Connecting - Nov. 20, 2024

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Nov. 20, 2024

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Colleagues,

Good Wednesday morning on this Nov. 20, 2024,

Our colleague Sally Buzbee has joined Reuters.

In a news release Tuesday morning, the news agency said Buzbee – “one of the world’s most distinguished editors” – will join Reuters as news editor for the United States and Canada based in Washington. In her new role, starting Dec. 11, she will oversee all Reuters text and visual journalists in North America.

She previously served as the executive editor of The Washington Post and as the executive editor and senior vice president of The Associated Press.

Since beginning her career with the AP in Topeka and Kansas City, in the mid-1980s, Sally has worked for news companies with a lot of history. The AP was formed in 1846, Reuters in 1851 and The Post in 1877.

Any colleagues among us with both AP and Reuters experience?

I know of two – Lucy Nicholson, who is the AP’s new director of photography, joining us from Reuters, and Dwayne Desaulniers, senior account director for Reuters after serving as AP’s director of global business development.

Drop me a note with your own AP-Reuters story.

Here’s to a great day – be safe, stay healthy, live it to your fullest.

Paul

Sally Buzbee joins Reuters as News Editor for the United States and Canada

By Reuters News Agency

Reuters is thrilled to announce that Sally Buzbee will join the news organization on December 11, 2024, as News Editor for the United States and Canada.

Sally is one of the world’s most distinguished editors and brings a wealth of experience to Reuters, having previously served as the Executive Editor of The Washington Post and as the Executive Editor and Senior Vice President of The Associated Press.

During her three years at The Post, Sally expanded the Post’s international investigations work, oversaw the creation of new consumer-facing election-night features and built out coverage of wellness and climate. She oversaw coverage that won several Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2022 public service award for an examination of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and the 2024 national reporting prize for a visually told investigation of the AR-15’s role in U.S. mass slayings.

During her career at the Associated Press, Sally was a reporter and editor across the United States and ran the AP’s Middle East region from 2005-2010, during which time she oversaw coverage of the U.S-led Iraq war, Israeli conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah and the Iran nuclear and Darfur crises. She returned to the U.S. as Washington Bureau Chief, overseeing the 2012 and 2016 elections; during her tenure, the bureau won an investigative reporting Pulitzer for national security coverage.

As the AP’s top editor from 2017 to 2021, Sally expanded the AP’s investigative work and created new journalism and funding partnerships with nonprofit foundations that bolstered AP’s impact. She helped create and lead a global newsroom structure that combines text, photo and video journalists into integrated teams led by common editors across regions, leading to storytelling relevant for digital platforms. During her tenure, the AP won several Pulitzers for international reporting and photography.

In her new role, reporting to Mark Bendeich, Global Managing Editor for Politics, Economics & World News, Sally will oversee all text and visual journalists in North America. Our financial journalists will continue to report to Tiffany Wu, Global Managing Editor, Business News. Sally will work closely with global visuals editors including Jo Webster, Tom Platt and Rickey Rogers.

She succeeds Kieran Murray who, after leading the U.S. and Canadian operations, is moving on to a new role focused on planning, creating and executing newsroom conferences and other events at Reuters.

Sally’s deep knowledge of political coverage from her time at The Post and the AP, coupled with her experience uniting and managing big, global multimedia teams, positions her perfectly to lead the continued growth of our newsroom in North America.

In running our North America news, including coverage of Donald Trump’s second U.S. presidential term, she will provide must-read content for all of our financial and media clients, and our new subscription-based Reuters.com and Reuters app.

“I am honored to join Reuters, an organization renowned for its commitment to journalistic excellence,” said Sally. “I look forward to working with the talented team to deliver compelling and impactful stories and scoops to our clients, readers, and viewers.”

Commenting on this appointment, Alessandra Galloni, Editor-In-Chief, said: “I have admired Sally for years, and I am so excited that she will be joining the Reuters family in this key role. Her journalistic chops, her management experience, her global understanding, and her positive and pragmatic approach are just what we need in this time of upheaval for the world and for the news industry.”

