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TopFinds: Inside the Turkish Airlines Crash, Maine’s Topless Cafe

Investigating the Turkish Airlines crash. Why the Mexican police chief quit. And a nine-year-old girl marries her grade school crush. These are the top stories making news around the world.

DigitalJournal.com readers have a chance to see some stellar acts of journalism. For instance, the Boeing plane crash near Amsterdam has become hot news, but some mainstream outlets failed to report the correct number of fatalities. That’s where Digital Journalist Adriana Stuijt comes in, filling in the info holes thanks to her proximity to the plane crash site. The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the plane crash, including statements from survivors and aviation experts.

A couple profiles deserve kudos. In honour of Black History Month, Carol Forsloff gives us a peek into the life of jazz musician Hardrick Rivers from Natchitoches, Louisiana. She spends an evening listening to his live music and breaks down the melodies and toe-tapping appeal bursting from this “fine musician.” We like how she writes, “He takes an ordinary song and owns it.” Great job, Carol, and we always appreciate seeing powerful profiles on DigitalJournal.com.

Kathlyn Stone went the extra smile by interviewing a comedic mime. Minneapolis-based Mikael Rudolph is using comedy to overcome his battle with retinal cancer. His show “Cancer My Ass!” is part of this year’s Spirit in the House Festival . This poignant profile has all the hallmarks of great journalism — intimate details on the subject’s past, reasons why we should care about Rudolph’s plight and a snappy photo of the subject. Well done!

The adult film industry is also looking at the Blu-ray format for upcoming movies.  Pirates  is the ...

The adult film industry is also looking at the Blu-ray format for upcoming movies. “Pirates” is the first Blu-ray porn release from Digital Playground who previously backed HD DVD exclusively.

Finally, DigitalJournal.com readers were treated to the site’s first porn DVD review. We kid you not — Joe Vannicola gave a Pirates of the Carribean-themed skin flick the Ebert treatment with a well-written review. It wasn’t just a look into one film; Joe brought some insight into the porn market of 2009: “The adult entertainment industry seems to be listening to their audience who are now demanding more from adult films than merely wall to wall sex acts.” Check out the review if you want to see a mix of “fine entertainment combining swashbuckling action, humor, mythical monsters voluptuous women, sexual situations and nudity.”

Many other major stories are winning acclaim on DigitalJournal.com, including:

Florida’s Big Troubles Mount as Bad Times Plague State: Digital Journalist Carol Forsloff provided a round-up of dismal news hitting the U.S. state. Not only does she mention how the Caylee Anthony case is winning Florida unfavourable attention, but she also looked at high foreclosure rates and declining business income.

The Death of the United States As We Know It?: Following on the recession theme, G. Robert M. Miller discussed how the “U.S. financial system is beyond repair,” as illustrated by gold and commodities expert Jim Willie. The dire news keeps on a-coming — “As the US (or US-UK-EU) monetary system fails, Willie surmises, a German-Russian-Chinese-Japanese-Saudi Arabian financial network will fill the leadership vacuum created as the current system collapses.” What happened to hope we can believe in?

American Express Will Pay You $300 to Close Account: It sounds too good to be true, but looks like American Express will pay customers to tie up all their debts. The author wondered, “Is American Express trying to get rid of bad customers with this plan?”

Haleigh Cummings: Cousin of girlfriend being questioned: In crime news, the missing 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings is making headlines because a relative is of interest to investigators. This article nicely summed up the case, the angles police are looking at and why Haleigh has captured national attention.

Mexican Police Chief Quits Amidst Growing Cartel Threats: The violence tidal-waving across Mexico is sparking police protests and resignations, Roger Corral reported. Due to the 300 homicides recorded for this year in Juárez alone, the cartel drug war is striking fear into the heart of Mexicans. Commenter Jimm offered a way out of the chaos: “There is a simple solution to this problem: legalize drugs. The war on drugs has done nothing to affect availability, but it has cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars.”

Florida Governor Charlie Crist

Florida Governor Charlie Crist
From the Florida government

Bush Warns Crist of Florida Not to Take Money from Stimulus Plan: No, not that Bush, but Jeb Bush’s son George P. Bush. He warned Florida Gov. Crist to reject stimulus money, saying Crist runs “the risk of falling in the ‘D light’ category of the party.” Ouch. But will Crist listen to Bush Jr.?

Topless coffee shop opens in Maine: The headline said it all — a coffee shop featuring topless waiters opened in Maine. Customers must follow three main rules: no cameras, no touching, cash only. Samantha Torrence was worried about chest hair swimming in coffee while Paul Bright said it’s a bad idea — “Only because I’ve been to Maine and it is dang cold there.”

Wedding bells rang this weekend for terminally ill 9-year-old: It’s a heartbreaking and curious story: Jayla Cooper, diagnosed with leukemia, married her 7-year-old “boyfriend” in a sentimental marriage ceremony in Dallas. As Nikki Weingartner wrote, “Lisa Cooper continues to give her daughter all that she can so that her last days here on earth are more than hospital beds and distressed family members.” Touching.

Octomom’s Ex-Boyfriend Believes He’s the Daddy: For some reason, “octo mom” news continues to be popular around the world. Now the ex-boyfriend claims he’s the father of the children. But he pointed out that even if it’s proven he isn’t the daddy to the octuplets, he would like to help out Nadya anyway. Is he being sweet or does he have some under-handed plans?

Singer Rihanna’s Battered Picture Prompts LAPD Probe: It was the photo that launched a thousands gasps…and a police investigation. The TMZ-acquired pic of Rihanna’s bruised face at the alleged hands of Chris Brown is getting police involved in this sordid case. Chris Brown was questioned by police on Feb. 8 over a complaint of assault but the LAPD will try to dig deeper into the couple’s lives.

Prelude to Pacquiao Match: Juan Manuel Marquez Must Defeat Diaz: Boxing aficionado Leo Reyes continued to give us the goods on big fights, including the Marquez-Diaz duel that preludes the Pacquiao match. Leo wrote: “In order to keep his hope alive for another chance to fight Manny Pacquiao, Marquez must first dispose of Juan Diaz in their encounter at the Toyota Center this Saturday.” A must-read for anyone interested in boxing’s latest rivalries.

TopFinds Awards

The honourees of this week’s TopFinds Awards attracted impressive attention and widest readership. Digital Journal thanks the following Digital Journalists with Awards for their passion for covering the top issues of the day: Kathlyn Stone, Joe Vannicola, G Robert M. Miller,Leo Reyes, Adriana Stujit, Nikki Weingartner, Chris V. Thangham, Roger Corral, Joan Firstenberg, and Carol Forsloff.

The Top Blog of the Week Award goes to Michael Krebs for his excellent blog post on freshwater scarcity. It was heavy reading but definitely newsworthy; industrial runoff, population surges and bottled water demand all got prominent inclusion in this blog post, urging readers to thirst for more info on this increasingly important crisis.

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