Whatever happened to the word "refugee?" It disappeared like a lost child last week, the noun itself now a linguistic wanderer without a home, the latest victim of Hurricane Katrina.

Natural disasters are a challenge to newspapers. Hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis happen in real time. Newspaper coverage, delayed by printing and distribution constraints, quickly becomes old news.

Vann Trotter is the newest member of The News & Observer copy desk. Names such as Jim Black are about as familiar to him as the Alaska speaker of the House is to you.

The first time I read the story, I'll admit, I chuckled. The word sketch of a "stocky" 9-year-old kid struggling with a football tackling dummy on a 92-degree day was funny, even charming.

When is a militant an insurgent, or a freedom fighter, or a terrorist?

The News & Observer came under fire last week from the Religious Right. The criticism was understandable, but unfair. And it illustrates how uninformed online crusading, magnified by the power of the Internet, can instantly create negative perception

Bomb blast in Britain kills at least 37. The News & Observer coverage fills half the front page and spills over to five pages inside the paper.

Every weekday evening at about 6:30, a reporter in the News & Observer newsroom delivers the news -- on television.

The Wake County school board, after back-to-back school system frauds, last week took initial steps toward bringing in an outside auditor to examine the schools' financial practices.

What's up with that obit? That's a question I heard a lot last week, telling me among other things that The N&O obituary page is read.

We media types have been full of hand-wringing lately about use of anonymous sources.

The News & Observer has come in for a good bit of criticism lately for its international news coverage. The paper is too focused on local news, this argument goes, and doesn't give enough prominence or space to world affairs.