As I wrote in today's print edition column, readers pay close attention to facts and figures in everything they read in The Star and on KansasCity.com. They also closely scrutinize word choice.

A caller this morning urged The Star to "pay even more attention to the out-of-control murders in this city."

She had positive things in general to say about today's front-page centerpiece on the KC NoVa program, which aims to prevent violent crimes before they happen, in part by conducting sweeps to execute arrest warrants, and also by offering education, drug treatment and other services.

A recent story in the Sports Daily section about lucrative TV contracts for baseball broadcasts spoke with Andrew Zimbalist, the Robert A. Woods professor of economics at Smith College. The original version of the story as it appeared in print cited the use of DVRs as the reason Zimbalist believes rates are currently in a bubble.

I've heard from two readers today who encouraged The Star to cover today's Right to Life Rally in Washington, D.C., equitably in print tomorrow.

"It would be appreciated if The K.C. Star would carry an accurate but non-biased article on the Right to Life Rally in Washington D.C.," emailed one. "...It would also be appreciated IF the K.C. Star decides to give the rally coverage, not to bury it. Although the position of The Star may not be in agreement, the coverage is newsworthy."

I was recently browsing through books in a shop while I was on a layover at the Atlanta airport. One book I was looking at was the paperback edition of a hardback best-seller -- one of the more popular nonfiction books in recent years. And right there in front of me was a glaring typographical error on one of the pages I perused.

I'm not usually particularly good at noticing those types of errors. I don't have the copy editor gene, so to speak. But I don't think anyone can argue that in these days of massive upheaval in the publishing world that copy editing hasn't suffered greatly.

An emailer pointed me to a good story on Slate.com today about the common misuse of the word "schizophrenic."

Even though the word is very often used to refer to someone or something having multiple personalities, that is a grave misunderstanding of the nature of the actual mental illness of schizophrenia.

An emailer just now pointed to a headline on a story on KansasCity.com about some GOP leaders who are backing plans to change how Electoral College votes are awarded, possibly making them proportional instead of winner-takes-all.

There's nothing new at all here. All political parties consistently advocate change to the system, and it's self-evident that they want to do so to gain political advantage.

I will let this reader's point of view speak for itself, about a story posted on KansasCity.com yesterday.

I often get questions from readers asking whether The Star can accept the plastic bags carriers wrap newspapers in for reuse. That's always the best strategy for keeping objects out of landfills, after all.

Unfortunately, that isn't possible, as carriers need to use new bags in order to package together thousands of papers quickly. But it is possible to recycle them.

I heard from two readers today a similar sentiment: That the Page A1 story about Lance Armstrong's appearance on Oprah, where he's reported to confess to using illicit performance-enhancing substances, is "old news," in one reader's eyes.

"I have been reading about the interview for days," said another reader via email.

This is an interesting illustration of just how saturated a lot of media have become, especially when we're talking about national stories involving celebrities.