Today's Front Pages Analysis

Grim news, powerful images

By Patty Rhule

Amid tough economic times, even the value of your life is eroding.

“Your life, worth less,” said The Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal, leading with a story on a new EPA valuation of the price that people — and employers — would pay to avoid certain risks. Many papers illustrated the EPA study with charts that spiraled downward.

The News-Press in Ft. Myers, Fla., offered some counterbalance to the story that has major policy implications with the sub-headline: “Some charge White House is cooking books.”

Small comfort, that. Let’s turn to the nation’s photojournalists to see the stories they tell in pictures today:

The St. Petersburg Times in Florida photographed an 18-year-old girl from the neck down, her arms and legs in braces after an attack that left her comatose. The photo illustrates her mother’s story, “My Soul is Broken.”
“Six Lucky Ducks Saved in Afternoon Rescue in Peoria” read the headline for a photo of ducklings in a trash-littered storm drain in the Journal Star.
“Child on the Mend” in Biloxi, Miss.’s Sun Herald depicted a 3-year-old girl with injuries from an attack by a pit bull, also pictured.
The Herald News in West Paterson, N.J., offered a vivid photo to illustrate the summertime fire-hydrant story with “Grief over relief / Open hydrants refresh kids, yet pose hazard.”
“He’ll Call ’Em, You Shoot ’Em” was the grabber headline for an image of a man who makes duck calls in South Carolina’s Bluffton Today.
“Hog Heaven” read the Culpeper (Va.) Star-Exponent headline over a photo of a boy giggling from a close encounter with his hog.
The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash., chronicled continuing wildfires with a poignant photo of a man walking from his home, unable to find his blind and deaf dog, with the headline “Wildfire Chars Homes, Forces Evacuations.”
To see a big one that did not get away, check out the 348.2-pound halibut caught in Alaska, as seen in the Anchorage Daily News.