I would have given you the lineup from our 9 a.m. budget meeting today, but just as we kicked off the meeting, white smoke appeared. And we had a new pope.
So the meeting was cancelled as the newsroom went into high gear to produce an extra in the 90 minutes after the official announcement that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger would become Pope Benedict XVI. The design and copy desk, along with local staff, did a wonderful job in getting the 4-page Extra to the press room to have it produced and available by noon. A copy of the cover is on our home page and the Extra is available this afternoon and evening at various sites around the county.

We will continue our coverage of the new pope on tomorrow's Page One.

Obviously there will be a main story about the new pope, from the wire services. We are also looking for wire stories analyzing Pope Benedict's views on the church and the world; a look at the scene in the Vatican; and reaction from around the world, particularly Germany.

Locally, we will have an interesting discussion of the future of the U.S. Catholic church in a story being reported today by staff writers Stephanie Hoops and Zeke Barlow.

Other staff members gathered reaction from throughout the county. And we will have a separate reaction from Latino Catholics, many of whom were hoping that the new pope would be picked from Central or South America.