Floodwaters from Hurricane Sandy enter the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (former Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel) in New York on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. (MTA Bridges and Tunnels)

By Ryan Denham

 

Five Things You Should Know for Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012:

Photos: Superstorm Sandy arrives

As we all know, Superstorm Sandy has lived up to expectations, pummeling the East Coast on Monday, killing at least 16 people and cutting power to more than 7.4 million homes. WMBD 31 has some information on how the Red Cross and State Farm were preparing locally Monday. After checking around, I'm most impressed with photos now posted on the New York Daily News' website. Much better than what I've seen spread across The New York Times and the New York Post. And they're all legit. (For an interesting read on how many phony Sandy photos are floating around out there on social media, check out The Atlantic's Instasnopes piece.)

Cameras debut in Illinois

Chicago Tribune photographer Michael Tercha put together a photo gallery from opening statements in the trial of Nicholas Sheley in Morrison, Ill. The 33-year-old is charged with killing 93-year-old Russell Reed of Sterling, one of eight people Sheley is accused of murdering in Illinois and Missouri. The Reed case is the first major trial to be photographed in Illinois, a key step in a Illinois Supreme Court-backed pilot program in the western Illinois circuit that (we hope) expands statewide quickly. Two photographers and one videographer were on hand for Monday's opening statements. The Tribune reports that authorities wouldn't let photographers take shots of the jury or an undercover State Police investigator, and that there were some audio problems too. But it's a first step toward something I hope we'll see here locally.

Board chairman weighs in?

McLean County Board chairman Matt Sorensen stayed diplomatic Monday in discussing a ballot question next week that will ask voters whether the county recorder's office should be folded into the county clerk's office, ostensibly to save money. Sorensen did say that one argument for consolidation -- that several other counties have done so by choice -- is not entirely accurate, noting a change in state law as the real culprit. Earlier this year, Sorensen came to the defense of current Recorder Lee Newcom before his primary election win over a GOP challenger. Now, he's telling the public that he doesn't want to see McLean County's land-record-keeping system become neglected if consolidation occurs. "And I'm not suggesting that it wouldn't if it were combined, but the idea that you have to have somebody very awake, and very at the wheel, and very focused on those permanent McLean County land records is pretty important," Sorensen told WJBC.

Saving Daytona the dog

WMBD's Kim Behrens has a heart-warming story about a dog named Daytona. Daytona was found alive Monday morning, two days after his family's home exploded in Saybrook, possibly as a result of a natural gas leak. Daytona's owner, Charlene Durham, died after being injured in that explosion, and two others in the home were also hurt. Daytona was found during clean-up work Monday, without any burns, fractured bones, or lung damage, Behrens reports. "He didn't have his seizure medicine or anything, and he's done remarkably well," nurse Tami Hobbs said of Daytona. "Luckily the Saybrook Fire Department got him out."

The big snafu

Election Day is one week away, so it's a fun time to look back at one of the greatest election-reporting blunders of all time. It's, of course, "Dewey defeats Truman," the Tribune's infamous mistake, "displayed gleefully by President Harry Truman for a photograph," notes Stephan Benzkofer in his piece about election reporting over the years. Benzkofer recaps that a labor dispute with the printers union led to a strike in November 1948, messing up the Tribune's production schedule and forcing editors to publish the first edition before receiving any real results. "So began a nightmarish odyssey by Tribune editors desperately trying to come to grips with a news story that refused to unfold as they expected," Benzkofer writes. A fun read.

 

Ryan Denham can be reached at ryan.denham@cumulus.com.