COPS: AVOID JAMES RIVER FREEWAY AND U.S. 65

Just before 4 p.m., this message from Springfield Police:

Due to numerous accidents in the area of James River/65, Springfield police request drivers avoid that area, as rush hour traffic may face significant delays until the accidents are cleared. At this time, no life threatening injuries have been reported in connection with these accidents.

It's likely to rain for most of the afternoon and evening, so the traffic situation may remain snarled for some time.

NO MEDIA CONSPIRACY

As noted in an earlier post, there are those who believe the scandal involving the firing of several U.S. attorneys deserves much more coverage, and that the lack of coverage means Something Sinister.

Such grousing reminds us of another current "media conspiracy," this one involving a double slaying in Knoxville, Tenn. The victims were white and the five suspects are black; this is enough to cause some to claim the media won't cover a case involving white victims and black attackers. We faintly remember a murder trial involving black-on-white crime; apparently we hallucinated the whole thing.

But back to the U.S. attorneys scandal. The idea of a media cover-up of the story is ridiculous. Mainstream newspapers are pounding out thousands of column inches of text and airing dozens of reports; McClatchy has been the undisputed leader in print reports on the upheaval.

In Blogistan, there is even more coverage:

•Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo is the invaluable reference guide.

•Brad Blog has gotten notice for its reports on Missouri angles to the story.

•Randy @ The Turner Report has also been keeping track.

Why no posts from CHATTER, until now?

Mostly because this is a story that requires absolute focus. CHATTER's chief typist used to be an investigative reporter; sometimes that meant weeks, even months, fixated on one story. The U.S. attorneys scandal -- the firings, the cover-ups, the apparent lies to Congress by administration officials -- deserves more than one blog opining on What It All Means, especially when the blog isn't devoting hours of reporting to the story (that's where Marshall's TPM comes in).

The Missouri angle? The absence of local coverage is harder to justify. The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri is in charge of Springfield. That makes it a local story; it's hard for the News-Leader to claim otherwise.

Local TV outlets can argue, with some credibility, that the story isn't very visual; you can only show so much old footage of the federal courthouse in Springfield, and most of the story is thick with detail and hard to distill into a nut graf.

But that doesn't mean the local media shouldn't try its hand at covering the story. We think they'll probably pop up with something on June 5, when former Western District USAs Todd Graves and Brad Schlozman testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Graves claims he was ousted; Schlozman, as his replacement, pushed seemingly bogus voter fraud cases against liberals.

GREENSBURG SURVIVOR FOUND

The Associated Press reports the survivor of the Kansas tornado was found late Sunday; the news was confirmed Monday.

Kansas Highway Patrol spokesman Ron Knoefel gave no other details.

WALLY SCHIRRA, 84

One of the heroes of America's 20th century. An original Mercury Seven astronaut. The only man to fly on all three of NASA's early space missions -- Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

The Associated Press notes that Schirra in 1962 became the third American to orbit the Earth. He did six orbits. His flight lasted more than nine hours.

MIT gets the point, beating Brother Richard by mere minutes.

SUSPECT SOUGHT IN SLAYING

A 28-year-old Springfield man has been charged with first-degree murder in a weekend shooting outside Traffic, a downtown nightclub.

Travis D. Mack was charged late Sunday, according to police. He's accused of shooting Kenneth Dixon Jr., 26.

Dixon was shot Friday night. Sources say he had just left Traffic, a bar with a history of problems, when he was gunned down. Cops said they found Dixon "lying on the sidewalk and unresponsive."

Two eyewitnesses helped finger Mack for the shooting, cops say. But as of Monday morning, Mack remained at large. Police are dangling a potential $1,000 Crime Stoppers reward for more information; call (417) 869-8477.

JOSH HANCOCK, 29

Pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Died early Sunday in a car wreck. The Associated Press reports:

The Cardinals postponed their home game Sunday night against the Chicago Cubs. It was the second time in less than five years that a St. Louis pitcher died during the season. Darryl Kile was found dead in his hotel room in 2002.

Police said the 29-year-old Hancock was alone in his 2007 Ford Explorer when he struck the rear of a tow truck at 12:35 a.m. The truck was in the left lane assisting another vehicle that was involved in a prior accident, officer Pete Mutter said.

Hancock was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the tow truck, whose name was not released by police, was in the truck at the time of the crash but was not injured. The medical examiner's office said Sunday morning that an autopsy had been scheduled.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the wreck happened on Highway 40, just east of Compton Avenue. Hancock lived in St. Louis in the off-season. Sniderman @ The 2 Dollar Bill gets the point.

BORIS YELTSIN, 76

Former president of Russia dies on Monday, according to Kremlin spokesman Alexander Smirnov. Brother Richard gets the point.