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Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is the leading global provider of business, financial and world news, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Leveraging industry expertise and cutting-edge technology and tools, Reuters global team of trusted journalists delivers fast, accurate and fact-based news, insight and analysis to financial market professionals exclusively via LSEG products, to the world’s media organizations and to professionals via industry events and Reuters.com. Founded in 1851, Reuters is committed to the Trust Principles of independence, integrity and freedom from bias. For more information, visit Reuters.com.

Click here for link to this story. Shared by Peggy Walsh, Len Iwanski, Bill Sikes.

Click here for AP story. Shared by Lou Boccardi.

With retirement comes freedom - and more

Terry Petty – on Beth Harpaz’ post in Tuesday’s issue - Beautifully said, Beth. With retirement comes freedom. But it's more than that, especially for people in a profession as demanding as journalism. When I retired in 2017, I can honestly say I became a better person, found my humanity. Gone were stresses that were there 24/7, especially during my 17 years as a middle manager, caught between trying to please upper management and my staff. The "managing out" process, for example, can make a person feel soulless and lonely. My 10 years abroad were a kick, but foreign duties place an enormous stress on the families of correspondents. So many missed holidays and birthdays with the family. So many postponed vacations. In our profession, we have to be "on" all the time, or at least that's the way I felt for most of my career. So when I switched off in May 2017, all of those burdens immediately fell away. I smiled more. I became more patient, much less stern, friendlier to all. So it's no wonder that Chris, my wife and partner for the past 44 years, says that when I retired, she got a new Terry. That said, I can't imagine having done anything else for a career. Journalism is an honorable profession and I am proud to have been part of it.

Highest praise for ‘1,000 Days’

Cecilia White - I was so overwhelmed viewing the “AP PHOTOS: 1,000 DAYS OF WAR IN UKRAINE CAPTURED IN IMAGES” photo gallery. As much for obvious visual impact as for the swelling pride I once again felt for the quality of AP’s Photos’ work. Extraordinary images … Proof positive: a photo is worth a thousand words. And no one does it better than AP.

Key Biscayne Independent-Give Miami Day

Jim Baltzelle - Tony Winton's work at the Key Biscayne Independent was recently named a "Bright Spot" in the journalism landscape by Northwestern University. The effort is in its fourth year and has had significant local impact.

The staff has won numerous state and regional awards for its investigative reporting and its “Anti-Social” podcast.

A second news site, the Liberty City Independent, just launched with help from Report for America, a national journalism partnership.

Tony's small but mighty team partnered this year with WLRN in Miami to broaden its audience and insight. WLRN also has supplied office space.

The Independent partnered with The Associated Press and INN to bring full election coverage, which proved popular with readers.

Ongoing is a student reporting project, in which the staff partners with local schools and students to foster a new generation of journalists, whose fact-based local stories are in turn published.

Several from AP Florida are involved in the work, either on staff or on the board as I am. Other than Tony and me, alums include Laura Wides-Munoz and Sergio Bustos, board members, and John Pacenti, a staff reporter. Curt Anderson, still with AP, is also on the board.

Here is a link to the appeal. Democracy needs news. News needs you. - Key Biscayne Independent

Best of AP — First Winner

Crack election night operation across nation delivers news of Trump’s win, GOP victories elsewhere

At The Associated Press, collaboration takes many forms and comes in many sizes across the world. But nothing compares to Election Day (and night) in a presidential election year. This year, months of diligent preparation from all corners of the organization — and a crack election night operation in Washington and across the nation — made for coverage that was comprehensive, accurate, innovative and, perhaps most importantly in a contentious era, not overheated. 

For election night 2024, it seemed that AP had it all. A wise and accurate decision desk. Extensive data visualization and graphics that put AP’s election data on our consumer website for the first time. A live blog that blew expectations out of the water. Robust explanatory layers, both in small, incremental bites and step-back pieces. Audience engagement on social platforms in near-real time. An entire streamed live “show that’s not a show” hosted by two AP political correspondents. Our AP VoteCast survey allowed AP journalists explain the Why of Election Day, at the national and state level. Reporters, photographers and video journalists on the scene, wherever that scene was, captured the mood and the moments across the country.

