star, Dec. 3, 2008 Newseum Image

December 3, 2008: An excerpt from a story in The Kansas City Star:

Congress now has Big Three's retooled cases for a bailout

Star news services

WASHINGTON -- The fates of Detroit's Big Three automakers are now in the hands of lawmakers.

Detroit's once-mighty automakers Tuesday appealed to Congress with a retooled case for a bailout as large as $34 billion, pledging to slash workers, car lines and executive pay in return for a federal lifeline. GM and Chrysler said they needed an immediate cash infusion to last until the new year, and warned they could drag the entire industry down if they fail.

The chief executives of all three companies will travel to Washington for hearings Thursday and Friday and try to persuade lawmakers to act quickly on the loan requests at a special, lame-duck session of Congress next week.
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El Paso Times, Dec. 2, 2008 Newseum Image

December 2, 2008: An excerpt from a story on the El Paso Times Web site:

Obama announces cabinet appointments, Hillary Clinton chosen for secretary of state

Times wire report

CHICAGO -- President-elect Barack Obama announced Monday that Robert Gates would remain as defense secretary, making President Bush's Pentagon chief his own as he seeks to wind down the U.S. role in Iraq. Obama picked former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.

At a news conference, Obama also introduced retired Marine Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser, former Justice Department official Eric Holder as attorney general and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security.

The announcements rounded out the top tier of the team that will advise the incoming chief executive on foreign and national security issues in an era marked by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and terrorism around the globe.
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Anandabazar Patricka, Dec. 1, 2008 Newseum Image

December 1, 2008: The Calcutta, India newspaper, Anandabazar Patricka reports on the Mumbai attacks. Here is an excerpt from a story on the BBC News Web site:

Bustling Mumbai tries to find normality 

By PRACHI PINGLAY 

The citizens of Mumbai returned to its bustling streets on Monday with a mixture of necessity, resolve -- and a lot of fatigue.

But what of the Mumbai "spirit" of bouncing back from tragedy? Has it been doused by the deadly attacks?

Offices, schools and colleges opened. Railways stations were crowded; roads were jammed with the usual traffic. The stock markets opened in the black but fell back during the day's trade.

At the targeted sites like the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) rail station, the Oberoi-Trident hotel and the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, people were discussing the attacks on India's financial capital.

Dinesh Patel, a bank employee who comes to Churchgate station every day, complained security was far from adequate.

"When Mumbai has been attacked so many times, security should be as tight as it is at airports. There should be vigilance. But basically everyone is just getting used to these incidents and even the loss of life."

There is a feeling of being let down by the government -- with Mumbai's security compromised so often.
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The Telegraph, Nov. 28, 2008 Newseum Image

November 28, 2008: An excerpt from a story in The Calcutta, India newspaper, The Telegraph:

FEAR
Room-to-room battles at hotels and Jewish centre

 

Mumbai, Nov. 27: Commandos rescued most of the hostages after room-to-room battles with terrorists inside two landmark hotels, as the country and the maximum city grappled to come to terms with the series of attacks being dubbed India's 9/11 for their massive scale and ruthless efficiency.

 

At least 109 people have been killed and 315 wounded in the strikes that began a little after 9 on Wednesday evening and were continuing over 27 hours later, the battlegrounds being the iconic Taj Mahal hotel, the Oberoi-Trident and Nariman House, a Jewish centre in Colaba frequented by Israeli visitors. The Union home ministry put the number of dead at 125 and the wounded at 327.

 

An unexpected casualty appeared to be the resilience of Mumbai which has in the past bounced back in the face of disasters -- manmade or otherwise. From UB group chairman Vijay Mallya to other ordinary office-goers, Mumbaikars stayed home as fear gripped its office-going population.

 

When the day began after a horrifying night of chain strikes that numbed the city that never sleeps, around 200 people were trapped in the three places. The two hotels and the Jewish centre are located a short distance away from each other in south Mumbai, the symbol of India's financial prowess much like the twin towers of the World Trade Center that fell on September 11, 2001.

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The Christian Science Monitor Nov. 25, 2008, Newseum Image

November 25, 2008: An excerpt from a story in The Christian Science Monitor:

Our first century
A mandate to 'lighten' still drives the Monitor at the dawn of its second 100 years.

By DAVID T. COOK 

One hundred years ago today, the first issue of The Christian Science Monitor thundered off presses in Boston's Back Bay.

So began a remarkable chapter in American journalism: a newspaper published by a church, aimed at a general rather than a denominational audience, and promising coverage that was global in scope and constructive in character.

