If “The Fifth Season Is Progress,” it better be a long season

This will be my column for Monday’s Gazette.
“The Fifth Season Is Progress” proclaims a billboard as you approach the Cedar River on Interstate 380.
Almost a year ago, the I-380 bridge was the only way to cross the river in downtown, as the river surged for blocks beyond its banks in both directions, swallowing bridges and buildings [...]

Read Full Post »

A fascinating new, old photo of China’s “tank man”

I savor every uplifting story about journalism in these difficult times.
My last post dealt, as most of my work and writing today does, with the difficult times in the news industry and in our search for solutions. Sometimes we need stories of great journalism, to fuel our fight for a prosperous future.
I read two such [...]

Read Full Post »

Gazette flood coverage wins Sigma Delta Chi Award

I hope you’ll pardon some boasting as I note that The Gazette today won the 2008 Sigma Delta Chi Award.
Our coverage of the floods of 2008 won the deadline reporting award for newspapers under 100,000 circulation.
This continues a terrific run of recognition for our outstanding staff, which has previously won awards for our flood coverage [...]

Read Full Post »

Czech Village project uses new storytelling skills

If you want to follow or help chronicle the progress of flood recovery in Czech Village, spend some time with ”It Takes a Village.”
This multimedia project by Gazette staff members Cindy Hadish, David Miessler-Kubanek and Greg Schmidt shows pictures and reports the status of businesses in the  historic Czech Village area of Cedar Rapids.
Click on the Bohemian Cafe [...]

Read Full Post »

Time for Cedar Rapids to get pushy

Leaders at all levels are failing Cedar Rapids.
We need to get tough. We need to get mean. And we need to do it now.
I remember after last June’s floods, I got tired of all the e-mails I would receive, both from Iowans and from people outside the state, who found some sort of virtue in [...]

Read Full Post »

Lots left to learn after a year of learning

My Sunday column:
As a young adult, I had this misguided notion that someday I would move from learning to knowing.
Haven’t reached that day yet.
As the calendar turns from one year to the next, many of us savor the year past and wonder what the year ahead might hold. As I look back on [...]

Read Full Post »

Remember the first of the 5 W’s: Who

One thing that hasn’t changed in the newspaper business is that we get annoyed when broadcast media, as they frequently do, rip off our stories without credit.
My friend Daniel P. Finney of the Des Moines Register, night cops reporter and author of one of the best beat-reporting Twitter feeds, DM_in_the_PM, expressed this annoyance Saturday, noting in [...]

Read Full Post »

Tell your story at iowafloodstories.com

A draft of my Sunday column:
Many of the stories, photos and videos at iowafloodstories.com will already be familiar to you. We want you to add your own stories, photos and videos to make this a complete record of the 2008 Cedar Rapids flood.
What is new about iowafloodstories.com is the presentation. You can use a map [...]

Read Full Post »

Culver isn’t moving “as quickly as possible” on flood relief

Here’s a draft of my column for the Sunday Gazette:
Pardon my skepticism, Governor.
I had to laugh when I saw the quote from Gov. Chet Culver in large type on the front page of Saturday’s Gazette: “I want to get businesses up and running as quickly as possible.” I didn’t laugh because it was funny. This [...]

Read Full Post »