Our coverage of the budget showdown from this morning’s newspaper

Back in September, before the federal government shutdown, I wrote a post about how the Orange County Register was working hard to make sure the broccoli tasted pretty darn good. 

(Here’s a link to that post.)

Over the last few weeks, our government and politics team – led by editor Mark Matassa – along with lots of help and suggestions from the rest of our OCR crew, has continued to make a complex story very accessible.

Even interesting.

Today’s paper was a great example of what we’re trying to do with our coverage. Here are a few examples from Wednesday’s seven-section, 88-page paper.

Front page:

Here’s a closer look at the A1 timeline, which was the brainchild of Register A1 editor Marcia Prouse:

An explanation of what would happen if the U.S. government defaulted on its debt:

There were all sorts of great stories on our local cover, but come on, if you find an 18-foot fish, you play that sucker up:

Here’s a look at Fred Matamoros’ graphic for the package:

And here’s Taylor Hill’s story on the “sea serpent,” I mean oarfish:

Then check out this great food package on spicy cocktails, with fantastic photos from Kate Lucas: