Al's Morning Meeting

There is also the side benefit of fewer children and cops being exposed to the chemicals in the houses. But don't get the idea that the meth epidemic is declining. The estimated number of addicted meth users nationwide doubled in the past five years, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Berkes reports:

From 1998 to 2003, more than 38,000 small meth labs were discovered in rural areas -- more than those found in cities and suburbs combined. More than 10,000 labs were seized in 2003 alone, the peak year for small labs. They were typically set up in bathrooms, kitchens, motel rooms, cars and abandoned buildings.

But in 2004, states began restricting purchases of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, key ingredients in some meth recipes. Congress responded a year later with a federal law. The impact on meth labs was swift and dramatic, especially in the Midwest, where meth makers were especially prolific.

Meth lab seizures are down 55 percent in Missouri, 73 percent in Iowa and Kansas, and 88 percent in Nebraska, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Labs persist in places where meth cooks "smurf" for ephedrine and pseudoephedrine -- a process that involves "surfing" from store to store, buying the typical limit of two packages of medicine, and building up a small supply.

Police in Aurora, Mo., a town of 8,000 on the edge of the Ozarks, used to find a meth lab a month.

"Meth is [the] No. 1 problem we have with drugs and narcotics," said Rick Batson, Aurora's police chief. "It's the drug of choice in this part of the country. Over the last eight or nine years, it's been a severe problem."

Now Aurora police find meth labs an average of once year.

"So, we don't have that meth problem," Batson says, "but what we have now is something called (Mexican) 'ice.' "

Ice is more potent than meth, and some counties say they are seeing more overdoses because users do not expect the drug to be so strong.

Make sure you see how NPR produced this story online with photographs, audio and even an interactive map showing how illegal drugs make it into the United States. This story goes way beyond radio reporting.

In January, The New York Times took a look at the decline of the small-time domestic meth lab. That story said:

Federal officials say there are 1.4 million methamphetamine addicts in the United States, concentrated in the West, where the drug began to take hold in the late 1980's, and the Midwest and South, where it moved in the mid- and late 1990's.

According to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, approximately 23.5 percent of state prisoners and 17.9 percent of federal prisoners surveyed in 2004 indicated that they used meth sometime during their lives.

Here are some additional resources listed by the Office of National Drug Control Policy:

• National Clandestine Laboratory Register: This Drug Enforcement Administration resource contains addresses of locations where law enforcement agencies reported they found chemicals or other items that indicated the presence of either clandestine drug laboratories or dumpsites.

• Clandestine Laboratory Investigators Association: CLIA provides training, technical support and expert testimony to prosecutors, law enforcement and emergency services personnel.

• The Methamphetamine Menace [PDF]: This fact sheet highlights the problems associated with methamphetamine and discusses how some states are responding.

• Methamphetamine Publications: A listing of methamphetamine-related publications from various sources.

• Methamphetamine Treatment Project: A multi-site initiative to study the treatment of methamphetamine dependence.

• MethResources.gov: A tool for policymakers, law enforcement officials, treatment and prevention professionals, businesses and retailers, and anti-drug activists. The comprehensive site brings together information and resources available to communities on the topic of methamphetamine.

Wednesday I told you about a trendy new product that is about the size of a nail polish bottle, comes in perky flavors and sells for a buck. It also is a malt liquor.

By late yesterday afternoon, the Center for Science in the Public Interest was calling for state attorneys general to investigate the sale of the product, and the group asked the manufacturer for a recall. The CSPI says the drinks are aimed at teenagers.

In a few weeks, kids all over America will take to Little League fields. In Cincinnati, for the first time, Little Leaguers will be forbidden from using "negative chatter."

The (Cincinnati) Enquirer says the Knothole Club of Greater Cincinnati will abide by the following rule from Major League Baseball:

No manager, player, substitute, coach, trainer or batboy shall at any time, whether from the bench, the coach's box or on the playing field or elsewhere, use language which will in any manner refer to or reflect upon opposing players, an umpire, or any spectator.

The Enquirer's story says:

Proponents of the new edict say it was a necessary response to increased incidents of taunting. They cite one especially ugly example from June, involving a game in Colerain Township between two teams of 14-year-olds in the A-2 division. One parent received 15 stitches after a player whacked him on the forehead with a metal-spiked baseball shoe.

The incident began with a coach being ejected for arguing a balk call and escalated into a full-scale brawl.

I think that under the rule, "Hey batterbatterbatter, swing batter!" is still OK.

91% of Americans Believe in God

Newsweek's poll numbers come just in time for Holy Week.

Can You Stop the Phone Books?

CBS4 in Denver looked into how and whether you can stop companies from sending you phone books. I don't know about you, but I rarely use a phone book these days. Instead, I go online to find phone numbers.

But stopping the bulky books may not be as easy as you think. In fact, delivery may even be required by state regulation.

The station said its investigation shows that bales of the books end up unused in recycling centers. Click here to find out, in some states, who will recycle your phone book.

In these days when it is possible to block junk mail and phone solicitations, shouldn't we more easily be able to stop unwanted phone books?

Some cities, such as Louisville, Ky., urge phone book recycling fairly aggressively. The Courier Journal says recycled phone books are used in mulch, roofing materials, newsprint, egg cartons and new telephone directories.

Al's Morning Multimedia

This week, Poynter Online produced a podcast with judges from the Best of Photojournalism's "Best of the Web" contest. The podcast explains what the judges see as the state of online multimedia photojournalism.

You can see the "Best of the Web" winners here.

Two of my favorites among the winners -- "Rising From Ruin," where two towns recover from Katrina. The site includes diaries, a photo tour and more.

And go to "A Prayer for Father Tim" to see how great multimedia storytelling gets stronger when you make good use of audio. The judges said it is clear that still photographers are learning what TV photojournalists know -- to capture great video, you have to listen to the story around you. It is not enough just to have a great eye when you are capturing a moving image or a multimedia slideshow story.

Attention teachers: This site will provide weeks worth of teaching material for your multimedia classes.

Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.