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'Sac Bee' Hailed for Series on Patriot Act
Hentoff: Paper Deserves a Pulitzer

Since the USA Patriot Act was rushed through Congress without public hearings and without many members having time to fully read the complex bill, I have been covering the growing national debate on the Bush-Ashcroft revisions to the Bill of Rights.

In an extensive four-part, front-page series, "Liberty in the Balance," beginning Sept. 21, The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee did more than any daily newspaper I've seen to clarify the effects of the domestic war on terrorism on citizens and non-citizens.

The series -- which deserves a Pulitzer -- was the brainchild of the paper's executive editor, Rick Rodriguez, who, in a "note to our readers" on the first day the series ran, said the Bee would examine "how the crackdown on terrorism has come into conflict with the civil liberties that set America apart."...

...The series can be found at www.sacbee.com/projects....