soft leads from news articles

"Sled hockey is one of many winter sports becoming more popular among athletes with physical challenges, such as spinal cord injuries, limb amputations, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis. In recent years, snow sport equipment makers have adapted equipment, and ski resorts have expanded opportunities for those with disabilities. Health experts say the trend has multiple benefits, both mental and physical."
The above is the nut graph of the paragraph because it explains what the rest of the article will be about.
For rest of article go to http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-02-22-winter-sports-disabled_N.htm

"That's a good question these days, now that thousands of people are finding themselves with pink slips and the need to let colleagues and contacts know they are moving on and -- perhaps more important for job seekers -- how they can be reached.
The farewell e-mail has suddenly become commonplace, a new art form in the electronic age. Yet like so many aspects of the Internet era -- how to unfriend on Facebook, how much to reveal on a personal blog -- the technology has gotten ahead of the etiquette. There are, quite simply, no rules."
This is the nut graph of the article because it describes what is happening and what people are doing when laid off, sending out farewell emails instead of notes.
For the rest of the article go to http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-farewell-emails23-2009feb23,0,2828454.story

"Anderson is certainly no longer a General Motors town, but it is the proud home of the Wigwam, the second-largest high school athletic venue in the world. That status -- and the bragging rights that go with it -- are threatened because the city's school district is in a $5-million budget hole. A special committee is considering shutting the Wigwam to cut costs."
This is the nut graph of the article because it describes why the Wigwam is in trouble and what it is.
For the rest of to the article go to http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-wigwam23-2009feb23,0,2625019.story

"But less than three miles south, in the once-quaint Mexican town of Palomas, a war is being waged. Over the last year, a drug feud that has killed more than 1,350 people in sprawling Ciudad Juarez has spread to tiny Palomas, 70 miles west, where more than 40 people have been gunned down, a dozen within a baseball toss of the border. More -- no one knows how many -- have been kidnapped, and the Palomas police chief fled across the border last year and has asked for political asylum.
Now Columbus is on edge. A haven for baby boomer retirees seeking cheap living, small-town values and blissful, if unpolished, solitude, Columbus can't quite believe that a bloody brawl has broken out on its doorstep. The anxiety increased recently when Columbus disbanded its five-member police force after a local political squabble, putting its safety in the hands of the county sheriff based half an hour away. Many are ruing the decision. Angry and fretful residents packed a recent village trustees meeting to argue the case."
These two paragraphs are the nut graphs because they explain what is going on in the Mexican town as well as the people of Columbus's fear of what will happen in their own town.
For the rest of the article go to http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bordertown19-2009feb19,0,7443711.story

"The stuff is a simple mixture of table salt and tap water whose ions have been scrambled with an electric current. Researchers have dubbed it electrolyzed water -- hardly as catchy as Mr. Clean. But at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica, some hotel workers are calling it el liquido milagroso -- the miracle liquid."
This is the nut graph of the article because it explains what the 'miracle water is made of, leading up to the descriptions of the rest of the article.
for the rest of this article, go to
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-magicwater23-2009feb23,0,2307567.story