The Scoop

Scott Koll joined Sacramento Bee editors Tuesday and Wednesday in their afternoon news meeting to discuss what stories should be on A1.

Koll's day job is a crime scene investigator for the Roseville Police Department, and he read about The Bee inviting readers to sit in on the meetings and learn more about how editors evaluate news and decide the day's top stories.

"I really felt like I was able to peek behind the curtains," Koll said Wednesday. "It was rewarding to hear editors discuss all the elements that go into a story, and then see it come together in (the next day's) paper."

Koll said reading the paper will be different for him now. For one, he said, he has a new appreciation for the "immense amount of work" that goes into putting together and packaging stories, and he'll think about some of the people he met and how seriously they take their jobs in trying to think about readers and how they might react to certain stories.

So for Thursday's paper, Koll liked a story about California streamlining regulation of the oil industry under Gov. Jerry Brown, and a story about admission trends at the University of California.

Interested in experiencing what Koll did at The Bee? You can apply to join editors for a few meetings by clicking here. If you don't see available dates, check back as we are periodically adding dates.

Sacbee.com's Voter Guide 2012 -- the place to learn about Sacramento-area candidates and issues on the June 5 primary ballot -- launches today.

Simply go to www.sacbee.com/voterguide and plug in your address to generate your personalized ballot. See what races you'll vote in. Compare the candidates. Read about the issues.

When you're ready, mark your choices and print or email yourself a completed ballot. You can even share your choices on Facebook, if you like.

Bookmark www.sacbee.com/voterguide now and use it as a resource as the June 5 primary nears.

It's optimized for mobile, so you can use it on your tablet, iPhone or Android.

As you might imagine, it takes a good many people here at The Sacramento Bee to pull off a comprehensive guide like this. The heavy lifting was done by researcher Pete Basofin. But, as with most things, his work is never done ...

The Voter Guide will be revised for the November general election. Expect a whole host of new local races and measures, and state propositions.

RELATED COVERAGE
• Election 2012: Full local and state coverage
• President 2012: Video, Delegate Tracker, Fact Checkers, Predict the Vote
• Endorsements: Recommendations from The Bee's editorial board
• New district maps: Assembly, Senate, Congress

The Bee relaunched a program this week in which a reader is invited in to discuss with Bee editors what stories should be on A1 the next day.

Bee editors call the program Dr. Risk, since the reader is supposed to take a risk by coming in to challenge Bee editors to reconsider their choices or ask them to explain why a particular story should be on A1.

This week's Dr. Risk was Claudia Morain, news service director for the University of California, Davis. Morain signed up a few weeks ago, but as luck would have it we had to ask her to recuse herself from chatting about one story on her boss, UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, discussing a report on her role in the pepper-spraying incident at her campus late last year.

Morain said she found the experience of being Dr. Risk interesting and was amazed by the fast pace of the news meeting.

"Thank you so much for the opportunity to sit in the last two days. It's so cool to hear people talk about stories in the late afternoon and then see the discussion manifest as a newspaper the next morning," said Morain, who is at the forefront in the photo to the left listening to Bee editors discuss the stories they think belong on A1.

On Wednesday, Morain did challenge Bee editors on one story -- and she won. Editors were leaning against putting a story on Dick Clark's death on A1 simply because the news had broke early in the day and was getting coverage every where and most editors felt the story might feel old the next day on A1. Morain argued that Clark was an important icon to The Bee's readers and that it was simply shocking to her that the perpetually young-looking Clark had died.

"It was a kick to see Dick Clark on A1, disappointing everyone who thought taxidermy might be the ticket to cheating death," she said.

Since announcing any reader with a passion for news and a disposition for constructive debating could apply to be Dr. Risk at http://drrisksacbee.eventbrite.com, The Bee has nearly a full calendar of Dr. Risks through the end of January 2013. We'll soon add some more dates to sign up for and announce that to readers.

Starting next week we'll share some of tomorrow's A1 headlines today. So what are some of the top stories we are looking at for A1 Friday?

Another arena story, this one looking at the $11 million in yearly profits the Kings might have made, according to projections by the company, Anschutz Entertainment Group, that would have operated the new arena.

The latest data on homes sales in the Sacramento region showed a small uptick, and reporter Hudson Sangree talks to experts about what it means.

