Like in this lede:
County treasurer Vernon Sindelair appeared in court Wednesday morning to plead guilty after bbeing charged three months ago of embezzling over $1.7 million in tax receipts.
There's room to trim here withut losing meaning. First, appearing in ocurt is secondary to why he was there: to plead guilty. So I could eliminate "appeared in court," leaving us with this:
County treasurer Vernon Sindelair pleaded guilty Wednesday morning after being charged three months ago of
embezzling over $1.7 million in tax receipts.
There's more. Is the fact he was charged three months ago necessary for the lede, or could you move it to a latter part of the story, as background? I'd say the latter. So I could cut out that part, leaving us with this:
County treasurer Vernon Sindelair pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to embezzling over $1.7 million in tax receipts.
Much shorter, right? And has the meaning of the original lede been diminished in any significant way? I'd say not at all.
Now, were these trims needed? Not absolutely. The lede was fine as-is. But I hope this gives you an idea of how you can trim for space and be brief and to-the-point.
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