Monday
One article that caught my eye right away was the one about Hungary. It is interesting how much Hungary has been in the news lately: it isn’t one of those countries that you would expect to read about in the Times but has showed up pretty consistently over the semester. Unfortunately, it has shown up for some pretty depressing reasons. This time it is because of attacks on the Roma people who live there. Attacks against the Roma people are getting more and more common, though violence against these people is not new. When I was in Budapest, I learned a little bit about the prejudice that people have against the Roma, and apparently it is something that has been there consistently for a long time. It just seems to be getting worse, almost as if people are blaming them for the economic problems.
Another big story today is the story about the swine flu. Yesterday a health emergency was declared, though there does not seem to be a whole lot of information yet. There are only 20 cases in the US, which seems sort of a low number to declare an emergency. But I guess it makes sense since there have been a bunch of cases in countries near us. The end of this article inside the paper had a nice map that I thought was helpful: it showed the locations of the cases of swine flu. It’s cool to have graphic like that to help make a story clearer.
There were a couple religion-related stories today, which is sort of unusual. The one on the first page discussed something that seems almost like a church for people who don’t believe in God. Then there was the one about gay marriage in New York. It was interesting to read about the tension between faith and politics, and it will be interesting to see which wins out in New York.
Tuesday
There is an interesting story on the front page about the developing cyber warfare. The internet is a weapon you don’t really think about all that much when thinking about the United States military. But it makes sense that the military would start to use this tool more and more as it becomes more highly developed and has more potential to help with war efforts.
There was a small start to an article on the first page that discussed swine flu, and this opens up to a two-page spread inside the paper. I think this is good, because swine flu is big news and the Times is doing a pretty good job of looking at it from different angles. There is the story about the teenagers in NY who may have brought the flu back with them from Mexico, there is the story about what the Obama administration is doing about the outbreak, there is a neat question and answer story that answers questions that readers had about the swine flu, and then there is a story about the World Health Organization and its response to the flu. The map that I mentioned from yesterday’s paper reappeared and was updated with slightly higher numbers. But I think that the Q & A story was especially helpful, as it broke down good information into reasonably sized pieces, and therefore was reader-friendly as well as informative.
There was another gay marriage story today as Iowa began to allow same sex couples to be married. This story talked about the lack of protest and hoopla as the state began to allow these marriages, and it makes me wonder what the scene will be like tomorrow in NH as our own same sex marriage bill is voted on.
Wednesday
Yet another swine flu story makes it to the front page. This one talks about the boy who may have been the first swine flu case. I feel sort of bad for this little boy, who is getting all this publicity for being sick, and almost being blamed for this spreading health threat. He doesn’t seem to mind, but his mother says that people are blaming her son and she thinks they are wrong. This story again leads to a two page spread on swine flu inside the paper. The topics today include the pork industry, the search for a vaccine, a couple media stories, the new health secretary, and growing cases of the flu in NY City. One of the stories on the media talks about the tension the media faces between letting people know what is going on and causing a panic or alarming people unnecessarily. I think that this is an important article because it describes what could be happening right now with the swine flu. I think that the Times has been doing a pretty good job of covering the issue fairly without being alarmist, but I think that there are other media outlets that have been more alarmist than factual. This could lead to people who don’t have the resources to get the Times or a similar paper to simply be frightened by the talk of the swine flu and not know what to do about that fear.
One interesting story on the front page that I noticed was the one about colleges not using cafeteria trays. This is interesting because one of our dining halls does “trayless Tuesday” where people are encouraged not to use trays on Tuesdays (as the name so aptly suggests). It was interesting that this particular trend was mentioned in the article. I thought that the point of not allowing tray use was just to encourage people to take less food, but this story mentions also cutting back on water costs as this leads to fewer dirty dishes. I think that is a cool benefit, and maybe it will encourage me not to find the ever-elusive Tuesday trays.
Thursday
The front page is sort of depressing today, with a couple stories on the likely spread of the swine flu, and a story on the ever-worsening economic situation in the US. The economic story does mention a hopeful future if people start spending more, which would be very nice to see. But this story does serve to remind us that even amid new crises like the swine flu, the old problems are still here as well.
On the swine flu front, the first death from swine flu in the US was reported yesterday, though it is important to note that the victim was someone from Mexico, not from the United States. One of the stories in today’s two page spread brought up the link between the flu and the economic recession. Since the economy is going down, there is less money for health care, which leads to less work for doctors, which means more layoffs in health care departments, which means less people prepared to help out with a major health crisis. That seems like it should be a cause for concern, but hopefully the flu will not reach the point where we cannot contain it with the health professionals that are working right now. But that also brings up another point: if this swine flu spreads and more and more people have to pay to see doctors, with the economy benefit? Sort of morbid thought. According to the ever-helpful swine flu map, there are now cases in both Massachusetts and Maine, but not yet in NH!
