Immigration, Tax and Entrepreneurship Pieces Provide Solid Reads

Reporters from The Palm Beach Post, The Washington Post, The Charlotte Observer shape countdown

By Dick Weiss
April 27, 2006

I expected to be showered in April with gripping stories from the Enron trial, incisive pieces about the spiraling cost of gasoline and compelling tales about illegal immigrants. Well, given that it's baseball season, maybe one out of three isn't bad. I found a poignant tale in The Charlotte Observer about a couple of illegal workers who may be deported while their children - who were born in the U.S. - might have to stay behind as wards of the state. But I'm still looking for the great gas price story and a wonderful piece out of the Enron trial. If you've written one or run across one, send me an e-mail. Here's the finest in the April field in countdown order.

Note: Each headline contains a link so that you can read the stories online. Some sites will require you to register first. It's worth taking the time. 

3 Two Classes of Homeowners

Jeff Ostrowski  of The Palm Beach Post

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we seek tax relief. Ostrowski found a boomerang effect when he examined a 14-year-old Florida initiative designed to shield homeowners from double-digit property tax increases. The biggest beneficiaries are now the very rich, including - you'll be glad to know - golfer Greg Norman, broadcaster Rush Limbaugh and former Tyco International head Dennis Kozlowski. They could really use the dough. You may not have such a tax law in your state, but you can go to school on how Ostrowski deftly handles the numbers, judiciously uses quotes and liberally plays his irony cards. And it's always a good idea to re-examine reform efforts of any sort to see if they had the intended or unintended effects.

2 Click-and-Snack

Jose Antonio Vargas of The Washington Post

Vargas begins this story in an unusual and offbeat way. It's about a young entrepreneur who has struck gold by offering free delivery for everything from condoms to Lean Cuisine. But he opens not with the wealthy businessman in his Lexus 330 RX - but with the delivery guy on a bike. Then he brings the story full circle in a very clever way - a clinic on how to write an ending. Click-and-Snack is a sheer delight in less than 700 words.

1 Guatemala-bound

Mike Drummond of The Charlotte Observer

Who owns the immigration beat at your paper? Metro? The Washington bureau? At The Charlotte Observer, it's shared among all the desks and is considered an ongoing master narrative. Drummond has put a tiny jewel in that crown with a beautifully understated story about two illegal workers who may not only lose their place in the U.S. but their children as well. Drummond worked around what might be a deal-breaker for many journalists. He was unable to interview the couple. Instead, he tells the story primarily through their attorney. Even so, it's no less heartbreaking. Note how he uses dialogue to bring the tale alive and how he ends the piece in a "to be continued" sort of way. In fact, Drummond tells me, the Observer will be sending a reporter to Guatemala should the couple be deported, which now seems likely.