We are also looking at a story from medical reporter Grace Rubenstein that examines data that show where you live and work in the Sacramento region have a strong influence on your health.

We're having some fun with our Sacramento Bee Facebook timeline. Maybe you've had fun with it, too. Lots of people are sharing the links and leaving comments with their own memories. We hope you will, too.

You'll find a wonderful trove of milestones in Sacramento and world history at www.facebook.com/sacramentobee.

We've added key front pages of The Sacramento Bee since the first issue was published on Feb. 3, 1857 -- the stock market crash of 1929, the JFK assassination in 1963, Princess Diana's death in 1987 and lots more.

You'll also find photos from The Bee archives, including: hostages taken at the Good Guys store, 1991; the Kings' first game in Sacramento, 1985; deadly floods that killed 74 in Northern California, 1955; the opening of Tower Bridge, 1935.

Where were you on these key dates? What do you remember? What stories have you heard? We invite you to share your memories on our Facebook timeline.

I think you'll enjoy this walk back in time -- it's kind of addicting! Thanks go out to The Bee's Kevin Rolf and Pete Basofin for their work on this project. (Read the timeline post on Pete's Sac History Happenings blog.)

What stories would you put on the front of The Sacramento Bee?

Ever want to tell Bee editors they need to give a story more attention or ask editors what they are thinking in picking stories for the front of the paper or the homepage of sacbee.com?

Well, you have a chance to do that every Tuesday through Thursday with Bee editors at 4 p.m., when editors meet to discuss the day's top stories.

The Bee is bringing back a program called Dr. Risk that editors started in January 1994. The program has been on hiatus for the last several years but we think the original goal of the program is even more important today.

The goal of Dr. Risk is to invite community leaders and readers to our daily news meetings to tell us what stories they would put on the front page, and why; someone who would take a "risk" and challenge Bee editors to think about the kind of stories we are showcasing to readers.

To be considered to serve as Dr. Risk, click here to register and pick a date that works for you. An editor will contact you to let you know if you have been picked, or perhaps invite you to apply for another date.

Here's how the program works:

Each week, a reader, aka Dr. Risk, arrives at The Bee at 3:30 p.m. and is given a list of Page 1 story proposals and then attends the 4 p.m. editors' meeting where stories for the next day's front page are discussed. After listening to pitches by editors and asking them questions about their stories, Dr. Risk then recommends the four or five stories she would put on the front page, and why.

The qualifications? Curiosity, an interest in news and the printed edition of The Bee, and a willingness to share your opinion in a constructive manner. The commitment is approximately 90 minutes each afternoon, Tuesday through Thursday.

Want to see where crimes occur? Sacbee.com's new CrimeMapper allows you to do just that.

This newly revamped interactive map tracks data from four local law enforcement agencies -- the Sacramento Sheriff's, Sacramento Police, Elk Grove Police and Folsom Police departments. We plan to expand it, adding more agencies as we go.

You can customize your search by type of crime, date or agency. Then click on any icon to see the details of that crime, including the location down to the block.

Viewing Sacbee.com from your smartphone or iPad? As part of this update, we also made the CrimeMapper work on most touchscreen devices, including iPhones, iPads and Android devices.

This interactive database of crimes will be updated regularly, depending on the agency, so check back for new data. For now, the record of crimes goes back to January 2012, but the history will grow too.

Thanks for the rebuilt and improved database goes to Bee senior web developer Marc Matteo.

Check out the new CrimeMapper at www.sacbee.com/crimemapper and give us your feedback: Comment here or email Digital Media Director Seán McMahon at smcmahon@sacbee.com.

Related links:
Sacto 9-1-1 crime blog: Daily breaking news
Ask Sacto 9-1-1: Bee reporters answer questions about crime news, trends, other issues
Photo gallery: Most wanted fugitives
Arrest logs: See arrests for 18 cities

The Sacramento Bee's elections team again is preparing to publish our Voter Guide to help voters track local candidates and make informed choices. At Sacbee.com, users will be able to enter their home address and see a customized "ballot" of candidates and initiatives.

