I’ve noted before that we are working hard at The Star to provide you with information you can’t get anywhere else. I hope you’ve noticed that the vast majority of what you see on page one of the newspaper is information you can’t get anywhere else.

Today’s front page is another example of that.

Staff writer Konrad Marshall spent an incredible amount of his time researching what led to tragic outcomes for members of a National Guard unit, outcomes that continued after the unit came home.

His report, “A War Within,” is being presented as a four-part series, with each chapter taking you to a new level of understanding of the stresses and emotions that are part of war.

I hope you will learn as I did when reading the series. I hope you will empathize, as I did. I also hope that you will have even more appreciation, as I do, for the work being done by members of the military in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world. I also hope that if you know somebody who served in those areas that you will be as supportive as you possibly can be as they readjust to life at home.

Be sure to check out added information, including videos, about “The War Within” on our web site, IndyStar.com.

Along with Konrad’s work we are providing the second in an occasional series of reports from columnist Matthew Tully, who writes about the trials and triumphs of a large urban school, Manual High School on Indianapolis’ Southside. The first installment appeared a week ago.

What’s “occasional” about this series? Matt’s report won’t run on consecutive days or even consecutive Sundays. We aren’t even sure when future reports will appear. Matt will continue to write about his main focus — politics — in the days and weeks to come. He will return to Manual often enough, however, for you to become well aware of life inside the school.

Matt is passionate about his city. In the past he’s broken away from politics to write about special things happening in neighborhoods. In 2007, he took an extensive look at the troubled Phoenix Apartment complex. It was work that led to changes in how the police and the prosecutor’s office operate in the neighborhood. It moved community leaders and neighbors to band together to build a new playground at the complex. It changed lives.

Matt told me he wanted to do the Manual project because of the growing intensity of the debate over our schools. A relatively new and bold, if not somewhat brash, state superintendent of public instruction is challenging the education establishment. The charter school movement is growing. The Mind Trust, as Matt wrote a couple of weeks ago, is bringing a new level of educational entrepreneurship to Indianapolis.

Matt wanted to understand, and he wants you to understand, the complex workings of a large high school whose demographics match that of Marion County. He’s already spent 60 hours at the school, listening and observing. He will spend many more there.

Once again, it’s work that appears only in The Indianapolis Star and on IndyStar.com.

We will continue to report the news in The Star, but more and more we will provide you with the meaning behind the news.

As always, let me know how you think we are doing. Thanks for reading The Indianapolis Star.