Hello, I've returned to the living after missing the past two weeks due to eye surgery.

In addition to getting a handle on what people are doing for today's newspaper, I'm working with the staff to plan upcoming stories. Right now we're putting together a list of story projects for 2008. Basically, these are in-depth or investigative stories that might take weeks or even months to prepare, like our recent series on suspended drivers.

We're also planning stories to coincide with the 5th anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, on March 19. Among the questions we're exploring: What's it been like for veterans to transition back to civilian life? Have their views of the war changed? How has the war affected the military's recruitment efforts in Maine? How would each of the candidates for president approach the war if elected?

As always, I welcome your story suggestions.

I just wanted to say thanks to all the readers who took time to e-mail us their ice storm stories.

We got dozens of submissions. We edited many of them down to include in Sunday’s newspaper. The rest we posted here in their entirety.

Be sure to give them a read. The stories are great.

We’re getting some great reader anecdotes in response to our call for stories about the Great Ice Storm of 1998.

Denise Kearns from North Waterboro sent us a touching story about how her family lost power and became friendly with a couple from Pennsylvania who had come to Maine to help as part of the Red Cross response to the storm – a friendship that remains strong today.

I also had an e-mail today from a woman in Washington state who was living in a cottage on the Presumpscot River at the height of the storm.

Please keep ‘em coming. You can e-mail anecdotes to me at arussell@pressherald.com. The stories on the storm’s 10th anniversary will run Sunday, Jan. 6.

OK, my New Year’s resolution is to update this blog more often.

I’m going to try to get back to my original idea, which was to give readers an early look at the stories we’re working on for tomorrow, which hopefully will result in more regular updates.

With that in mind, here are some of the stories we’re following for tomorrow:

1. The assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is a huge international story, with implications for the future of that country. As The Washington Post noted this morning, “Bhutto’s death comes 12 days before Pakistanis are set to vote in national parliamentary elections, which have already been marked by enormous political turmoil.” Here in Maine, reporter Ann Kim is trying to reach members of the Pakistani community for their reaction, as well as talk to members of Maine’s congressional delegation and Middle East experts for their insights.

2. Reporter Beth Quimby is working on a story about the latest population estimates from the U.S. Census. The numbers show Maine has experienced a slight uptick in population, but the state remains one of several “slow growth” states in the United States.

Looking ahead, we’re planning a package of stories and photos on the 10th anniversary of the 1998 ice storm that disrupted power to more than 200,000 Mainers. The stories are scheduled to run January 6 – two days before the actual anniversary. If you’ve got a story to share about your own experience during the ice storm, e-mail it to me.

Just want to get in another reminder for folks to fill out our annual survey of the top stories in Maine in 2007.

You can vote on the Web site at pressherald.com (check out the button near the top right portion of the page), or fill out one of the paper ballots that ran in the Insight section on Dec. 2 and 9. (More ballots will run in upcoming editions of the daily and Sunday newspaper).

The deadline for voting is Dec. 21. We’ll run the results on Dec. 30, and compare readers’ picks with the picks of our newsroom staff.

We’re getting ready to publish our annual ballot for readers on the top Maine stories of the year. We’ll publish the ballot in an upcoming Sunday Insight section and at pressherald.com, then run the results at the end of December.

Once again I find myself looking at the calendar and realizing I haven’t posted for awhile.

More on the Thanksgiving week series.

I attended a brainstorming meeting today with several reporters to come up with some ideas and map out several days’ worth of stories to run during the holiday week. The reporters were David Hench, Beth Quimby, Josie Huang, Ray Routhier and Tom Bell.

Last month I put out a call for Thanksgiving story ideas. Nobody responded.

This is a request for your story ideas. The topic this time is Thanksgiving.

Hard to believe, but the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is next Tuesday.

We’re considering how to mark the anniversary. In the past six years we’ve written stories about people who had some brush with the terrorists when they came to Maine; we’ve looked at how 9/11 has changed people’s lives; and we’ve traced the millions of dollars in homeland security grants that Maine received.

Last year, for the fifth anniversary, we talked to people who relocated to Maine from New York after 9/11 to start new lives or get a change of scenery. One of our graphic artists, Jeff Woodbury, wrote a first-person account about watching the destruction of the World Trade Center towers from the rooftop of his Brooklyn apartment.

So the question now is: What story should we do to mark the anniversary? We’re asking our reporting staff to see what they think, but I’d like to weigh those against ideas that you – our readers – may have. If you have one, leave a comment. Or if you don’t want everyone to see it, e-mail it to me at arussell@pressherald.com.

I'm back from vacation and trying to sort through the backlog of phone messages, e-mails, story ideas and coverage plans that build up when you're away for two weeks.

Our staff has put a lot of effort into planning news coverage of this weekend’s summit between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The summit, and Sunday’s demonstration in Kennebunkport, are major news events and we have several reporters and photographers scheduled to cover it throughout the weekend.

From a news perspective, this is an exciting week.

For the first time since President George H.W. Bush was in the Oval Office, Kennebunkport will become the scene of an international summit between superpowers. Bush’s son, President George W. Bush, will go head-to-head with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Walker’s Point Sunday and Monday.

Bit of a smorgasbord of news topics today, so please bear with me.

Just a quick follow up to yesterday’s blog...

Yesterday I mentioned three stories we were working as potential A1 centerpieces. But in the end the story that occupied that position – Tux Turkel’s article about L.L. Bean’s plan to develop a 700-acre outdoor adventure center – was one that we weren’t even aware of when we held our morning news meeting.

It just illustrates another reality of publishing a daily newspaper. As editors we can plan all we want at a morning meeting, but we also need to be prepared to throw the plan out at a moment’s notice.

Here’s a look at some of the stories we’re working on for this weekend’s newspapers:
1. A new report confirms what every college student already knows: The cost of college textbooks is skyrocketing. Should Congress do anything about it? Bart Jansen, in our Washington bureau, is working on that one.
2. Want to buy an island? You can, off Saco, for $550,000. Seth Harkness will tell you all about it.
3. Staff Writers Kevin Wack and Josie Huang will publish a big package of stories and pictures about veterans health care in Maine in Sunday’s paper.