One of the designers on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition chats on a fans phone in Lincoln, NE during their first day of work on a home in the Cornhusker State. 

Top Secret! I've been assigned a secret project at work. So secret, in fact, only three of us know about it. Not even the news anchors know. The producers don't know. And the other reporters don't know.

Might not be the biggest story of my life. Although, it does sound pretty cool. Kind of fun to have a fun project now and then. Early today I found out I also get to surprise our first teacher of the month winner with my camera, but that's not the secret, because, well, it's not.

October has been filled with political coverage at my TV station. Virtually every day I've seen one politicial or another. Election campaign ads have been brutal here. Ridiculous arguments about who didn't pay their taxes or who's lying more than who.

oh yeah, I'll tell you more about the secret project when it's, uh, not secret anymore! And it has nothing to do with politics, thank goodness!

I feel like a real journalist.

For the first time in my career, I stood up to a government body that appeared to be doing public business in private. The particulars aren't that interesting, to be honest. The local Emergency Management office and 911 center are operated jointly by the city and county. Someone from the county noticed an oversight had been causing the county to pay too much over the years, so they wanted a refund from the city.

Well, they went behind closed doors in the county commission meeting to discuss what the agenda called "budget issues."

State law gives public bodies a handful of reasons they can use to meet in closed session. But "budget issues" don't count.

A reporter from the local newspaper stood up and made an objection in the meeting. I was dumbfounded by it all. It caught me off guard. So I went back to the office and drafted a complaint letter with my boss and fired it off to them.

If you're dealing with taxpayer dollars, you need to do it in public, where taxpayers can hold you accountable. At least that was our position.

I cc'd the email to the newspaper, and the reporter included our comments in her story. That was pretty cool.

The press is known as the "fourth estate," an important institution that needs to act on the public's behalf. And this week I feel like we did that. Instead of just taking the easy story that's spoonfed to me by some PR firm, I took a stand to uncover something less sexy, but still important. We have to do that on occasion. Even if our viewers or readers don't care, someone has to do it.

One of my favorite childhood memories was a trip to St. Louis with my grandparents to see the Cardinals play the Cubs. It was a great series. Ozzie Smith did a back-flip. Vince Coleman stole like 23 bases in a game. Or maybe it was five. But at any rate, I've grown up with the Cardinals. They were my dad's team and my dad's dad's team. This weekend my grandpa celebrates birthday #94. A more gentle and caring man you'll be hard pressed to find. Happy Birthday Grandpa, and maybe the Red Birds can deliever a nice gift this year!

Habitaty for Humanity is just one of the ways our youth group plans to serve this school year. It's something we've talked about doing, but haven't done. This weekend we had at least 15 volunteers who helped side a house in progress. It was very satisfying to see the fruits of our labor. I'm still a little sore. That's more of a workout than I've had in a while. 

In Ames, Iowa tonight preparing for Nebraska - Iowa State game. Got some pretty decent barbecue here in Ames. Better than I would have expected! It's alwasy fun to see a college football game, but I'll be honest, this game doesn't get me that excited. But it should still be fun!

In Ames, Iowa tonight preparing for Nebraska - Iowa State game. Got some pretty decent barbecue here in Ames. Better than I would have expected! It's alwasy fun to see a college football game, but I'll be honest, this game doesn't get me that excited. But it should still be fun!