Some may say I overachieved. Others might say I blew the assignment.
Reporters were given a task: Find and talk to someone interviewed by a Journal Star reporter on Sept. 11, 2001, for a package marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks. The resulting stories were not supposed to exceed eight inches.
As I revisited our 9/11 coverage, I was drawn to a story by former Journal Star reporter Ken Hambleton. He interviewed two passengers who held tickets for Flight 93 but switched to an earlier flight.
When they landed in Lincoln, they learned Flight 93 had crashed in a Pennsylvania field, killing everyone on board.
I tracked down Craig Ostroff, one of those passengers, whose original story ran under the headline "Narrow Escape."
After talking with Craig and his wife, Lynn, I knew I had an incredible story on my hands, one that couldn't be told in eight inches.
People are also reading…
So I wrote 60.
I suspect the next time a reporter turns in more copy than assigned, someone may remind me of that.
Coming Friday, the Journal Star will publish a selection of reader-submitted 9/11 memories. We'll also cover the annual early-morning 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at Memorial Stadium, where participants will climb 2,071 steps in honor of the first responders who ascended the World Trade Center towers that day.
While we've been looking back at one of the most significant days in American history, we've also been keeping an eye on fast-moving developments that could shape Nebraska's future.
Friday is the deadline for the secretary of state to certify candidates, offices and ballot issues for the November election. Early voting begins Sept. 28.
Yet major questions remain because of ongoing court challenges.
Will Lincoln be required to place three proposed city charter amendments on the November ballot, or can it wait until May? And will the Fairness for Girls initiative make the ballot, or be invalidated over its petition language?
A Nebraska judge is considering whether to block the Fairness for Girls initiative after a lawsuit challenged its object statement. The proposed constitutional amendment would require sports teams and athletic contests to be separated by sex.
Meanwhile, the Nebraska Supreme Court will decide whether Lincoln's charter amendment petitions were submitted in time to qualify for the November ballot. The petitions initially fell short after election officials identified potential fraud. Supporters gathered additional signatures, but the city argues they arrived too late.
In another ballot fight, the Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously upheld the validity of the initiatives that placed medical marijuana legalization on the ballot. Although Nebraskans approved the measures and the state is implementing them, legal challenges continued.
In a long-awaited ruling Friday, the court rejected arguments that Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana should have to return to court to prove the validity of petition signatures.
Nebraska's highly anticipated outdoor volleyball match against Missouri at Wrigley Field in Chicago was cut short late Sunday after moisture caused slipping on the court.
Players from both teams attempted to help towel off the court in hopes of restarting the match. They also entertained the more than 40,000 fans in attendance with a dance battle before the match was called.
Sometimes the most memorable stories are the ones you don't expect to find. This week, for me, it was one that started as an eight-inch assignment and ended up at 60.
Thanks for reading and for supporting the work of our newsroom.
