Random strangers call reporters all the time with story ideas. We love these calls. It's an important way for us to find out what's going on in the community.

Sometimes these callers are crazy people who think they've found gold in their backyard (True story. We sent a reporter out on that tip. The guy turned out to be on drugs).

Sometimes they just say, "There's corruption going on at X Agency. You need to look into it!" But then they don't provide any details or direction on where to look. A frustrating waste of time. Corruption is not an absolute condition that reporters uncover with their handy Corrupto-Kit. It takes paper trails and documentation and proof of illegal activity.

Once in a while, a random caller hits a home run and comes up with a great story idea.

That's what Silvia Garcia did when she called me a couple weeks ago. She was a renter in a house that was being foreclosed on and she wanted to know what was going to happen to her.

Garcia met three key criteria: 1. she wasn't crazy or on drugs, 2. her situation was timely and it was something that was probably happening to a lot of people, 3. we hadn't written any stories about it yet.

After I wrote the story about her situation, I got phone calls from three other people in the same predicament, thanking me for writing the story. Seems like it struck a nerve.

So thanks to Silvia and all the other people who call us with story ideas. Keep 'em coming!