Congratulations to the Smart family!

I was shocked and happy to hear (how often can you say that nowadays?) to hear that Elizabeth Smart had been found alive after being kidnapped nine months ago. I really didn't think it was possible to find a missing person alive after more than a week or two, so this restores some of my faith in "America's Most Wanted." I think it will be fascinating to hear the details of what has been going on in the last nine months and whether or not Smart ever tried to escape or whether she was brainwashed.

On a side note, this breaking story really exposed the flaws of 24-hour news channels. When I turned on to CNN and MSNBC, it was frustratingly difficult to gather some of the basic details of the story: where and what time Smart was found and the circumstances surrounding her rescue and the arrest of the two kidnappers. I didn't get any of my questions answered until I read the story on Yahoo. The problem with the news channels is that they never "start it from the top" and recap the key information of the story. To me, those scrolling headlines would finally be put to good use in a situation like this, but instead the headlines were about unrelated news stories. I hope these news channels get it right, especially since the world is definitely going to get some breaking news in the next two weeks (Thank you, Mr. Bush).