During the week of the general election, the election results pages alone collected a total of 50,136,682 pages views from more than 14 million visitors, as APNews.com drew 60% more traffic than in 2020 — a year in which White House race call didn’t come for several days. The election live stream collected 13,135,752 views on YouTube, well over double AP’s previous best live stream on New Year’s 2024.

Perhaps most salient, though, was this fact: Just before AP declared Trump the winner in the early hours of Wednesday, not one but two of Google’s top 10 search terms were ours — “AP” and “AP News.”

Read more here.

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Shirley Halperin Replaces Hollywood Reporter Co-EIC Nekesa Mumbi Moody (The Wrap)

Sean Burch

The Hollywood Reporter replaced co-editor-in-chief Nekesa Mumbi Moody on Tuesday with Shirley Halperin, who recently resigned as editor of Los Angeles Magazine, TheWrap has learned. Halperin will serve as co-editor-in-chief alongside Maer Roshan.

Halperin resigned as editor-in-chief of Los Angeles Magazine in July, just a year after joining the publication, amid complaints that it failed to pay overdue bills to freelancers and vendors. Before LA Magazine, Halperin was the executive editor for music at Variety and previously served as the music editor at Billboard.

“Shirley brings deep experience in entertainment journalism to this role, and is one of the industry’s finest,” Jay Penske, CEO and chairman of Penske Media Corporation, said in a prepared statement obtained by TheWrap. “We are excited to welcome her back and know her contributions will be key to THR’s growth and evolution.”

Halperin will start in her new position later this month.

Read more here. Shared by Mark Mittelstadt, who adds this from Wikipedia:

Moody began her career in journalism in Albany, New York, as an intern for the Associated Press. She later became a reporter, covering state news, politics, sports, and entertainment. She became an editor on AP's national editing desk in 1998 and was appointed musical editor in 2000. As reporter, she covered the Grammy Awards, Superbowl half time shows, and the death of Michael Jackson. She was also the first to break the deaths of Whitney Houston and Prince. In 2012, Moody was named AP's global editor of entertainment and lifestyles. In April 2020, she was named the next editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter as it undergoes a transformation from a trade publication into a magazine-style publication. She is the first black woman to hold the top editor role at the publication.

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Truth Social investors hoped to get ‘very rich’ after Trump’s win. Not quite. (Washington Post)

By Drew Harwell

John Viaud, a retiree in South Carolina, knew he was taking a big risk when he poured his pension money into the stock of his political icon’s social media company, Donald Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group.

As its share price sank in the months before the election, he took to the company’s Truth Social platform to write, “This is getting depressing! I’ve lost $600,000. … C’mon Trump!”

But Viaud was hopeful a Trump electoral win would rocket the stock into the stratosphere, posting, “Come November all of us are going to be very rich!!!”

In the days since the election, however, the stock has fallen, losing nearly half its value since last month’s peak. And on a Truth Social investor board, users who had been predicting a post-vote surge began voicing their agitation. “The fact is we are in trouble,” one wrote.

As its top shareholder prepares for the White House, Trump Media is facing what some financial experts are calling an identity crisis that has undermined its worth.

Read more here. Shared by Dennis Conrad.

The Final Word

Shared by Doug Pizac

AP classes, by the year...

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a listing of Connecting colleagues who have shared the year and the bureau where they started with the AP. If you would like to share your own information, I will include it in later postings. Current AP staffers are also welcome to share their information.)

NEWEST ADDITION:

Rachel La Corte, Miami, 1997

1951 - Norm Abelson (Boston)

1953 – Charles Monzella (Huntington, WVa)

1955 – Henry Bradsher (Atlanta), Paul Harrington (Boston), Joe McGowan (Cheyenne)

1957 - Louis Uchitelle (Philadelphia)

1958 – Roy Bolch (Kansas City)

1959 – Charlie Bruce (Montgomery)

1960 – Claude Erbsen (New York), Carl Leubsdorf (New Orleans)

1961 – Peter Arnett (Jakarta, Indonesia), Strat Douthat (Charleston. WVa), Warren Lerude (San Diego), Ed Staats (Austin)

