Biden is the Veep

Sen. Joe Biden was evidently chosen as Barack Obama's vice presidential running mate tonight. That means we're stuck with Governor Sebelius for a while longer. Dang.

First day enrollments

Every year I hope I'll call schools after the first day of classes and I'll find each school added several to their enrollment totals from the previous year. But unfortunately, it is usually the opposite. This county lost 41 students this year. I'm writing a story for next week's issue, but here are the school enrollment changes:
Linn Lutheran +6
St. John's Catholic No change
Clifton-Clyde -10
Washington County -11
Hanover -13
Linn -13
The official count is taken on Sept. 20, and usually there is a bit of change by then.

Headlines I'd like to write

Here are some of the stories I'd like to have the opportunity to cover (and I'm trying to be realistic rather than hoping for headlines like "Gas prices fall to $1.30 per gallon."

City to build theater building on lease-purchase plan
- Evidently, this project is still in the works, so I'm not giving up hope

Rotary begins construction of new Washington monument
- I think this would be one of the greatest new developments in Washington for some time. Something to put on a post card. They are still working on this and I hope to hear more about it soon.

Pool vote passes on second try
– I believe a little legwork by some supportive volunteers will get this necessity passed, even without drastic reductions in the plans.

Deli opens on courthouse square
- I know restaurant owners don't like to hear us talk about a need for more dining options, but I think this is a food segment that is missing in town.

Enrollments show stability across county
– Maybe this is a dream headline, but I really look forward to the day when all of the schools either see increases or no decreases.

New fair barn to be built in 2009
- I would love to see the fair board have success with their new livestock barn effort. Our fair is one of the county's greatest events, so progress with their facilities would be great. They should also hang curtains on the stool stalls at the restroom south of the rock barn.

Pat Bruna to continue local fireworks efforts
- Pat didn't know whether or not he'd be able to continue organizing the fireworks displays at Hanover Fourth of July and other area events now that he is working in KC. His skills are remarkable and it would be a shame to lose his talent.

All for now.

The story list

We have a lot of feature stories on our "to-do list" here, but I'm curious if there are stories you'd like us to consider. We try to do a mix of breaking news and human interest, besides the regular community coverage, but some weeks are easier than others. I'll personally never complete my story list, but some of the stories are large projects and I often need smaller filler stories to fill the gaps. Tom and Cynthia can usually fit suggestions in too, from time to time.
So if anyone wants to leave suggestions for stories on this blog, we will certainly consider them. We can never promise when we'll get them done, but we always like to build the list. --DT