CHAPTER 5
	Phrases and Phrasing

How well you piece all those appropriate, descriptive words together determines both the quality of the writing and how well the audience understands it. Remember, the audience gets only one shot at what you’re saying. Phrases that are too cute or simply don’t work with the pictures may wind up merely puzzling the audience.

After inaccuracy, the second greatest writing sin is creating confusion. And there are lots of ways to confuse the audience: a word or phrase that’s out of place or that doesn’t mean exactly what it should, a phrase that’s awkward, even wordiness itself. If the audience has to stop and think about what you mean, you lose them. Do it often enough, and you lose them permanently.

HOW TO SAY IT

Voice

Write in the active voice. If the subject of the sentence does something, that’s active. If something happens to the subject, that’s passive.

PASSIVE:	The First National Bank was robbed of two thousand dollars this afternoon.
ACTIVE (AND BETTER):	Robbers stole two thousand dollars from the First National Bank this afternoon.
PASSIVE:	The area was hit by a devastating winter storm.
ACTIVE (AND BETTER):	A winter storm devastated [or battered] the area.
PASSIVE:	The car was driven by an escaped convict.
ACTIVE (AND BETTER):	An escaped convict drove the car.
PASSIVE:	The bond issue was approved by the city council.
ACTIVE (AND BETTER):	The city council approved [or passed] the bond issue.

The active voice is shorter, punchier, more interesting, more direct, and it’s part of what broadcasting is all about. Of all the writing skills you can master to improve and strengthen how you use the language, none compares to writing in the active voice.

There are occasional times when passive makes more sense:

 

• When what has been acted on is much more important than what’s doing the acting:

 

The president was surrounded by the crowd.

 

• When the cause is unknown or you want to avoid assigning blame:

 

Union leader John Smith was shot this afternoon.

 

• When active voice would be too awkward:

 

The man was pinned between his own car and the guardrail.

 

Consider those the exceptions that prove the rule. Write actively.

Tense

Broadcasting’s ability to be current in the news demands that we be current in our phrasing. First choice is present tense. Second choice is future tense. Third choice is present perfect tense. After that, it really doesn’t matter.

PRESENT:	The city council votes on the sales tax bill today.
FUTURE:	The city council will vote on the sales tax bill later today.
PRESENT PERFECT:	The city council has voted on the sales tax bill.
PAST:	The city council voted on the sales tax bill today.

Note that present perfect’s use of has and have makes the action sound like it happened recently. Make sure you use it that way.

Remember, updating a story or looking to future implications of a past (tense) action will frequently allow you to use present or future tense:

UPDATED:

The sales tax stays [or will stay] right where it is. The city council today rejected a bill that would have increased …

Note that even though the action already took place (the vote came earlier), by focusing on the outcome instead of the vote itself, we can make the phrasing present or future tense.

Don’t strain so hard to use present tense that the phrasing sounds awkward and strained.

Former network correspondent Deborah Potter says much of the news writing today is phony and doesn’t sound like real people talking. “There’s been a terrible crime committed against verbs in broadcast newsrooms across America,” she says.

Potter offers her favorite example of this strange, new way of bullet-pointing the language:

Potter notes that there’s no verb, just phrases. What happens, she says, is that an effort to sound more urgent simply winds up sounding awkward and largely unintelligible.

Clarity

As with words, use phrases the way people are used to hearing them. Twisting a phrase here and there can work, but if you’re not careful, you’ll only confuse.

PROBLEM:

The General Assembly is putting a quick stop on legislation passed last year on strict handling of teenage drunken drivers.

Quick stops may apply to cars, but the audience that heard this copy read on the air probably never figured out what the reporter was trying to say.

BETTER:

The General Assembly is back-pedaling on tough legislation passed just last year to deal with teenage drunk drivers.

Make sure you use phrases correctly. Things center on, not around; they revolve around, not on.

And watch out for mixed metaphors:

PROBLEM:

And the race is on … the battle over who gets your long-distance nickels and dimes is at the front line.

Even giving the benefit of the doubt that the front line in this copy used on the air refers to a battle, neither refers to a race.

BETTER:

Battle lines are forming in the war over who gets our long distance nickels and dimes.

Here, at least all of the references (battle lines and war) share a common theme.

Conciseness

Don’t waste words or phrases; don’t be redundant. There isn’t time, and the more words you use to say something, the greater the chances for audience confusion.

REDUNDANT:	The councilman argued for extensive rebuilding and renovation in the downtown area.
BETTER:	The councilman argued for extensive rebuilding downtown.
WORDY:	The car couldn’t finish the race due to the fact that the engine in the car gave out.
BETTER:	The car couldn’t finish the race because the engine gave out.
	or
	The car couldn’t finish the race … the engine gave out.

Clauses and Phrases

Short introductory clauses and phrases work fine; parenthetical ones do not. With rare exceptions, a parenthetical phrase makes a sentence difficult if not impossible to follow because it requires the audience to remember what the writer was talking about before the phrase started.

INCORRECT:

The U-S Forest Service, responding to criticism from environmental groups, has agreed to review its policies.

For the audience to understand this line, they must remember that the line started with the U-S Forest Service, which will review its policies. This is better handled:

INTRODUCTORY PHRASE:	Responding to criticism from environmental groups, the U-S Forest Service has agreed to review its policies.
OR SPLIT UP:	The U-S Forest Service has agreed to review its policies. The decision comes in response to criticism from environmental groups.

An audience that only gets to hear the information will find both of the above examples easier to follow and understand. These rewritten examples also put the verbs closer to the subjects; that, too, helps the audience follow what you’re saying. News stories are not quizzes for the audience. Each sentence should take the listener or viewer from point X in knowledge, information and understanding to point Y. That journey must be straight, clean and clear. Parenthetical phrases are side trips the audience can’t follow when the journey is conducted by ear.

Positive Phrasing

Keep your phrasing in the positive. The issue isn’t good news or bad news; it’s whether you tell the audience what is going to happen or what’s not going to happen. Negative phrasing is wordier and harder to understand.

NEGATIVE:	The sheriff says they will not be charged until tomorrow.
POSITIVE (AND BETTER):	The sheriff says they will be charged tomorrow.
NEGATIVE:	There’s no lack of demand for new single-family homes in Indianapolis.
POSITIVE (AND BETTER):	There’s new (or strong) demand for new single-family homes in Indianapolis.
NEGATIVE:	… But as reporter John Doe tells us, White House aides maintain any new proposal will not be announced before late January.
POSITIVE (AND BETTER):	… But as reporter John Doe tells us, White House aides say it will be at least late January before a new proposal is announced.

Pronouns

Watch out for pronouns. Pronouns are reference words and make sense only if the audience can instantly figure out what the pronoun refers to.

It’s not clear who he is in the following:

Keep pronouns close to their antecedents, and look for ways to eliminate pronouns wherever you can. In the above example, using a name in line two should take care of the problem.

PROBLEM:	He allegedly began molesting a seven-year-old girl three years ago. She’s the daughter of some of his close family friends.
BETTER:	Police say he began molesting a seven-year-old girl three years ago … the daughter of close family friends.

In some cases a pronoun almost next to the antecedent may not be clear enough. The governing rule is that if you give the audience the slightest chance to misunderstand, they will. Also remember that singular institutions, businesses, and governments are it and not they.

NO:	The company has been boxed in wherever they’ve turned.
YES:	The company has been boxed in wherever it’s turned.

That

Watch out for the word that.

 

• Don’t use the word where it’s not needed.

WORDY:	She says that she’ll attend …
BETTER:	She says she’ll attend …

• Do use the word when its absence sounds awkward.

AWKWARD:	He feels the elephant will …
BETTER:	He feels that the elephant will …

• Do use the word to clarify paraphrasing, attribution and meaning.

UNCLEAR:

The mayor reports firefighters who called in sick will be let go.

That last sentence probably isn’t what you mean unless the mayor is actually reporting those firefighters who called in sick.

BETTER:

The mayor reports that firefighters who called in sick will be let go.

The previous example helps keep the meaning clear. The next example points out a potential problem in attribution:

PROBLEM:

The governor says his opponent is lying to the voters and this is the dirtiest campaign ever.

This phrasing could easily be construed as you, the reporter, calling the campaign the dirtiest ever, when attribution is needed to make it clear that that’s what the governor says. In this case, that indicates continued paraphrasing:

BETTER:

The governor says his opponent is lying and that this is the dirtiest campaign ever.

Time and Space Problems

Don’t use words that require the audience to recall earlier material to figure out what you’re saying. Words like former and latter (e.g., in the latter case) require the audience to remember not only what you said, but also the sequence in which you said it. The audience does not memorize copy and cannot follow these kinds of references.

Watch out for here and there. Think about both where you are and where your audience is before using those terms. Generally, do not use here or there unless it means the same thing for both the announcer and the audience:

NO:	Reporter Jane Smith says everyone here is up in arms over the mayor’s proposal.
YES:	The new state measure will mean that people here will pay twice as much for garbage pick-up.

The reason the first example above won’t work is that the issue clearly applies to a city or town where the mayor is. But the audience crosses political jurisdictions, and it’s unlikely that people in distant suburbs or outlying towns care much about the proposal one way or the other. In the second example, a statewide measure will clearly affect everyone “here”—assuming that you’re not in a market that crosses state lines.

Reporters who are live in the field should use here to emphasize the fact that they’re live and on location:

WHAT TO SAY

Titles and Identifiers

Titles and identifiers go before names:

NO:	John Smith, State Attorney General, says his office will launch a new attack on illegal drugs.
YES:	State Attorney General John Smith says his office will launch a new attack on illegal drugs.

In almost all cases, the title or description is really more important than the name itself, and what’s important should come first. Putting the title or identifier first also avoids the same potential problem we have with parenthetical clauses and phrases.

Frequently, we paraphrase a long title to keep a sentence shorter and more to the point. An associate commissioner of the state department of energy resources should most often become a state energy commissioner or a state energy official.

Attribution

Attribution is the term we use to describe the concept that we generally cite (or attribute) the source of information that we put on the air, noting either the person or the organization that supplied that information. We don’t just tell people, for instance, “There has been a new outbreak” of some disease. We tell them, “The Centers for Disease Control reports a new outbreak. …” We don’t just tell people, “John Doe has committed a crime.” We tell them, “Police say John Doe committed a crime.” Attribution qualifies statements and puts them into proper context. It makes clear the source of our information; it protects us in controversies and legal disputes.

In broadcast, put attribution before the statement. Although there are occasional exceptions to this, most of the exceptions you hear on the air are examples of a writer opting for effect over responsibility.

UNACCEPTABLE:	Busing doesn’t work, according to Senate candidate Jane Smith.
ACCEPTABLE:	Senate candidate Jane Smith says busing doesn’t work.

Attribution after the fact forces us to think back and, perhaps, reevaluate the material. After-the-statement attribution confuses the audience, causes listeners to miss the next few words during the reevaluation process or just angers them because you made a ridiculous statement without making clear at the beginning that the statement should have been taken with a grain of salt.

Attribution is always needed when someone is accused of a crime, but avoid using the word alleged. It’s a weak crutch that no one uses in normal speech; it won’t necessarily keep you out of legal trouble; and you can almost always work around it by attributing information to police, a prosecutor or an indictment.

WORKS:	Smith allegedly entered the bank armed with a shotgun.
BETTER:	Police say Smith entered the bank armed with a shotgun.
	or
	Police charge that Smith entered the bank armed with a shotgun.

Part of why the last two sentences are better is that they also make clear who’s making the accusation. That’s better reporting.

Make sure you use the attribution at the appropriate spot:

NO:	Federal and local authorities are looking for two men who allegedly held up a Chicago bank today.

This is wrong because federal and local authorities are looking for the two guys who actually did it. No need for allegedly or any other qualifier here.

YES:	Federal and local authorities are looking for two men who held up a Chicago bank today.

Don’t use attribution for the wrong thing:

WRONG:

Police arrested Jane Doe for the alleged murder.

Wrong again. In this example the issue isn’t whether a murder took place, it’s whether Jane Doe did it. You don’t need attribution for an arrest. That’s a fact, and someone was either arrested or not. It’s not the crime that requires attribution, it’s the link between a crime and a suspect. If there is a question about whether a crime actually took place, then you’ll have to attribute that, too:

YES:	Police say it was a brutal murder.

Otherwise, use attribution in reference to suspects, not crimes. And use it often. Every statement that links an identifiable individual—no matter where in the story that person is identified, no matter whether the identification is by word or picture—requires some form of attribution. One qualifier at the beginning won’t protect you. For more detail on this, see the crime and legal section of Chapter 20, “Reporting: Specialized Coverage.”

Attribution is also needed when you’re dealing with anything that might be considered controversial, especially if it’s changeable.

RISKY:	The company will not relocate any of the laid-off workers.
BETTER:	A company spokesman says there are no plans to relocate any of the laid-off workers.
RISKY:	The store will no longer accept credit cards.
BETTER:	The store says it will no longer accept credit cards.

In both of the previous cases it’s possible that the business involved will change its mind. Without attribution you’re the one making the statement, instead of the company, and you don’t know what the company might do.

Don’t overdo attribution. If the governor’s news secretary says that the governor will hold a news conference later today, it’s usually fine to say:

If the governor has a tendency to cancel these things or the news secretary is unreliable, then it might be safer to say:

Avoid making statements about someone’s state of mind.

NO:	The governor believes we need to build a new prison.
YES:	The governor says we need to build a new prison.
NO:	The governor wants to build a new prison.
YES:	The governor says he wants to build a new prison.

The fact is, you really can’t know what the governor believes or wants—only what he or she says. Limit your reporting to what you know. And use attribution where there’s any reasonable possibility that the statement might be wrong or questioned in the future.

Quotations

Generally, don’t quote. Few statements are so strong that we need to quote them, and we’d obviously much rather have the actual bite of the person making the statement. In most news stories, based on your phrasing, the audience will know you’re either quoting or paraphrasing, and the distinction isn’t significant as long as the point is accurate and fair. When a short quote (the only kind you ever use) is necessary, you do have to make clear that you’re quoting.

In TV, if a direct quote of more than a few words is worth using, it’s frequently worth supering the quote on the screen. In that case, make sure the script and the super go together precisely. You cannot ask the audience to read words on the screen while the announcer says something else.

Numbers

Generally, avoid numbers when substitutes are possible. Think about the story. If it’s about a 3 percent hike in real estate taxes, then the figure obviously must be used. That’s what the story is about. But if the story is that 98 percent of the city high school students failed a reading test, then the first reference should say almost all. Think about the point of the story.

When numbers must be used, try to round off if appropriate: 986 should usually be nearly or almost a thousand, 103 should usually be just over a hundred or a little more than a hundred, 8.4 should usually be almost eight and a half, 52 of 74 should usually be more than two-thirds.

Never force the audience to perform mathematics to understand what you’re talking about. And notice that none of the above examples uses about or approximately. Rather than those vague words, use more descriptive ones: nearly, almost, just over and more than all say more.

If you don’t know the exact number, then about is clearly preferable to approximately. The words mean exactly the same thing, but about is much shorter.

Race

Use identification of race only when it’s clearly part of a story, and never use racial epithets except in quotes. Race is clearly relevant to the story:

 

• When it’s part of a specific description of a person being sought by law enforcement.

• When race is a central or significant issue of the story, such as some stories on politics and voting patterns.

• When its absence would make the story less clear or meaningful.

 

A physical description of someone wanted by police should always include race in radio writing. Use race in television writing unless you have a picture, in which case there’s no reason to include race at all. Also make sure that a physical description is sufficiently detailed that it has meaning. Saying that police are looking for two white men, or black women, or Hispanic men won’t allow anyone to make an identification. That lack of description becomes nothing more than a race story. If you’re talking about a hate crime, that may make sense; if not, leave it out.

There are lots of “minority” groups, and there are few if any communities where minority equals only one group, so don’t use minority as synonymous with black or Hispanic or any other single group. Be aware of the impression you leave with the audience—by both the words that you choose and the pictures that you run.

There are leaders who are black and Hispanic and so on. But no one person speaks for any community, and unless you characterize people in your community as “white leaders,” don’t characterize minorities that way.

Make a conscious effort to ensure that the only time the audience sees or hears from minority groups isn’t when it’s a story about minorities. Minorities pay taxes, they’re lawyers, doctors and experts in any number of areas that we cover. Make sure the audience sees and hears those voices in stories that have nothing to do with race.

And diversity isn’t just racial. It’s religious, political, economic and so on. Again, make sure the diversity of your audience is reflected in the diversity of voices—and sources—in the news.

WHAT YOU DIDN’T MEAN TO SAY

Dates

Where you place words in a sentence can alter the meaning significantly. Misplacement of the date presents one of the easiest traps to fall into. Notice the difference:

OPTION 1:	The State Supreme Court today agreed to review …
OPTION 2:	The State Supreme Court agreed to review today …

In Option 1 the State Supreme Court decided today that it will review a case some time in the future. In Option 2 the State Supreme Court agreed to review the case today. Make sure that what you say corresponds with what happened.

Unintended Meanings

Make sure you say what you mean, and watch out for meanings you didn’t intend.

PROBLEM:

Luckily, only two of the 27 people who came down with the disease have died so far.

Medically, this may be correct. But both luckily and only are highly judgmental and have no place here. The families of those two people who died will find little luck in this. And don’t make the audience do the math.

BETTER:

Two people are dead so far … another 25 are still fighting the devastating disease.

Then there was this interesting gem, which went on the air:

PROBLEM:

A Cleveland elementary school is teaching its kids how not to be the target of a crazed gunman. They’re teaching the kids terrorist training. …

In addition to the awkwardness of the negative lead in this story, the words conjure up an image of hundreds of little Rambos stalking the halls of some Cleveland elementary school, learning how to be terrorists.

BETTER:

How’s this for a sign of the times? A Cleveland elementary school is giving its kids anti-terrorist training.

Consider this next sentence. It came at the end of a real story about a kid going to the White House based on a letter of suggestions he wrote for the president.

PROBLEM:

Other kids had some pretty good suggestions, too … like build more baseball fields and make parents go to school, not kids. …

Most parents who heard this copy read on the air may not have shared the writer’s view of how good an idea that last one really is.

Editorials

Avoid editorial statements.

PROBLEM:	On a more positive note about firefighters, expect to see more women than ever dousing fires here in Columbus.
PROBLEM:	When will those big-time musicians stop selling out? That latest rock band to sing ditties for Pepsi. …

The writer in the first example got into trouble by trying to force a transition from one firefighter story to another. Unfortunately, what went on the air was a position statement. The second example is just silly commentary. Even if you think most people agree with you or that your view is right and just, skip the editorial.

Clichés

Don’t use clichés—ever. Listen to the collective audience groan after the umpteenth and only time will tell or that remains to be seen. Clichés have absolutely no redeeming qualities.

KGO-TV reporter Wayne Freedman also hates reporters who make themselves the story and tell people how to feel and what to think and use hackneyed phrases like, “something went terribly wrong.”

Freedman has his own list of pet peeves: “Reporters saying, ‘meet so and so.’ Makes me crazy,” says Freedman.

Other clichés we can do without:

 

A parent’s [or other group’s] worst nightmare …

The edge of anyone’s seat …

Never seen before (until now) …

Whole new ball game …

All and sundry …

Both feet on the ground …

Foregone conclusion …

Been there, done that …

Rests on his/her laurels …

Turn over a new leaf …

Roll with the punches …

Writing’s on the wall …

See the light …

Picture of health …

[Anything] as big as all outdoors …

Marriage made in heaven …

Time is ripe …

At long last …

 

Consider that just a partial list of phrases that should never come out of your computer.

Sexism

Avoid sexism. Don’t use he when the reference is really to men or women. But also work to avoid he or she because it’s so cumbersome. It’s almost always possible to write around the problem, frequently by using the plural.

SEXIST:	If your child goes to Big Walnut, Logan Elm or Teays Valley … keep him home tomorrow. School has been canceled.
BETTER:	If your children go to Big Walnut, Logan Elm or Teays Valley … keep them home tomorrow.

And avoid male gender job descriptions when neutral ones are available:

 

• Use reporters or journalists—not newsmen

• Use councilors or council members—not councilmen

• Use senators and representatives or members of Congress—not congressmen or congresswomen

• Use police officers and firefighters—not policemen and firemen (You don’t usually say policewomen, and you would never say firewomen.)

 

Don’t take the sexist liberties one reporter did with this story:

Dealing with a story involving husband and wife with the same last name may be a bit more difficult than most. But you can’t call him Smith and her by the too-familiar-sounding first name any more than you can do it the other way around. Either use first and last names for both or use Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Personalization

Personalizing news copy is common in our business. Properly used, there’s nothing wrong with it. If you (as announcer or reporter) and the audience will be paying a new, higher sales tax, there’s nothing wrong with saying:

YES:	We’ll be paying more money. …

But don’t separate yourself from the audience as one major market all-news station did:

NO:	You’ll be paying higher prices for gas than other parts of the country.

The implication here is that somehow the announcer is above all that.

Certain highly charged issues should always be handled with great care and never lend themselves well to personalization:

PROBLEM:	If you believe in polls, then most of us do not want things like Uzi machine guns sold over the counter.
	A Newsweek poll released today showed 72 percent of us favor a ban on the sale of semi-automatic weapons. An L-A Times poll showed 80 percent of us favor such a ban.

This story, which aired on a large market television station, is nothing but trouble. The line if you believe in polls is, at best, gratuitous. People will believe it or not as they wish; never say it. Uzi machine guns are not sold over the counter; that’s just plain wrong. The issue here involves semiautomatic weapons. Machine guns are automatic (and different laws apply to their sale). In addition, a story like this begs to be misheard. Drop the personalization (of us) on stories about gun control, abortion and other highly charged issues.

BETTER:

A new poll says most Americans want to ban the sale of semiautomatic weapons. …

LAST NOTE

As with words, phrases must be precise and telling. Write as if you had to defend every phrase you use. Sometimes, you will.

SUMMARY

Inaccuracy and creating confusion are the two worst writing sins to avoid. Use active voice, and try to stay with present or future tense in stories, especially leads. Be clear and concise, and use positive phrasing. Watch out for pronouns and time and space problems created by words. In broadcast, titles and identifiers go before the name. Avoid state of mind statements, generally don’t quote and minimize the use of numbers. Be careful with race identification, and avoid sexism and clichés.

KEY WORDS & PHRASES

 

active voice

passive voice

present, future and present perfect tense

problems with pronouns

time and space problems

titles and identifiers

attribution

state of mind statements

race and diversity

editorial meanings

sexism

clichés

EXERCISES

 

A. Put an “A” next to the sentences that are active … and a “P” next to passive ones:

 

  1. ____The airplane was landed during the storm.

  2. ____The lawyer wrote an angry letter to the judge.

  3. ____The man will be arrested by a deputy.

  4. ____The bell is rung at noon.

  5. ____A stranger helped police chase a man down the alley.

  6. ____The spotlight had been focused on downtown.

  7. ____The man was going to town.

  8. ____The car was driven by an escaped convict.

  9. ____The doctor sent an enormous bill to the patient.

10. ____The woman will be rescued by a firefighter.

11. ____The alarm has been sounded.

12. ____An investor wrote a nasty letter to the company.

13. ____The athlete is upset with himself.

14. ____The lawyer drove the car straight into a ditch by the side of the road.

15. ____The jet was brought down on the wrong runway.

16. ____The student is two credits shy of graduation.

17. ____The reporter has been shut out of the meeting.

18. ____The boy was told to get ready fast.

19. ____The delivery service spent two days trying to find the address.

20. ____The train was stopped at the station.

21. ____Police have been unable to find the robber.

22. ____Forty protestors were arrested at the barricade.

23. ____The man was pinned between the guardrail and the car.

24. ____Passengers fled the scene as quickly as possible.

25. ____Soldiers lined up for their shots.

 

B. Convert the passive sentences above into active voice.

C. The following sentences have errors and/or words, phrases, or means of expression not acceptable in writing for broadcast. Make them acceptable.

 

1. Police announced that only a few people bothered to demonstrate this morning at the Iranian Embassy located in downtown.

2. The number of fire code violations supposedly more than doubled it’s number last year, according to the head of the fire department.

3. The unemployment rate plummeted 0.1% last month, according to the Labor Department.

4. The governor spoke with the author of the school bill, but the former said later that his impression of the latter was that he would not do anything to change it.

5. Luckily, only 2 of the 27 men and women taken hostage have become deceased so far.

6. The cops finally caught the man suspected of burglarizing 3 persons over the weekend.

7. Red light cameras located in Springfield intersections have identified twelve drivers who wrongly drove through the intersections after the lights turned red, but officials say that tickets will not go out to the offending drivers until tomorrow.

8. American auto makers, in response to attacks by Democratic senatorial candidate Mike Smith, have asserted today that they are not lagging behind in quality control to foreign car companies.

9. The presidents of IBEW, the Teamsters, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers of America and the United Mine Workers Union have all agreed to sit down with the Secretary of Labor to discuss what can be done to maintain the beneficially low level of inflation that the country is now enjoying.

10. The tortile remains of the 2008 Ford Explorer were used by police in front of Central High School as a reminder to the students at Central who were to be celebrating their prom tonight.