Saturday, December 29, 2007

The year in review: July 2007

2007 has been another good year for The Turner Report, thanks to its readers. According to CQ Counter, one of the three counters I use to keep track of the blog's readership, the site has already received more than 173,000 unique visitors during the year, over 30,000 more than last year, reaching an all-time high on Aug. 13 of 1,154 readers. Sadly, that was the day the blog was sought out by those wanting more information about the murder of three Micronesian church leaders in Neosho.
The Turner Report has also received more than 1,000 visitors on several other occasions, according to CQ Counter.
CQ Counter does miss some traffic, which is usually caught by one of the other two services I use, Site Meter or Go Stats. The Turner Report has recorded more than 1,500 during a 24-hour period on both of those sites. While this blog is a far cry from The Daily Kos or the Huffington Post or Talking Points or any of those other blogs that draw tens of thousands in traffic daily, it is still continuing to grow. It was only a couple of years ago that I was excited when I first broke 50 visitors in one day.
On July 3, I ran a review of the first six months of 2007. For those who are new to The Turner Report, or for those wanting to refresh their memories about the top stories of 2007, many of which were either printed only on this blog or were published here first (my detractors will quickly say this was because no one else wanted them), this post will begin a review of the final six months of the year, beginning with July:

July 31- Sen. Chris Koster, D-Harrisonville, accepted $891.23 in gifts from the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys during a three-day period in June.

July 31- Former Department of Revenue Division of Taxation employee Krystal Stephens pleaded guilty to identity theft.

July 24- Retired billionaire Rex Sinquefield poured $6,400 into Republican Steve Helms' 2006 effort to unseat Rep. Sara Lampe, D-Springfield.

July 24- Former Rep. Carl Bearden becomes a lobbyist for Pelopidas, an organization pushing educational vouchers.


July 20- In a story of particular importance to the Lamar community, The Turner Report was the first to note that Lamar Grain and Feed filed for bankruptcy leaving several creditors high and dry.

July 19- Mr. and Mrs. Rex Sinquefield make maximum contributions to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.

July 19- The top two contributors to the Swift Boat campaign that helped derail Sen. John Kerry's presidential bid in 2004, contributed thousands to Gov. Matt Blunt's campaign.

July 18- The Turner Report detailed how educational voucher proponents are preparing to make a major push in Missouri.

July 18- In another story totally ignored by the traditional media, the blog provided information about the early release from prison of Paul Murray, the Turnpike Killer, who murdered Sheila Mayfield of Jasper in 1994.

July 14- Voucher proponent Charles Norval Sharpe contributed $5,000 to the campaign of Rep. Bryan Stevenson, R-Webb City.

July 13- Campaign documents show Rep. Carl Bearden, who left the House to become a lobbyist was representing special interest and not his constituents.

July 1- It took the Missouri attorney general's office more than seven weeks to return tickets to a Kenny Chesney concert provided by MU lobbyist Steven Knorr.

July 1- Rep. Shannon Cooper, R-Clinton, the most steadfast foe of the minimum wage increase, had no problems when it came to latching on to lobbyists' freebies.

July 1- University of Missouri lobbyist Stephen Knorr doled out $1,587 in tickets to a Kenny Chesney concert.

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