1962 – Paul Albright (Cheyenne), Malcolm Barr Sr. (Honolulu), Myron Belkind (New York), Dave Mazzarella (Newark), Peggy Simpson (Dallas), Kelly Smith Tunney (Miami)

1963 – Hal Bock (New York), Jeff Williams (Portland OR)

1964 – Rachel Ambrose (Indianapolis), Larry Hamlin (Oklahoma City), John Lengel (Los Angeles), Ron Mulnix (Denver), Lyle Price (San Francisco), Lew Simons (New York), Arlene Sposato (New York), Karol Stonger (Indianapolis), Hilmi Toros (New York)

1965 – Bob Dobkin (Pittsburgh), Harry Dunphy (Denver), John Gibbons (New York), Bob Greene (Kansas City), Jim Luther (Nashville), Larry Margasak (Harrisburg), Rich Oppel (Tallahassee)

1966 – Shirley Christian (Kansas City), Mike Doan (Portland, OR), Edie Lederer (New York), Nancy Shipley (Nashville), Mike Short (Los Angeles), Marty Thompson (Seattle), Nick Ut (Saigon), Kent Zimmerman (Chicago)

1967 – Dan Berger (Los Angeles), Adolphe Bernotas (Concord), Lou Boccardi (New York), Linda Deutsch (Los Angeles), Don Harrison (Los Angeles), Frank Hawkins (New York), Doug Kienitz (Cheyenne), David Liu (New York), Bruce Lowitt (Los Angeles), Chuck McFadden (Los Angeles), Martha Malan (Minneapolis), Bill Morrissey (Buffalo), Larry Paladino (Detroit), Michael Putzel (Raleigh), Bruce Richardson (Chicago), Richard Shafer (Baltimore), Victor Simpson (Newark), Michael Sniffen (Newark), Kernan Turner (Portland, Ore)

1968 – Lee Balgemann (Chicago), John Eagan (San Francisco), Joe Galu (Albany/Troy), Peter Gehrig (Frankfurt), Charles Hanley (Albany), Jerry Harkavy (Portland, Maine), Herb Hemming (New York), Brian King (Albany), Samuel Koo (New York), Karren Mills (Minneapolis), Michael Rubin (Los Angeles), Rick Spratling (Salt Lake City), Barry Sweet (Seattle)

1969 - Ann Blackman (New York), Ford Burkhart (Philadelphia), Harry Cabluck (Pittsburgh), Dick Carelli (Charleston, WVa), Dennis Coston (Richmond), Ron Frehm (New York), Mary V. Gordon (Newark), Daniel Q. Haney (Portland, Maine), Mike Harris (Chicago), Brad Martin (Kansas City), David Minthorn (Frankfurt), Cynthia Rawitch (Los Angeles), Bob Reid (Charlotte), Mike Reilly (New York), Doug Tucker (Tulsa), Bill Winter (Helena)

1970 – Richard Boudreaux (New York), David Briscoe (Manila), Sibby Christensen (New York), Richard Drew (San Francisco), Bob Egelko (Los Angeles), Steve (Indy) Herman (Indianapolis), Tim Litsch (New York), Lee Margulies (Los Angeles), Chris Pederson (Salt Lake City), Brendan Riley (San Francisco), Larry Thorson (Philadelphia)

1971 – Harry Atkins (Detroit), Jim Bagby (Kansas City), Larry Blasko (Chicago), Jim Carlson (Milwaukee), Jim Carrier (New Haven), Chris Connell (Newark), Bill Gillen (New York), Bill Hendrick (Birmingham), John Lumpkin (Dallas), Kendal Weaver (Montgomery)

1972 – Hank Ackerman (New York), Bob Fick (St. Louis), Joe Frazier (Portland, Ore.), Terry Ganey (St. Louis), Mike Graczyk (Detroit), Denis Gray (Albany), Lindel Hutson (Little Rock), Brent Kallestad (Sioux Falls), Tom Kent (Hartford), Nolan Kienitz (Dallas), Kent Kilpatrick (Detroit), Andy Lippman (Phoenix), Ellen Miller (Helena), Mike Millican (Hartford), Bruce Nathan (New York), Ginny Pitt Sherlock (Boston), Lew Wheaton (Richmond)

