On Tuesday afternoon, the News & Observer blogs will be moving to a new system and a new server. This change will make getting to our blogs quicker and easier. Most of the blogs will change their appearance, while blogs like Taking Stock and Under the Dome will remain the same.

This change requires nothing from the reader. There will be a link to the older posts, and you won't need to change your bookmarks. If you have trouble finding your favorite blog or you have a comment, please email feedback@newsobserver.com.

— Rachel Carter

The N&O's new executive editor, John Drescher, has allowed me guest space here to bid goodbye and say thanks to those who've read this blog, including those who've posted questions and comments here.

I launched The Editor's Blog in the summer of 2005. In time it became The Editors' Blog, reflecting our team approach to newsroom leadership at The N&O. I've enjoyed learning how reader interaction works in this space and will take some of those lessons with me to my new role as editor of The Sacramento Bee.

This Sunday's N&O will carry my farewell column. It only begins to express the appreciation I feel for the people in this community and within this news organization who have helped me, and become my friends, in my 25 years at The N&O. Look for the column in the Q section.

John Drescher, who has led The N&O's daily news operation for five years as managing editor, brings a wealth of talent and experience to his role as executive editor. A Raleigh native with a keen intellect and great news instincts, Drescher is a quiet yet forceful leader who will lead The N&O ably. I look forward to keeping in touch with him as a McClatchy colleague and friend, and to keeping up from afar with news and progress in the Triangle and North Carolina.

Thanks to all.

Melanie Sill

I wanted to share some words from David Westphal, head of our McClatchy Washington bureau, about recognition for six courageous women who worked in the McClatchy (former Knight Ridder) Baghdad bureau. (Read our Iraqi staffers' blog here)

"Six current and former Iraqi staffers in Baghdad were awarded the Courage Award in New York today (Tuesday) by the International Women's Media Foundation. Four of the six were present for the awards lunch at the Waldorf Astoria, and one of them, Sahar Issa, gave a smash acceptance speech on everyone's behalf. Standing behind her were Ban Adil Sarhan, Huda Ahmed and Alaa Majeed. Not able to attend were Zaineb Obeid and Shatha al Awsy. A McClatchy fan club, including John Walcott, Mark Seibel, Leila Fadel, plus Knight Ridder alums Clark Hoyt and Steve Butler, led the cheering section.

"We are so proud of them. Their reporting from the streets and roads and markets of Iraq is the foundation of our Baghdad report, and it was obvious from the crowd's reaction (and individual comments afterwards) that McClatchy's sparkling work on Iraq was widely understood and respected.

"But this was a day to honor the courage of Ban, Huda, Alaa, Zaineb, Shatha and Sahar -- and by extension all of the Iraqis who have worked for us in Baghdad. Only the handful of you who have worked in Baghdad can fully glimpse what it means to be an Iraqi journalist working for an American news organization. The rest of us can only stand in awe, and express our thanks for all they have given, and risked, to tell the story of their country."

"As Bob Woodruff (the ABC newsman who was critically injured in Iraq) said in his introduction, 'These six Iraqi women have reported the war in Baghdad from inside their hearts.' "

Westphal also shared text of the acceptance speech given by Sahar Issa on behalf of the six Iraqi women in McClatchy's Baghdad bureau.

Here it is:

"It is a great honor for me to stand here today.

"To me, this award means that my colleagues and I have succeeded in what we set out to do; and that our voices have carried, through war, through death and sorrow, through sleepless nights and fear driven days in an effort to reflect the picture of our country as we see it, and of out people as only we can truly know them.

"To be a journalist in violence ridden Iraq today, ladies and gentlemen, is not a matter lightly undertaken. Every path is strewn with danger, every checkpoint, every question a direct threat.

"Every interview we conduct may be our last. So much is happening in Iraq. So much that is questionable. So much that we, as journalists, try to fathom and portray to the people who care to know."

"In every society there is good and bad. Laws regulate the conduct of the society. My country is now lawless. Innocent blood is shed every day, seemingly without purpose. Hundreds of thousands have been killed for seemingly no reason. It is our responsibility to do our utmost to acquire the answers, to dig them up with our bare hands if we must."