It is a story rich in courage, devotion, and experimentation. In its first century, the Monitor would win seven Pulitzer Prizes for news coverage and cartooning, see three of its correspondents taken captive while on assignment, start two magazines, multiple radio programs and a cable-TV news channel, cycle through 14 editors, and print stories from a diverse group of writers -- including Winston Churchill and Ralph Nader. All of this was done to deliver to families and political leaders journalism that illuminated the world's challenges in an effort to help humanity.

The Monitor's launch was mission-driven rather than market-driven. In the summer of 1908, Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of the Christian Science religion, ordered the startled officials of her church to "start a daily newspaper at once." Just over 100 days later, a professional news organization was in operation.

Mrs. Eddy was an inveterate clipper of newspaper articles and had written for several papers. She also knew the ugly side of the press firsthand, having been savaged by a journalistic and legal attack mounted by Joseph Pulitzer's sensational New York World.

Once the World's assault ended, Mrs. Eddy's response was an ambitious effort to reform journalism by example.
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The Virginian-Pilot, Nov. 24, 2008 Newseum Image

November 24, 2008: An excerpt from a story in The Virginian-Pilot:

A home lost and found in less than 150 days

The Suffolk Tornado
(Part 2 of 2) (Part 1)

By KRISTIN DAVIS

SUFFOLK -- Lines rose over Monica Alvarado's right upper arm like little jagged mountains.
Everyone watched. Her mother and father. Her brother, Kenny. The hospital corpsman in scuffed boots and brown fatigues with his tray of instruments.

The doctor at Oceana Naval Air Station's Branch Health Clinic declared that Monica's stitches were ready to come out.

"There will be permanent scars," the doctor said. "Antibiotic ointment will help."

Monica wasn't worried about that at the moment. She's right-handed and the cuts made it hard to write. A teacher at school insisted she try with her left, but she couldn't make it work. She was worried about algebra, a subject that stumped her from the start but now seemed nearly impossible.

Monica lifted her shoulders and then dropped them and let out a sigh when the stitches were out. She smiled, and her mother stopped cringing.

Monica showed off her right arm. "Now I have a bigger scar than you," she said to Kenny.

The wind picked up outside. It was a warm, sticky day in early May. Most of eastern Virginia was under a tornado watch, but Kenny and Monica's parents didn't tell them.
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The Sun, Nov. 21, 2008 Newseum Image

November 21, 2008: An excerpt from a story in The Baltimore Sun:

Turmoil grows

From Sun news services

WASHINGTON -- Jarred by new jobless alarms, Congress raced to approve legislation yesterday to keep unemployment checks flowing through the December holidays and into the new year for 1 million or more laid-off Americans whose benefits are running out.

The economic picture was only getting worse, if Wall Street was any indication. The Dow Jones industrials dropped more than 400 points for a second straight day, reaching the lowest level in more than five years, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell below lows established six years ago as it lost almost 7 percent.

And the $25 billion rescue plan for the auto industry, desperately sought by Detroit's beleaguered Big Three, collapsed yesterday as Congress drew the line at one more bailout and Democrats said they would not even consider it until the companies produce a convincing plan for rebuilding their once-mighty industry.
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The Detroit News, Nov. 20, 2008 Newseum Image

November 20, 2008: An excerpt from a column in The Detroit News:

To rest of U.S., Detroit is mired in the past

By DANIEL HOWES 

To watch two days of hearings on how -- or whether -- Congress should rescue Detroit's close-to-failing automakers is to be haunted by a recurring question: How did we get here?

I don't mean the fine technical points of product plans, quality, fuel efficiency, market share, financial reports and brand image -- or lack thereof. That story we know, especially here, in all its excruciating detail. I mean the broader strokes of a country that has moved further into the future, or so it clearly felt this week, than the three automakers from Detroit.

The CEOs of once-powerful engines of American industry, whose might helped win World War II and whose wealth helped build the middle class, are reduced to lobbying for emergency financial aid from politicians straining to understand the car business. The president of the United Auto Workers is forced to defend 70 years of bargaining, a model fast disappearing from American business.
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The Vancouver Sun, Nov. 19, 2008 Newseum Image

November 19, 2008:
The Vancouver Sun has compiled a special section for the 150th anniversary of British Columbia.

It includes a collection of newspaper front pages beginning in 1858.


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San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 18, 2008 Newseum Image

November 18, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Jonestown and the City Hall Assassinations
Ten days That Shook the City

(Last of Three Parts)

By DUFFY JENNINGS 

Monday, Nov. 27, 1978. 10:35 a.m.

