Why was Spokane reference missing?

Question: A story appearing May 2 on sex offender Laura Faye McCollum omitted three paragraphs that were in The Seattle Times version of the story. The missing information included this:

"But years of therapy have changed her, she said, gazing at her beloved beta fish, Perry. She has nearly finished her GED and has earned a janitorial certificate. She hopes to move to Spokane, get a pet pug, and get a job cleaning office buildings at night, where she has little chance of running into children."

It seems to me that McCollum's plans to move to Spokane are critical information for Spokane readers. What happened? -- Cindy Fine, Spokane

Answer: I wish I could say it was a judicious trim of the story because of higher journalistic standards. But I can't say that. It was a bad bite. There were other paragraphs that could have been removed to get that information in. You're right. That information is very relevant to our readers.

I have but one excuse: the copy editors had just been through two weeks of computer training that required almost all of them to work six days a week and many of them up to 12 hours a day. That left us short-handed and tired, not a good combination. But we're through with training and hopefully we'll be in better shape to avoid these kinds of errors. -- Jim Kresse, news editor