Special Leads

New York Times
Obama to send up to 1,200 Troops to Border
Los Angeles- President Obama will send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border and seek increased spending on law enforcement there to combat drug smuggling after demands from Republican and Democratic lawmakers that border security be tightened.

I think that this lead works great. It is a narrative lead that tells you what the story is about but also has some elements of a summary lead. It is summarizing what the rest of the article is about and what Obama is doing but then it tells this picture about sending the troops in. The lead could improve by saying what Southwest boarder they are sending troops to because that part did confuse me a little bit.

The Seattle Times
'Top Kill' another BP gamble
HOUSTON — As BP prepared Tuesday for its most ambitious effort yet to stop the torrent of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, company officials emphasized the procedure known as a "top kill" had never been tried so far underwater, that it might be delayed again and that it might not succeed.

Both of these are a little wordy to what we were taught in class about the 35 to 40 words. It is not a first lead story so there are not hard hitting facts. Its a on going summary lead. Since there have been so many stories about BP you cant really call it a second day lead story but it does have the characteristics of one. It is updating you in what is going on with BP and what they are now calling "top kill". It does not summarize the whole story, it just gives a brief part of what a top kill is.