I’m working on two stories this week that have made national headlines this year.

The first is about bed bugs. I pitched the idea as a last-ditch attempt while scrambling to budget stories for the week. Turns out, we haven’t written about whether the critters have infiltrated Youngstown. It pays to ask about those stories you just assumed your paper had already covered.

The second is about bullying and cyberbullying, an issue that made national headlines this week via my alma mater, Mentor High School. I wrote a story last week about a local family who appeared on the Dr. Phil show to address this national issue. We wrote about the show and I’m working on a follow-up story now.

And since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I’ve also been writing a lot of stories about the disease. I’m particularly proud of the story that ran A1 centerpiece today about a local woman on her way to remission. Like the funeral I covered recently, I was again surprised by a stranger’s willingness to share so much of her life with me. You can view PDF of the A1 centerpiece here.