That's a Fact

I don't know why it amuses me to pick on the Boston Globe. Maybe because it remains the paper of record for this city despite its continual incompetence. Maybe because its staff refuses to acknowledge or fix the problems. The paper is often criticized for its liberal bias, and I agree with those criticisms — but to be honest, I'm bothered more by the fact that it reads like a bad college daily.

Today's front page included this lead:

FRAMINGHAM — Carla Souza dialed 911 just after 11 p.m. Saturday, asking police to rush to her Framingham apartment because of a problem with her husband, according to police. But an attacker allegedly got to her before officers did one minute later.

Firefighters and police found Souza, 37, and her 11-year-old son, Caique, semiconscious — their heads beaten — lying in blood on the bedroom floor. The cordless phone was still connected to the police operator. Both mother and son later died of their injuries.

Souza's husband is scheduled to be arraigned today on two charges of murder. Obviously, reporters have to acknowledge that he's innocent until proven guilty — both out of civic responsibility and legal liability — which is why the writer addends her first sentence with the phrase, "according to police."

Now explain why her second sentence includes the word "allegedly."