If you're running for office in the June 5 primary in Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado or Yolo counties, you're invited to create a profile on our Voter Guide. If you haven't already received an invitation from us through email, please contact Pete Basofin at pbasofin@sacbee.com. Please provide the candidate's name and office sought, as well as a contact person's name and email address.

Deadline to complete the Voter Guide questionnaire and upload a photo is April 9.

Look for the Voter Guide at www.sacbee.com/voterguide the week of April 23. The guide will publish in the newspaper on Sunday, May 13.

Check the 2012 elections calendar here
Special section: Elections 2012: www.sacbee.com/elections
Special section: President 2012: www.sacbee.com/president
Special feature: Delegate tracker: www.sacbee.com/delegates
Interactive: Predict the 2012 presidential race

Thanks to all you Sacbee.com readers who shared photos in our My Photo contest for Leap Day. We had more than 60 entries. It was fun to go through them all, and difficult to narrow our "favorites" list down to just eight.

We especially enjoyed the stories many of you shared with your photos: A man celebrating his 20@80 birthday with friends in Lincoln. A mom celebrating her 40th leap day birthday (or is that 10th?!) with her daughters in Carmichael. A couple who had their first date on Leap Day and decided if they were still together four years later, they'd marry. Twenty-eight years and three kids later, they're still celebrating.

We managed to choose eight favorites, and each receives a $15 iTunes gift card.

Thanks again to all of you who shared your photos.

You can see all the Leap Day photos at www.sacbee.com/myphoto.

See a gallery of our favorites here.

It's Leap Day on Wednesday, Feb. 29. It comes around only once every four years, so make it count! We want to reflect the entire community in a new feature: My Photo.

Scoopy says send a photo of yourself and tell us what you're doing, where you are and what time the photo was taken.

Then check the gallery to see how everyone else is spending their "extra" day.

We have eight $15 iTunes gift cards for the best photos. To be eligible you must submit your photo to the gallery by upload or email:

Upload your photo: sacbee.com/myphoto

Email your photo: myphoto@sacbee.com

For photos e-mailed to us: Subject line will become the title. Sender name will be listed as author. Body of the e-mail will appear as the photo caption. (Delete e-mail signature containing personal information.)

The Sacramento Bee launched a new Multimedia section, blog and photo player. We're very excited to now present the great photography from The Bee and around the world in a large format on desktop computers, tablets, and mobiles. Our focus in this area was driven by our strategy, analytics, and testing designed to increase daily unique visitors specifically on weekends. You will soon begin to see more QR codes in the paper linking print stories to their mobile gallery.

Help us make it better -

Developing for Android and other non-Apple devices is complicated by the wide range of hardware and software variations. Here's where we need your help. Please visit http://sacbee.com/multimedia on your non-Apple smartphone with a web browser and see if the gallery loads and displays photos. There are many improvements in the roadmap for the player, but at this time, we're most interested in basic performance on the widest range of smartphones. If the player doesn't seem to be working correctly for you, please click the "?" in the upper right to see some tips and email your comments.

If you have an Apple phone, we of course want you to use the player, but we are more confident about the testing we completed on those devices. That said, if you do come across any issues please use the "?" for tips and to send us an email.

Mobile tips:

In the main interface:

• Touch and slide to change photos
• At the last photo of the gallery, slide to the left to open the gallery browser
• Tap to hide/show the user interface
• Tap "Galleries" to find other galleries to view
• Tap the play icon to start/stop the gallery slide show
• Tap the close icon to go to the mobile version of sacbee.com
• If the caption text is too long to fit then drag it up and down to read more

In the gallery browser:

• Slide to left/right/up/down (depending on your orientation) to view more galleries
• Tap a gallery thumbnail to view that gallery
• Tap the close icon to return to the current gallery

Known issues:

• Occasionally when sliding between photos, the display stops in-between two photos. If this happens, just tap the screen to realign the photo.
• On some devices, changing orientation will occasionally incorrectly fill the available screen area. If this happens, refresh the page to reload the viewer.

Links:

• Multimedia section front: http://sacbee.com/multimedia - Going here on your phone will automatically redirect you to the mobile interface.
• Multimedia blog: http://blogs.sacbee.com/exposures

I also want to note that this is the first graduate from Bee Labs. A big thank you to all who helped us with our beta testing. More great things to come.