The phone, email and US mail bring a regular stream of comments aimed at The N&O through me. Most are pretty specific, but some include effusive praise and others contain blistering criticism.

Today, for instance, I had two early morning phone messages from different women (neither left a name) thanking me for things they liked in the paper. One closed by saying, "I love The News & Observer!"

My snail mail brought a broadside from a critic who has sent unsigned blasts my way since I was named managing editor in 1998. Usually they're stories or corrections torn out of the paper. This person also bestows his or her wrath upon our current ME, John Drescher.

Today's missive was scribbled on a torn-out page from the Life, etc., section front. The page featured a wonderful Tim Lee caricature of deputy managing editor Dan Barkin, who had written a cover story on his experience as father of a bride. (Barkin also has launched a Father of the Bride blog.) Many readers loved the story and commented on it, but our faithful fan instead saw it as more reason to hate The N&O.

"Your staff must be laughing like crazy at you," he wrote. "This story shows how far you have dumbed down what already was a mediocre rag. You have turned the paper into the laughing stock of your profession. If you want fluff, you know how to deliver. Congrats!"

Lots of rhetoric has surrounded debate over a children's health insurance bill passed by Congress but vetoed by President Bush. As the House considers voting to override Bush's veto, N&O staff writer Jean P. Fisher looked at assertions and reality. Read it here and decide if you want to weigh in with your Congressional representative on the override question.

The fact-check approach we adopted for political advertisements some years ago is increasingly useful in helping separate assertions from facts on issues such as this debate over the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIPs, which funds North Carolina's Health Choice.

Along with our stories on drought, here's more information for you:

* An interactive map showing the week-by-week progress of the drought since spring
* Our Fact Finder page showing conservation measures and networking various Web resources on water and drought

Know of others? Add suggestions in comments on this post or share them with your neighbors here.

Don't miss some of this N&O storytelling:
* A time-lapse video showing how a watermelon goes from flower to fruit, along with other photos and sound of the Melon Man. Photojournalist Robert Willett followed several melons from seeds to the State Fair -- find out how things turned out.
* Food writer Andrea Weigl's tour of the best fried stuff at the State Fair
* Video highlights from the North Carolina-South Carolina college football game Sunday

Our video galleries are growing quickly with some wonderful storytelling. We welcome comments and suggestions.

Water tips flow freely

By MELANIE SILL, Executive Editor

Sometime in the past six weeks, North Carolina's drought set its hooks and began to feel more like a crisis than an inconvenience. Full column

Settling small matters

By Melanie Sill
Executive Editor

I write often about major coverage issues, but some readers who contact me want help with the little things that they find important. Full column

Check out a new information resource we're offering online. It's called Fact Finder. Here are two examples on current topics:

Fact Finder for the fall elections in the Triangle

Fact Finder on the drought

Fact Finder puts all the information resources we can assemble in a searchable, useful spot. As always, suggestions welcome.

Blogger's perspective stands out

By Melanie Sill, Executive Editor

One of the Duke lacrosse case's best-known bloggers came to visit The N&O the other day, and you might be surprised at how cordially he was received. Read more

KC Johnson, co-author of the Duke lacrosse book "Until Proven Innocent," has posted a correction here on one of a few errors in the book regarding N&O reporting.

The errors occur in a long passage regarding the much-discussed March 25 N&O article that drew on the only interview ever done with the accuser, Crystal Mangum. (At that point and until the case was dropped, Mangum was not named by us or most other sources.)

First, Johnson and co-author Stuart Taylor Jr. write that the article "always described Mangum as the victim." This is incorrect: The first reference is "the woman who says she was raped," for the most part she is described as 'the accuser" or "the woman" and near the end of the story, twice, as "the victim." Read it yourself. I've thought all along this issue was a red herring, but if you're going to criticize us on it, be accurate.

