Writing budget lines

Once you've written a memo re what you're working on, the next step is to write a tentative budget line (see example below), that provides a working title for your story and briefly describes what it's about. If more than one reporter is working on the same topic, do a joint budget line (with last names in parethesis). These can be updated and even refocused as your research progresses. Label your budget lines under "project notes." We'll talk more about this on Friday.

(Example)
WANAQUE DUMP (Barry) Are toxic fumes from an old landfill seeping into the Passaic County Community College building in Wanaque? Environmentalists are raising this question. A previous building was torn down because dangerous levels of methane were rising from the landfill. What is known is that a driver for a Ford hauler says he dumped paint sludge at a landfill in Wanaque, a DEP investigator in the 1980s reported paint and drums in a wooded area behind where the college building is now, and a consultant for the county reported paint in a test pit in the same area. Groundwater and soil were contaminated by lead, PCBs, TCE and other toxic substances as of late 1990s, the last time records show testing was done.