Writing Ledes
Writing Assignment #4: Ledes
Part 1
COM206, 10/7/14
Rewrite the following leads. Ask questions about any missing information. Try for active voice,
Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order and a “two-step” (two sentence or two graf) lead. Use AP style.
Reduce the clutter. Assume these are for a local website. (See Chapter 6)
For both sections, double-spaced and in a serif font (Times), and hand in next Tuesday, Oct.
14.
1.
In 38-degree temperatures before dawn Monday, 25 heavily-armed law officers raided the
local chapter of the national motorcycle gang the “Grim Reapers,” resulting in the arrest of six
persons and confiscation of drugs, weapons and equipment.
2.
Denials by Citrus valley officials that a general strike of the industry is having little affect
on the harvest of fruit constitutes a popular tactic employed by shippers that is aimed at refusing to
recognize any strike success, a union activist said today.
3.
Smith estimated that new applicants for the government grants who are eligible for a
payment, that can be ranging from $20 to $140 dollars, will receive their money within a month
after they apply.
4.
A team of military investigators yesterday continued a check of heating systems at homes
in the Tarawa Terrace housing complex at Carlisle Barracks that was ordered after it was
discovered that a Marine Sergeant and his wife who died within weeks of each other at one of the
homes was killed by carbon monoxide.
Part 2
Edit and simplify the following leads. Most need to be single-element or summary leads, with
delayed identification. All except No. 7 should be two paragraphs (No. 7 can be also). Try for
active voice (or get the key figures up front), short sentences and reduce the clutter. Follow AP
style. Add missing information if you think it’s important. Assume these are for a local website.
1. The city planning department plans to make repairs this coming summer on Ogden, Concord
and Vincent streets at an estimated cost of $18,000, $22,000 and $78,000 respectively., it was
announced by city engineer O.M. Shelton.
2. After a three day search, police today reported the arrest of Eileen McCoy, 19, in a Chicago bus
depot on a charge of arson in connection with the fire that left KMart eastview a burned-out hulk
last week at an estimated loss of $2 million.
3. A last-quarter scoring spree by Andrew Wiggins, the newly-acquired forward, enabled the
Timberwolves to erase a seemingly insurmountable 22-point halftime lead by the Warriors in a
come-from-behind win, 88-87.
4. “The defendant’s crime may not have caused physical harm, but the hardship inflicted on those
who trusted him with their savings can’t be ignored,” said District judge Marvin Hurley yesterday
in sentencing Norris Josephson to a minimum of 5 years in the state penitentiary on a fraudulent
investment scheme that bilked local residents of more than half a million dollars.
5. The weather bureau today offered little hope to corn and wheat growers across a wide belt of
minnesota with a prediction of no rain for the next week to relieve the month-long drought that has
cut crops by an estimated five percent to date.
6. F.W. Walkenhorst, a university regent, said at a meeting of the regents today that the teaching
staff at La Salle University works an average of fewer than 20 hours per week and that, unless this
is remedied by a larger course load, the state legislature could not be expected to approve the
university's current budget request.
7. The Crested Butte Dam burst last night and a wall of water twelve feet high swept through small
towns, farms and ranches in Eastern Idaho leaving an unknown number dead and injured and
millions of dollars in destruction.
8. In a talk last night to the local press club, Russell Coopper, a political reporter based in
Washington D.C. said that the traditional role of the political reporter has been superceded by
modern advertising techniques, which allow a candidate to project the image the candidate desires
in “the picture-hungry, simplicity-oriented media that are unwilling or unable to deal with
complexities.”
9. The use of publically employed teachers in religious schools has come under constitutional
challenge in a suit filed in federal court here today by the National Coalition for Public Education
and Religious Liberty (PEARL). The organization contends that the United States Commission on
education has violated the constitution by ignoring supreme court ruling barring the assignment of
public school teachers to religious schools during regular school hours.