More seriously, the authors write that Duke professor Paul Haagen believed reporter Samiha Khanna had taken his comments out of context and had "fished around" after a faculty meeting for negative comments regarding the lacrosse team; Khanna never interviewed Haagen. Reporters who have interviewed him numerous times on this and other issues have never heard any complaint to support this accusation.

A couple of pages later, the book states that Khanna barged into a Duke building and interrupted a private meeting; Khanna was in the building lobby with other reporters but did not interrupt any meeting or talk with the coach in question.

We appreciate Johnson's willingness to correct and apologize for one of the errors in his blog. The errors we've spotted only in looking at references to N&O reporting might be called minor -- saying one reporter did an interview when it was another, getting a job title wrong -- but they're the kind of mistakes we correct in the newspaper and Johnson corrects on his blog.

The problem with a book is this: It has the weight of "permanent record." The errors regarding Khanna unfairly smear her. Johnson and Taylor of course are free to criticize The N&O's reporting, the March 25 article and anything else if they get the facts right.

Johnson responded promptly and courteously and made changes in the book's source notes on a couple of points; the book's web site also includes a link to the source notes. However, he did not correct all the errors, and they remain in the printed book to be taken as gospel.

This is not an attack on "Until Proven Innocent," which I have not read closely aside from the passages mentioned above. The book is drawing a great deal of attention and praise, which raises the importance of accuracy and the impact of mistakes.

Durham in Wonderland blogger K.C. Johnson paid a visit to The N&O during his local tour promoting "Until Proven Innocent," a book coauthored by Johnson and National Journal writer Stuart Taylor Jr. Later he spoke at Duke.

In the book and on his blog, Johnson has criticized The N&O on some points and praised and linked to us on others. During an hour-long chat with reporters and editors, the Brooklyn College prof shared some thoughts on the relative strengths and advantages of blogs and traditional journalism. My column this Sunday will draw on this discussion and other thinking about blogs and journalism. I don't endorse Johnson's opinions (or oppose them) or his blog, but I think his experience and ours in covering this story demonstrate how traditional and nontraditional forms can play off each other in ways that end up improving the flow of information.

I think Johnson's blog had more credibility than most other Duke lacrosse boards for a few reasons. First, it wasn't anonymous. Johnson's name and credentials support his opinions. Second, Johnson did research and brought original information forward on occasion. (Other blogs did introduce information as well, though usually anonymously, offering tips rather than verified detail) Third, Johnson worked hard and consistently, and he corrected errors that were pointed out.

Those attributes elevate any information source, in my view. We've flagged some errors in the book regarding The N&O and asked him to correct them. Johnson, meanwhile, said during his visit he would correct errors on a web site for the book that will include source notes and an "errata" page. I've asked him for the URLs and will post them here.

The weekly news program Headline Saturday focuses this week on the use of state subsidies to encourage private companies to locate or stay in North Carolina. The legislature meets Monday for a special session prompted by Gov. Mike Easley's veto of what's called "the Goodyear bill."

Today's N&O carries two stories on the Goodyear incentives: chief political writer Rob Christensen reports on the politics of the veto effort, and economy reporter Jonathan B. Cox digs into the financial details of the bill, which could give Goodyear the largest state-funded corporate grant to date. (Other grants have used combinations of local and state funding)

Cullen Browder sits in for anchor David Crabtree this week, and I'm in my usual seat as cohost. Guests are Mac Sullivan, CEO of the family-owned Pace Dawson food distribution company in Goldsboro; Rep. Rick Glazier, a Cumberland County Democrat and one of the bill's chief sponsors; and Cox, an N&O business reporter who has written extensively on corporate incentives.

Headline Saturday airs at 7 p.m. on WRAL-TV and at other times on the station's digital channel.

North Raleigh News editor Dan Holly writes today that The N&O has changed its official policy on a matter of long dispute. No longer will we mislabel Falls of Neuse Road in North Raleigh as "Falls of the Neuse."

For decades The N&O held on to "the" in the road name because a lot of people called it Falls of the Neuse, as in the Neuse River. We aim for accuracy and, as Holly's column notes, have heard from many readers irked by this practice. So at least on one small matter, we can make a few readers happy.