I'm sitting at my desk in the city room on the third floor of The Chronicle at Fifth and Mission streets, reading the newspaper and waiting for a story to do.

A moment later, assignment editor Richard Hemp beckons me urgently as he hangs up a call from Bob Popp, our police beat reporter stationed at the Hall of Justice.

"Some kind of police activity going on at City Hall," Hemp says. "Lots of units responding."

"On the way, Dick," I answer, already out of my chair, grabbing my coat and notebook. "What do we know?"

"Report of a shooting is all. Call me from the car."

In front of him on the desk stands a small microphone wired directly to head photographer Gordon Peters down the hall. Hemp leans in to the mike, presses down the button. The radio crackles to life.

"Shots fired at City Hall, Gordo. I'm sending Duffy."
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The Record, Nov. 18, 2008 Newseum Image

November 18, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Stockton, California newspaper, The Record:

Jonestown: 30 Years Later

By TIM REITERMAN
(The Associated Press)

Dark clouds tumbled overhead on that afternoon 30 years ago, in the last hours of the congressman's mission deep in the jungle of Guyana.

With a small entourage, Rep. Leo Ryan had come to investigate the remote agricultural settlement built by a California-based church. But while he was there, more than a dozen people had stepped forward: We want to return to the United States, they said fearfully.

Suddenly a powerful wind tore through the central pavilion, riffling pages of my notebook, and the skies dumped torrents that bowed plantain fronds. People scrambled for cover as I interviewed the founder of Peoples Temple.

"I feel sorry that we are being destroyed from within," intoned the Rev. Jim Jones, stunned that members of his flock wanted to abandon the place he called the Promised Land.

That freakish storm and the mood seemed ominous -- and not just to me. "I felt evil itself blow into Jonestown when that storm hit," recalls Tim Carter, one of the few settlers to survive that day.

Within hours, Carter would see his wife and son die of cyanide poisoning, two of the more than 900 people Jones led in a murder and suicide ritual of epic proportions.

And I would be wounded when a team of temple assassins unleashed a fusillade that killed Ryan -- the first congressman slain in the line of duty -- and four others, including three newsmen.
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Orange County Register, Nov. 17, 2008 Newseum Image

November 17, 2008: An excerpt from a story in The Orange County Register:

'Dad - prepare yourself'
A daughter prepares her traveling father that his Yorba Linda home was destroyed in a firestorm.

By GREG HARDESTY
 
YORBA LINDA -- "Dad, I think you need to prepare yourself," Kim Bailey told her father. "Nothing is going to prepare you for this. Hold on tight."

The home he and his wife had shared for more than 20 years - packed with memories and invaluable items - was gone.

"Need any help?" a passerby asked Bailey.

"What's there to do," she said, not really asking a question.

Bailey's husband, Mike, wearing protective gloves, randomly poked through the mess, seeing but really not comprehending the magnitude of what surrounded him.

"It's hard to figure out what anything is at this point," Mike Bailey said.
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Publico, November 14, 2008 Newseum Image

November 14, 2008: The Lisbon, Portugal newspaper, Publico, reports on photographs of distant planets. Here is an excerpt from a story on the BBC News Web site:

Exoplanets finally come into view

The first pictures of planets outside our Solar System have been taken, two groups report in the journal Science.

Visible and infrared images have been snapped of a planet orbiting a star 25 light-years away.

The planet is believed to be the coolest, lowest-mass object ever seen outside our own solar neighbourhood.

In a separate study, an exoplanetary system, comprising three planets, has been directly imaged, circling a star in the constellation Pegasus.

While several claims have been made to such direct detection before, they have later been proven wrong or await confirmation.
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The Guardian, November 13, 2008 Newseum Image

November 13, 2008:  An updated Web site story from the London, England newspaper, The Guardian:

World markets slide on further economic gloom

By JULIA KOLLEWE        

Stockmarkets in Europe and Asia were hit today by worries over the US and Chinese economies, as Germany became the second eurozone country to sink into recession.

After a surge of selling, Japan's Nikkei index closed down 5.25%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 5.15%, in an indication that the global financial turmoil is continuing.

In London, traders also reacted badly to the official confirmation that Germany, Europe's largest economy, has followed Ireland into recession. Shortly before midday the FTSE 100 was down 72 points at 4110, having lost over 100 points at one stage.

Investors were also spooked by US Treasury secretary Henry Paulson's surprise move yesterday to abandon plans to buy toxic mortgage-related assets from banks as part of a $700bn (£380bn) financial resucue package.