Guess again.

In a four-part series, "Pounding the Pavement," beginning today on Page One, investigative reporter Pat Stith explains how and why overweight trucks are avoiding oversight in North Carolina.

It's the kind of story that doesn't come in a news release and the kind that distinguishes journalism from other more readily available information.

Stith spent untold hours of reporting to piece together the situation and then to interview people to find out how it came to be and what should be done about it.

News researchers Brooke Cain and David Raynor worked with him.

Their core findings were expanded by photographer Sher Stoneman and graphic artist Judson Drennan. Valerie Aguirre developed the series' online components.

Good journalism requires a team effort, beginning with the most difficult thing of all: finding out what's really happening in our community -- in this case, on our roads.

Telling the story well -- in ways that are clear and direct and that help people take action if they choose -- also requires significant effort and resources.

Page designer Andrea Jones, copy editor Jaime Larson-McLoone, photo editor Scott Sharpe and photo director Robert Miller helped craft the series. Deputy managing editor Steve Riley directed it.

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Also in today's paper: A lively new edition of Triangle Life magazine.

Triangle Life has been an annual guide, but we've expanded it to twice a year and changed its focus.

Gone are long listings of material -- such as voter registration guidelines -- easily obtainable on government Web sites.

Instead, Triangle Life is now a lifestyle magazine, handy for longtimers as well as newcomers. Stories and listings look at places to go and things to do locally and within easy driving distance. Today's edition is a summer magazine; the fall version lands in September.

The magazine is also a new size -- standard magazine dimensions instead of the large tabloid size that some readers considered cumbersome.

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The war the United States launched after Sept. 11, 2001, was not in Iraq but in Afghanistan. A man named Osama bin Laden was the target.

The N&O's Jay Price and Chuck Liddy are headed to Afghanistan to report in a series called "The Forgotten War."

They will begin with soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, but will go beyond local troops to update you on the work being done by the military and nonprofit groups in Afghanistan.

Look for their reports in the next several weeks.