GUN IGNORANCE

Know your weapons. Every newsroom in the United States should post the order; every reporter should be required to learn about firearms before covering any story involving a gun.

Monday's shooting spree at Virginia Tech exposed several unpleasant truths about the media, especially the 24-hour cable networks:

•When facts are in short supply, fill time with speculation.

•A one-source story is all right, even when it's all wrong.

•Guns are mysterious and scary.

Many bloggers, including Tony Messenger and Fat Jack, criticize reporters for jumping to conclusions without certain knowledge. We can buy that argument, but only to a point. First reports from spot-news situations are often wrong -- at Columbine, several eyewitnesses swore they saw more than two gunmen; at Oklahoma City, Middle Eastern men were the first suspects. Reporters should do all they can to verify facts before running with them, but history's first rough draft will never be perfect.

There is no excuse, however, for the national media's lack of knowledge about guns. For much of Monday, we heard reporters wonder aloud how one man with two guns could kill so many people. A camera-phone video captured the sound of more than two dozen gunshots; reporters from all three cable-news outfits expressed amazement at how quickly the shooter was able to squeeze off so many rounds in such a short period of time.

On Fox News, Geraldo Rivera said a "guy with automatic and semi-automatic weapons is a weapon of mass destruction." No one was claiming the shooter had an automatic weapon. On CNN, a reporter spoke of the gunman's "22-millimeter" handgun.

Newsrooms are shot through with a lack of gun knowledge. People killed with rifles are the victims of "shotgun slayings." It sounds good, you see.

Cheese and rice, as a friend's kid used to curse. Cheese and rice.

Because too many reporters know too little about guns, we believe they're more inclined to take simplistic approaches to stories involving guns. They're too easily lassoed into stories like this one about the country's "gun culture."

When 32 people are shot dead by a man who then turns the gun on himself, the story isn't about questioning the legal way the shooter got his weapons. The story isn't about blaming guns (or video games, or foul language, or societal decay).

The story is about men like this Holocaust survivor who helped save several students by giving up his own life.

The blame doesn't rest with the guns. It rests with this guy.

GOP'S MONICA CALLS IT QUITS

Monica Goodling, the U.S. Department of Justice official who recently said she'd take the Fifth Amendment rather than testify under oath to Congress, handed in her resignation on Friday.

CNN reports that Goodling resigned as counselor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.

In her goodbye letter, Goodling wrote:

"I am hereby submit my resignation to the Office of the Attorney General, effective April 7, 2007. It has been an honor to have served at the Department of Justice for the past five years. May God bless you richly as you continue your service to America."

The Friday news dump -- a time-honored tradition of releasing bad news just as the weekend starts and people stop paying attention.

TOM MOORE, 88

The blogger known as Doc Larry gets the point for this one. Moore was in charge of programming for ABC from 1958 to 1962. He was president of the network from 1963-1968. He died over the weekend from congestive heart failure. According to this Associated Press report:

During his tenure at ABC, the network began targeting programming toward younger viewers, who are most sought after by advertisers. ABC and Moore believed that demographic would be their ticket to the top.

"Probably his greatest legacy is that he changed the whole basis on which television time is sold, and thus, how television is programmed," TV historian Tim Brooks told the Los Angeles Times. "ABC basically introduced us to the concept of demographics. And ever since, we in the TV industry have been appealing to 18- to 49-year-old viewers."

Moore was also instrumental in developing the ABC Sports division, which won several Emmys for "ABC's Wide World of Sports" and Olympics coverage.

He hired sports producer Roone Arledge, who would become a legend, and helped create "Monday Night Football."

The guy could spot talent.

Speaking of talent, and Doc Larry, check out his tribute to John Stone. It's a keeper.

MICHAEL HENDRIX, PART 2

Wednesday's post about a university professor with a history of pedophilia now has a second-day angle. News-Leader reporter Steve Koehler's follow-up story about Michael Hendrix, an associate professor at Missouri State University who served time in prison for raping a 9-year-old child in Ohio, includes a couple of surprises:

•MSU administrators, past and present, are now putting daylight between themselves and Hendrix. One told the News-Leader that had he known about Hendrix's past, he might not have hired him.

•The MSU student who brought the story to a head, Ryan Cooper, said he was not working on a story for the Community Free Press. Instead, Cooper said he was doing an assignment for his advanced journalism class. That's why he was stopping parents in the pickup line at Greenwood Laboratory School, asking them how they felt about their children being on the same campus as a sex offender.

•Cooper also insisted that he never intended for Hendrix's past to become public knowledge:

After reviewing sex offender sites and searching for sex offenders at the state's 12 four-year universities, Cooper said he found Hendrix on a list and decided to talk to parents about the issue of having a sex offender on campus.

He said he did not mention Hendrix's name and only talked to two parents, one of whom knew Hendrix's past.

