I was on a plane to Boston, about to turn off my electronic device before takeoff. When I landed at Logan’s Gate B34, which is two gates over from where American Airlines Flight 11 left from on 9/11, I interviewed American Airlines gate attendants and pilots.

One pilot, John Keese, told me he was flying across the country when an announcement came over the radio that bin Laden had been killed. The radio chatter picked up as pilots started talking about it to each other, and Keese was glad for it. “Because there’s such a thing as justice in this world.”

It was surreal for some of the gate attendants, who said it was welcome news but it brought back painful memories of that day. The subdued reaction was in stark contrast to the festive mood of the hundreds who gathered on Boston Common, which I went to cover next.

Drugs, brandy and the British: how journos spend their time off

Who CARES?!?!

This is one of the most self-indulgent stories I’ve ever seen. As Jim Backus’s character says in “Deadline U.S.A.” — “A journalist makes himself the story. A reporter is a witness.”