It's tough for folks in our line of work to predict the news.

Sure, there are certain hallmarks of seasons, meetings, big games, etc. that allow us to plan coverage, but the news is an unpredictable beast, likely to strike at the least likely moment.

Here are five things to keep an eye on, even if it isn't just this upcoming week.

5. The smoke of Sierra Madre

Now, the spring fires in Southern California aren't much of a harbinger for a wild forest fire season here in the Black Hills, but they do mark the beginning of the wildfire season throughout the West.

And as major spring storm systems continue to dodge much of the Hills (the Southern Hills, in particular), the chances for an active fire season still remain largely unchanged since we last took a look at them in March.

Heck, when Mitchell is getting more snow than Lead in April, it doesn't bode well for July on the firewatch.

4. Speed Racer gains pole position

OK, the anticipation around the Williams' home may simply because we have a 4-year-old boy whose room is decorated completely in Disney "Cars" mode, checkered flags and all.

However, for a pre-Memorial Day film, the upcoming big-screen adaptation of the cartoon classic by the guys who gave us "The Matrix" trilogy is sure gaining its fair amount of buzz.

Of course, those of us old enough to remember the old school Speed Racer (where the lips were the most animated action on screen at any given moment), you might want to brace yourself for the updated version designed for today's more media-savy youths.

3. Big changes afoot in the dead tree edition

On Sunday, the Rapid City Journal's dead tree edition launched a revamped weather page with an updated look, better visual representation and a new feature - Junior Journal Weather Forecaster.

The junior forecaster portion of the page will feature a weather drawing from area youngsters daily.

But the new weather page is only part of the big changes coming to the Journal's print edition. Starting tomorrow, the Journal will launch a modified design that will bring changes to most parts of the newspaper, including a new front page and section covers, as well as changes to the interior of the paper as well.

And there's more to come. If you want to keep abreast of changes, check back with Typos and Tribulations throughout the next week or so.

2. Homestake's big week

As a Lead High School graduate and former editor at the old Lead Daily Call, let me join the chorus of voices from the Northern Hills community to sing the praises of a week of great news coming out of the mine-turned-lab.

After a full week of discussions, lectures, tours, workshops and more at the deep, dark hole in the ground that will look to catch lightning in a bottle over and over again in the form of neutrinos, the future hasn't look this bright for more than a century.

Keep an eye on the lab's Web site for continuing developments.

1. The science of Powerball

Nobody won the Powerball this past weekend, which means the big prize will rise to more than $160 million.

Personally, I generally start watching the Powerball jackpot after it rises above $150 million. Don't ask me why. There's just something more real about it when you could start paying the contract of a professional athlete that makes the lottery so much more attractive then when it's at such paltry levels of, say, $10 million or so.

That being said, remember that you are way more likely to die of legal execution than you are to win the lottery. That's saying something in South Dakota, where only one person has been put to death in the death chamber in the past six decades.