Anytime you can, try to eliminate words that aren't necessary to your copy. Like in the start of this lede:
Police have arrested a woman . . .
Is "have" necessary? Look at it without the word:
Police arrested a woman . . .
Does it change the meaning at all? Or have you maintained the same exact meaning, but in a more economical manner?
Word order can also help nix an unneeded word or two. Look at the tail end of this lede:
. . . next Tuesday at its meeting at 8 p.m.
Two uses of "at" is a bit wordy. So why not flip time and event like this:
. . . next Tuesday at its 8 p.m. meeting.
Ta-da! And here's a free bit of advice: if you're using the word "that," try your graf without the word and see if it changes the meaning at all. Most of the time, "that" is unnecessary.
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