1973 - Jerry Cipriano (New York), Susan Clark (New York), Norm Clarke (Cincinnati), Marty Crutsinger (Miami), Steve Fox (Los Angeles), Joe Galianese (East Brunswick), Merrill Hartson (Richmond), Mike Hendricks (Albany), Tom Journey (Tucson), Steve Loeper (Los Angeles), Jesus Medina (New York), Tom Slaughter (Sioux Falls), Jim Spehar (Denver), Paul Stevens (Albany), Jeffrey Ulbrich (Cheyenne), Owen Ullmann (Detroit), Suzanne Vlamis (New York), John Willis (Omaha), Evans Witt (San Francisco)

1974 – Norman Black (Baltimore), David Espo (Cheyenne), Dan George (Topeka), Robert Glass (Philadelphia), Steve Graham (Helena), Tim Harper (Milwaukee), Elaine Hooker (Hartford), Sue Price Johnson (Charlotte), Dave Lubeski (Washington), Janet McConnaughey (Washington), Lee Mitgang (New York), Barry Shlachter (Tokyo), Bud Weydert (Toledo), Marc Wilson (Little Rock)

1975 – Peter Eisner (Columbus), Charles Hill (Charlotte), Jim Limbach (Washington), Bill McCloskey (Washington), David Powell (New York), Eileen Alt Powell (Milwaukee)

1976 – Brad Cain (Chicago), Judith Capar (Philadelphia), Dick Chady (Albany), Steve Crowley (Washington), David Egner (Oklahoma City), Marc Humbert (Albany), Steven Hurst (Columbus), Richard Lowe (Nashville), Mike Mcphee (Boston), John Nolan (Nashville), Guy Palmiotto (New York), Charlotte Porter (Minneapolis), Chuck Wolfe (Charlotte)

1977 – Bryan Brumley (Washington), Robert Burns (Jefferson City), Charles Campbell (Nashville), Carolyn Carlson (Atlanta), Dave Carpenter (Philadelphia), Solange De Santis (New York), Jim Drinkard (Jefferson City), Ken Herman (Dallas), Mike Holmes (Des Moines), Brad Kalbfeld (New York), Larry Kilman (Atlanta), Scott Kraft (Jefferson City), John Kreiser (New York), Peter Leabo (Dallas), Kevin LeBoeuf (Los Angeles), Ellen Nimmons (Minneapolis), Dan Sewell (Buffalo), Estes Thompson (Richmond), David Tirrell-Wysocki (Concord)

1978 – Vinnie D'Alessandro (Hartford), Tom Eblen (Louisville), Ruth Gersh (Richmond), Monte Hayes (Caracas), Doug Pizac (Los Angeles), Charles Richards (Dallas), Reed Saxon (Los Angeles), Steve Wilson (Boston)

1979 – Jim Abrams (Tokyo), Peter Banda (Albuquerque), Brian Bland (Los Angeles), Scotty Comegys (Chicago), John Daniszewski (Philadelphia), Frances D’Emilio (San Francisco), Pat Fergus (Albany), Brian Friedman (Des Moines), Sally Hale (Dallas), Susana Hayward (New York), Jill Lawrence (Harrisburg), Warren Levinson (New York), Barry Massey (Kansas City), Phillip Rawls (Nashville), John Rice (Carson City), Linda Sargent (Little Rock), Joel Stashenko (Albany), Robert Wielaard (Brussels)

1980 – Alan Adler (Cleveland), Christopher Bacey (New York), Diane M. Balk (Indianapolis), Jeff Barnard (Providence), Mark Duncan (Cleveland), Bill Kaczor (Tallahassee), Mitchell Landsberg (Reno), Kevin Noblet (New Orleans), Jim Rowley (Baltimore), David Speer (Jackson), Hal Spencer (Providence), Carol J. Williams (Seattle)

