Blue Byline » Newtown school shooting

The prime time crime of 2012

Brian O'Neill — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 21:06:30 +0000

Year end reviews are a time-honored tradition in print journalism. Looking back on the year’s crime stories may not match the feel-good quality of other reviews, but it may highlight our progress on the many challenges we have faced. And vice versa.

So, here is a laundry list of the most popular topics addressed in Blue Byline this past year (based on site visits and commentary).

January: We began the year with the steamy topic of marijuana legislation. The state legislature was under a great deal of pressure to fix the gaping, truck-sized holes in the then current statute, and …

A safer nation? Make compromises and pay the costs

Brian O'Neill — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 05:40:42 +0000

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” -Franklin Delano Roosevelt

What may have been true in 1933, at least in the context of FDR’s speech, seems pathetically out of place today. Our current state of fear is no mere metaphor. Mass shootings are a phenomena as real and violent as they are random and impersonal.

We have become so numb to these events that the least informed among us could write the script: disaffected, deranged loner shoots at people in a public place; the news media hone in on the perp, pasting his photo, his gun collection, …