News 14 Carolina - Political Connections

Tim who?

I sometimes wish you could be in a newsroom when breaking news is unfolding. As you probably know, an arrest has been made in the Eve Carson murder. We're currently waiting for a news conference and there is also a standoff with another potential suspect in Durham.

As a political and statewide reporter, I don't typically cover local stories that can only air in one market or another. Therefore, crimes like this are usually not in my hands. Today, I did a drought follow story from Easley's news conference Tuesday. It focused on tiered water pricing. If you're interested in seeing it, check out www.news14.com.

The entire newsroom has been in a tizzy all day waiting for a news conference. Usually there's yelling by a minimum of three people all the way across our newsroom. Typically, at least one person is running and barely misses someone else as they turn a corner. The phones are ringing like crazy and producers are trying to make sense of it all. Our desk is calling five people at once trying to make sure reporters and photographers are in the right spot. When we get a suspects name it then becomes a treasure hunt through electronic public records, phone calls, myspace, and google to find out as much as possible.

I typically help out with the latter. Over the years, I've learned ways to get information about people using those tools.

It's good and bad for me. I mean who doesn't want to be involved in the big story of the day. On the other hand, I have plenty of "big" days and it's nice to just do my story and go home and no more worries.

It's kind of nice to just sit back and watch the chaos unravel. Don't get me wrong, I help if I can but generally too many hands in the cookie jar can cause a logjam too.

With that, I need to wrap up and get home to make dinner for the wife and watch our great coverage at home! It's a quiet end to the day for me on a crazy day for the station but don't worry with the election coming up there will be plenty of days when I'm the one running across the newsroom screaming out to people!