1981 – Paul Davenport (Phoenix), Dan Day (Milwaukee), John Flesher (Raleigh), Debra Hale-Shelton (Little Rock), Len Iwanski (Bismarck), Ed McCullough (Albany), Drusilla Menaker (Philadelphia), Kim Mills (New York), Mark Mittelstadt (Des Moines), Roland Rochet (New York), Lee Siegel (Seattle), Marty Steinberg (Baltimore), Bill Vogrin (Kansas City)

1982 – Dorothy Abernathy (Little Rock), Al Behrman (Cincinnati), Tom Cohen (Jefferson City), John Epperson (Chicago), Ric Feld (Atlanta), Kiki Lascaris Georgio (New York), Nick Geranios (Helena), Mike Gracia (Washington), Howard Gros (New Orleans), Dan Juric (East Brunswick), Robert Kimball (New York), Rob Kozloff (Detroit), Bill Menezes (Kansas City), David Ochs (New York), Eric Risberg (San Francisco), Cecilia White (Los Angeles)

1983 – Elise Amendola (Boston), Edward L. Birk (Boston), Donna Cassata (Albany), Scott Charton (Little Rock), Sue Cross (Columbus), Mark Elias (Chicago), Alan Fram (Newark), David Ginsburg (Washington), Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt, Diana Heidgerd (Miami), Sheila Norman-Culp (New York), Carol Esler Ochs (New York), Jim Reindl (Detroit), Amy Sancetta (Philadelphia), Rande Simpson (New York), Dave Skidmore (Milwaukee), Barbara Worth (New York)

1984 – David Beard (Chicago), Owen Canfield (Oklahoma City), Wayne Chin (Washington), Jack Elliott (Oklahoma City), Kelly P. Kissel (New Orleans), Joe Macenka (Richmond), Eva Parziale (San Francisco), Walt Rastetter (New York), Malcolm Ritter (New York), Keith Robinson (Columbus), Cliff Schiappa (Kansas City), David Sedeño (Dallas), Andrew Selsky (Cheyenne), Patty Woodrow (Washington)

1985 – Beth Grace (Columbus), Betty Kumpf Pizac (Los Angeles)

1986 – Joni Baluh Beall (Richmond), David Beard (Jackson), Tom Coyne (Columbia, SC), Dave DeGrace (Milwaukee), Alan Flippen (Louisville), Jim Gerberich (San Francisco), Howard Goldberg (New York), Mark Hamrick (Dallas), Sandy Kozel (Washington), Arlene Levinson (Boston), Robert Meyers (London), David Morris (Harrisburg), Susan Ragan (New York), Bob Seavey (Lima), Barbara Woike (New York)

1987 – Donna Abu-Nasr (Beirut), Jim Anderson (Mexico City), Dave Bauder (Albany), Chuck Burton (Charlotte), Beth Harris (Indianapolis), Lynne Harris (New York), Steven L. Herman (Charleston, WVa), Elaine Kurtenbach (Tokyo), Rosemarie Mileto (New York), John Rogers (Los Angeles)

1988 – Chris Carola (Albany), Peg Coughlin (Pierre), Frank Eltman (New York), Kathy Gannon (Islamabad), Steve Hart (Washington), Melissa Jordan (Sioux Falls), Bill Pilc (New York), Kelley Shannon (Dallas)

1989 – Charlie Arbogast (Trenton), Susan Boyle (New York), Ted Bridis (Oklahoma City), Paul Randall Dickerson (Nashville), Ron Fournier (Little Rock)

1990 – Frank Fisher (Jackson), Dan Perry (Bucharest), Steve Sakson (Baltimore), Sean Thompson (New York)

1991 – Amanda Kell (Richmond), Santiago Lyon (Cairo), Lisa Pane (Hartford), Wayne Partlow (Washington), Ricardo Reif (Caracas), Bill Sikes (Buffalo)

1992 – Jennifer Garske (Washington), Kerry Huggard (New York)

1993 – Jim Salter (St. Louis)

1994 - Glen Johnson (Boston)

1995 – Elaine Thompson (Houston), Donna Tommelleo (Hartford)

1996 – Patricia N. Casillo (New York), John Khin (New York)