"This story wasn't about him. It was about campus procedures," he said.

•Cooper's journalism instructor, Mary Jane Pardue, wouldn't tell Koehler squat about Cooper or the alleged assignment:

To do so, Pardue said, would violate the student's right to privacy, even though Cooper provided the name of his instructor and the name of the class to a reporter.

Pardue refused to comment on any aspect of the assignment or what was being taught in her class in general terms, such as if a student is taught how to conduct or prepare for interviews, how to approach subjects for interviews or how to arrange for visiting a site where there are safety measures in place.

"I don't think it's appropriate to talk about assignments," she said.

Pardue's refusal to discuss assignments from her class is troubling. As a journalism instructor she's supposed to be a fierce advocate for freedom of the press, yet when questioned by a member of the press, she clams up and invokes a student's right to privacy. Cooper's privacy rights have nothing to do with Pardue's class assignment.

Not mentioned in the story is Cooper's history of stirring it up. He sued the university in 2003, claiming his conservative group, Young Americans for Freedom, was being discriminated against because of its "political and religious viewpoints."

Cooper is executive director of Missouri State Conservatives. In his Facebook profile he lists his political views as "very conservative," though he has insisted that he's more of a Libertarian than a Republican.

Did Cooper's political beliefs belong in the story? Dunno. His class assignment, if that's what it was, doesn't have a clear political motive. But his history of creating controversy is well-known and might have provided better context on why he did what he did.

NOT ALL THAT'S PASSED IS PAST

We've slagged the daily newspaper in this space. But despite all the hot air about the Information Center, not all sucks at the News-Leader.

Veteran reporter Steve Koehler delivers a great story in Wednesday's News-Leader about Michael Hendrix, an associate professor at Missouri State University. A long time ago, Hendrix molested a boy and went to prison. His employer knew his history and treated Hendrix appropriately -- neither the heavy hand nor the blow-off.

But last Friday, a person claiming to be a reporter for the Community Free Press pigeonholed parents outside Greenwood Laboratory School and asked their opinions of the "sex offender on campus."

Koehler's interview with Hendrix is a great read, and it's compelling journalism. Way to go, SRK.

(The online version of Koehler's story includes reader comments, and one person unfortunately chose to parrot a falsehood about child molesters -- that they're very likely to commit new crimes. That's simply not true, according to the Department of Justice.)

LAST CHANCE FOR STORM CLEAN-UP

Springfield's ice-storm debris should vanish from curbside over the next few weeks, as contractors do final collection, city officials said Thursday.

Factoids from the city:

•Public streets will get two more passes. "There are some isolated circumstances remaining where first pass has not been completed and those residents will have the opportunity to have another pass," said Louise Whall, the city's public information officer (and Duchess of Debris). "In a number of cases, DRC and City Public Works are working directly with affected homeowners to arrange debris removal under various types of special circumstances."

•Once DRC Emergency Services contractors move through a street to do the final collection, the street will be marked off the list and crews won't be back -- unless special equipment is needed to tackle unusual cases, such as removal of especially large logs, or dealing with oddball drainage culverts.

•Get vehicles off the street if they're blocking your debris pile.

•Don't get ripped off. DRC isn't charging and "no one should have to pay to have their debris removed until the final collection process is completed," Whall said.

•Hanging limbs? "If a potentially hazardous limb is not hanging over the public right of way," Whall said, "the city would not be involved and cannot address issues involving private property responsibility."

Check the city's web site for more info.

ONE LOST, ONE FOUND

Springfield police on Wednesday canceled one missing person's report and opened another.

Missing: Amber Carter, 36. Last seen March 5 at 701 S. Rockaway Lane, just south of Cherry Street and east of Oak Grove Avenue. Carter's boyfriend reported her missing on March 10. Carter is white, 5'5", 170 lbs., with brown shoulder length hair and hazel eyes. She drives a purple 1997 Dodge Intrepid; it has a spoiler and a yellow "golf association" sticker in the back window. Got info? Call (417) 864-1810; reference report #07-11708.

Discovered: Rhonda M Heyl, 45. Last seen March 1, reported missing March 2, turned up alive and well on March 14. A sheriff's deputy located her in the county and arrested her on "unrelated charges." Springfield police say Heyl "had left the area on her own, but then recently returned, for unknown reasons."

BOYER QUITS HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Ron Boyer, assistant director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, retired this week after 37 years. The abrupt announcement, made Tuesday, said Boyer was retiring, effective March 12.

Interesting local news, to say the least. Boyer penned a recent column in the News-Leader that probably didn't sit well with at least one county official.

Expect a story in Thursday's News-Leader.

Update @ 3 p.m.: No need to wait until Thursday's print edition. The yummy good N-L account can be found here. Oddest passage is courtesy of Kevin Gipson, head of the health department:

The department did not publicly announce the retirement of its long-time employee, nor has it sent a press release to area media.

