New Mexico Gov. secures journalist’s release:

KHARTOUM, Sudan – The president of Sudan agreed to release American journalist Paul Salopek on Saturday after meeting with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a spokesman for the governor said.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Chicago Tribune and his Chadian driver and interpreter will be picked up by Richardson in the war-torn Darfur region, where the three were arrested, said Pahl Shipley, a spokesman for the governor.

Salopek’s stories are some of the very few reasons I still read the Trib. They’re like novels, my friends e-mail them around, saying always, “Oh, my god, put down whatever you’re doing and read this NOW.” Detailed reporting that tells you what a place looks like, smells like, sounds like, and he never, ever, ever condescends to the people he writes about despite working in some of the most intensely bombed-out and beaten-down places in the world.

I’m very glad he’s coming home safe. And kudos to Richardson for stepping up in a big way.

A.