1997 – J. David Ake (Chicago), Martha Bellisle (Carson City), Pamela Collins (Dallas), Rachel La Corte (Miami), Madhu Krishnappa Maron (New York), Jim Suhr (Detroit), Jennifer Yates (Baltimore)

1998 – Alan Clendenning (New Orleans), Guthrie Collin (Albany), Mitch Stacy (London)

1999 – Melinda Deslatte (Raleigh), Laura Rauch (Las Vegas)

2000 – Carrie Antlfinger (Milwaukee), Gary Gentile (Los Angeles), Tom Tait (Las Vegas)

2001 - Mike Weissenstein (New York)

2004 - Jim Baltzelle (Dallas)

2005 – Ric Brack (Chicago), Frank Jordans (London)

2006 – Jon Gambrell (Little Rock)

2008 - Steve Braun (Washington)

2013 - Alex Sanz (Atlanta)

Today in History - Nov. 20, 2024

By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 20, the 325th day of 2024. There are 41 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Nov. 20, 1910, Francisco Madero led a revolt against Mexican President Porfirio Díaz, marking the beginning of the decade-long Mexican Revolution.

Also on this date:

In 1945, 22 former Nazi officials went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany. (Almost a year later, the International Military Tribune sentenced 12 of the defendants to death; seven received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life; three were acquitted.)

1947, Britain’s future queen, Princess Elizabeth, married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey.

In 1969, Native American activists began an occupation of Alcatraz Island that would last 19 months before they were forcibly removed by federal authorities.

In 1982, the University of California, Berkeley, football team defeated Stanford University by scoring a touchdown on a lateral-filled kickoff return on the last play of the game, despite the Stanford marching band entering the field of play, thinking Stanford had already won. In college football lore, the bizarre finish is often referred to simply as “The Play.”

In 1992, fire seriously damaged Windsor Castle, the favorite weekend home of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2003, record producer Phil Spector was charged with murder in the shooting death of an actor, Lana Clarkson, at his home in Alhambra, California. (Spector’s first trial ended with a hung jury in 2007; he was convicted of second-degree murder in 2009.)

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Estelle Parsons is 97. Author Don DeLillo is 88. Comedian Dick Smothers is 86. President Joe Biden is 82. Broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff is 78. Musician Joe Walsh is 77. Former national security adviser John Bolton is 76. Actor Bo Derek is 68. Actor Ming-Na Wen is 61. Rapper Michael “Mike D” Diamond (Beastie Boys) is 59. Actor-comedian Joel McHale is 53. Country singer Dierks Bentley is 49. Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Dominique Dawes is 48. Rapper Future is 41.

Got a photo or story to share?

Connecting is a daily newsletter published Monday through Friday that reaches 1,900 retired and former Associated Press employees, present-day employees, and news industry and journalism school colleagues. It began in 2013. Past issues can be found by clicking Connecting Archive in the masthead. Its author, Paul Stevens, retired from the AP in 2009 after a 36-year career as a newsman in Albany and St. Louis, correspondent in Wichita, chief of bureau in Albuquerque, Indianapolis and Kansas City, and Central Region vice president based in Kansas City.

Got a story to share? A favorite memory of your AP days? Don't keep them to yourself. Share with your colleagues by sending to Ye Olde Connecting Editor. And don't forget to include photos!

Here are some suggestions:

- Connecting "selfies" - a word and photo self-profile of you and your career, and what you are doing today. Both for new members and those who have been with us a while.

- Second chapters - You finished a great career. Now tell us about your second (and third and fourth?) chapters of life.

- Spousal support - How your spouse helped in supporting your work during your AP career.

- My most unusual story - tell us about an unusual, off the wall story that you covered.

- "A silly mistake that you make"- a chance to 'fess up with a memorable mistake in your journalistic career.

- Multigenerational AP families - profiles of families whose service spanned two or more generations.

- Volunteering - benefit your colleagues by sharing volunteer stories - with ideas on such work they can do themselves.

- First job - How did you get your first job in journalism?

- Most unusual place a story assignment took you.

Paul Stevens

Editor, Connecting newsletter

paulstevens46@gmail.com