"I don't think he would have wanted that," Gipson said. "We just decided not to do that."

Retirements and how they're announced (or not announced) are never "just decided."

HAGEL PULLS A CUOMO

In early 1992, Mario Cuomo -- then the governor of New York, and at the prime of his political and oratorical skills -- had a plane ready to take him to New Hampshire, where he would enter the Democratic presidential primary and, presumably, take the country by storm.

The plane, filled with campaign workers, stayed in New York. Cuomo never ran for president, and his indecision tarred him as the Hamlet of Albany.

On Monday, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska) made an announcement in Omaha. With national reporters in the front row, and his political mentor in the audience, Hagel said ... not much of anything.

He said he and his family would decide, sometime this year, whether he would run for president:

“In making this announcement, I believe there will still be political options open to me at a later date,” Hagel said, adding that the “political currents in America are more unpredictable today than at any time in modern history.”

“We are experiencing a political reorientation, a redefining — and moving toward a new political center of gravity,” Hagel said. “This movement is bigger than both parties. The need to solve problems and meet challenges is overtaking the ideological debates of the last three decades — as it should.”

Words like that make Hagel sound as if he is considering an independent bid for the White House. But he seems too much a pragmatist to pine for something so impossible; before his non-announcement announcement, Hagel talked shop in a conference call with political supporters and said he still enjoyed serving in the Senate.

Our gut tells us Hagel was tamping down early -- make that too-early -- expectations. He could wait six months, allow other GOP candidates to flame out, then come in as the real conservative in the race, right with his party on the issues. Sure, Dick Cheney talks smack about him, but why should Hagel care? Cheney's past his sell-by date, and voters are with Hagel on his stand against the war in Iraq. Maybe an announcement about nothing was the wise move, after all.

DAD SHOOTS DAUGHTER'S 'FRIEND'

John Dove was killed Saturday night in Houston. The 27-year-old man made several mistakes in the minutes before his death:

•He was in a home, not his own, and with a 13-year-old girl he'd met online.
•Once caught, he argued with the girl's parents before fleeing the residence with the teen.
•And then he came back.

Television station KHOU reports:

The mother reportedly went into the home to call 911. As she was on the phone with the emergency operator, she received a phone call from Dove saying he was coming back to the residence to talk to her.

As Dove approached the residence, he became involved in a heated argument with the mother on his cell phone.

The father returned to the residence with a loaded shotgun and saw Dove approaching his wife. He told police Dove made a gesture he took as threatening and became combative.

After a struggle, the father allegedly shot and killed the man, Houston police said.

The father hasn't been charged, so far. The girl stayed away until Sunday morning. She thought she'd be in trouble at home.

CITY SETS DEBRIS DEADLINE

Springfield residents have until March 28 to curbside all tree debris from the ice storm. That's the word from city officials, who also say emergency crews have "essentially completed" their first pass though the city.

According to Louise Whall, city public information director and Duchess of Debris:

All vegetative debris from the January ice storm must be moved to the public street by that date for the final collection across the city. All City residents on public streets will receive a bright yellow postcard in the mail in about a week to further remind them of the final date. Residents of private streets also will receive a reminder that they need to move debris to a public right of way for free pick-up. ...

By the end of Monday, March 5, DRC has collected 928,205 cubic yards of debris, representing 20,345 loads within the City of Springfield. Shawnee Mission Tree Service, the debris-removal contractor for the Springfield-Greene County Park Department, has collected another 67,648 cubic yards of storm debris from parks.

Zip over to the city's web page for more info.

HARRIETT WOODS, 79

Missouri's first woman lieutenant governor died Thursday night of leukemia. She was 79. From The Associated Press:

She had been diagnosed with leukemia last March while teaching political and community involvement in New York, her son said.

"She will be remembered most as a loving mother and grandmother, but we are also incredibly proud of her life devoted to public service and her passionate and determined efforts to aid society's most vulnerable - the elderly, minorities and the homeless, to obtain equal opportunities for women, and mentor future generations of leaders," the family said in a statement.

Woods became Missouri's lieutenant governor in 1984 and served one term as the state's No. 2 executive. Before that, she served eight years in the state Senate, two years on a state transportation commission and eight years on the University City Council.

Smitty gets the point.

THE OFFICIAL CLEAN-UP BEGINS

Last week the City of Springfield contracted with DRC Emergency Services on a nearly $20 million clean-up of debris from the recent ice storm. City officials said then that the job could take a couple months.

No time to start like the present. From Louise Whall, the city's public-info boss (aka the Duchess of Debris): "The DRC Emergency Services crews have left their staging areas and are moving into their work zones across the City." Expect good footage on the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts.