seen

Gov. Matt Blunt proposes legislation that would allow a Missouri prosecutor to seek the death penalty in cases involving forcible rape and forcible sodomy when the victim is younger than 12 years old during a speech Monday afternoon in the Buchanan County Courthouse rotunda.

It was the lead photo in today’s paper. Look for yourself (Newseum).

Before I switched shifts a few weeks ago, I was rarely assigned stand-alone photos — once every other week, I’d say. I now shoot at least one a week. On most Sundays, I have two assignments, one to accompany whatever the general assignments reporter is working on, and a standalone.

I have a love/hate relationship with feature hunting.

I hate it because it often means an hour or two of driving around (at $3.24/gallon!), searching for something vaguely newsworthy, or at least unusual.

I love it because I usually come away with at least one story idea after talking with people around town. Today, for example, I meet someone who agreed to help with me with small story I was hoping to do. I also thought of a new story idea from someone I meet on a previous feature hunt.

Lafayette sophomores (from left) Brianne Beers, Gage Herrington, and Destiny Gilbert shoot the final scene in a 10-minute public service announcement type video about issues the students covered in their health class. The group’s project covered violence, drug use, peer pressure, anger management, among other topics, and made liberal use of ketchup, powdered sugar and light sabers.