New Hampshire made the paper in a different story, because the State Senate passed the same-sex marriage bill. The bill now needs to go back to the House for a vote because it was amended in the Senate, and then it will be up to Governor Lynch to decide whether or not to sign the bill into law. The article mentioned that if Mr. Lynch does not want to actually approve the bill but is too scared to veto it, he could just let it become law without doing either. I think that would be the wimpiest thing ever. If you’re governor, it’s your job to make hard decisions like whether or not to allow the definition of marriage to be changed by people who want same sex marriages. Not signing the bill would have the same effect as signing it, but just do it in a way where it suggests that Mr. Lynch does not want to admit responsibility for his actions.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Police Chief Martin Brody has reported that a fisherman caught the shark suspected to have caused the deaths of two Amity citizens earlier this week.
The deaths of Wendy Watson and Alex Kintner are both under investigation, and the police department has said that they have been linked to possible shark activities.
Watson, a 16-year-old sophomore at Amity High School, was found dead on the beach on the night of July 1. There were no witnesses to her death, although an unidentified male said that Watson had decided to go swimming in a remote area of the beach.
Kintner, who was 10 at the time of his death, was killed while playing with friends in the waters of the crowded Village Beach. Witnesses report that Kintner had been floating on a rubber raft when he disappeared under the water. His body has not been found, though his raft had what appeared to be a large bite mark in it.
In response to the death of her son, Audrey Kintner offered a $3,000 reward to anyone who kills the shark that is suspected in his death. That reward was claimed today by unidentified fishermen who killed a shark 1 mile off the beaches of Amity.
In a press conference this morning, Brody said that the shark was examined by marine biologist Matt Hooper, who said that it is the shark suspected in the deaths of Watson and Kintner.
“Course it’s the same one,” Brody said. “How could it not be?”
He said that the shark has not been cut open to confirm its identity as the killer responsible for the deaths.
“I doubt that there’s another one of these beasts in these waters,” he said.
This morning, the beach was crowded with people enjoying the sun, listening to music, and playing games. Laughter filled the beach while the waters were empty except for the shark spotters patrolling the waters in their boats.
One family entered the water, adults on both ends of a rubber raft carrying three children. Soon the water was filled with people swimming, shouting, laughing, and splashing.
The waters emptied out once again as a shark fin was spotted near some swimmers. Lifeguards on the beach blew their whistles and called for everyone to leave the water as the shark spotters moved in with their boats and guns.
The people who had so enthusiastically run into the water only a few minutes before ran for the beach. What they were running away from turned out to be only two boys playing with a cardboard shark fin.
The death of the real shark caused Brody to change his strategy for dealing with the recent deaths in town. Last night, at a meeting between Mayor Bob Farley, Chief Brody, and the Amity Board of Selectmen, Brody announced that the beaches were going to be closed. Before the death of the shark, the beaches were going to be closed for 24 hours.
Brody explained today that the beaches were going to stay open, although shark spotters from the Coast Guard, the Marine Patrol, the Massachusetts State Police, the U.S. Navy, Homeland Security, the FBI, and other local agencies would be on the beach looking for signs of shark activity.
“There’s always the possibility [that there are more sharks], and we’re going to be very careful,” Brody said.
Brody said in a press release that the police department believes that there is no more danger of shark attacks. He said that any shark sightings should be reported at 1-800-sharksee.
The deaths of Wendy Watson and Alex Kintner are both under investigation, and the police department has said that they have been linked to possible shark activities.
Watson, a 16-year-old sophomore at Amity High School, was found dead on the beach on the night of July 1. There were no witnesses to her death, although an unidentified male said that Watson had decided to go swimming in a remote area of the beach.
Kintner, who was 10 at the time of his death, was killed while playing with friends in the waters of the crowded Village Beach. Witnesses report that Kintner had been floating on a rubber raft when he disappeared under the water. His body has not been found, though his raft had what appeared to be a large bite mark in it.
In response to the death of her son, Audrey Kintner offered a $3,000 reward to anyone who kills the shark that is suspected in his death. That reward was claimed today by unidentified fishermen who killed a shark 1 mile off the beaches of Amity.
In a press conference this morning, Brody said that the shark was examined by marine biologist Matt Hooper, who said that it is the shark suspected in the deaths of Watson and Kintner.
“Course it’s the same one,” Brody said. “How could it not be?”
He said that the shark has not been cut open to confirm its identity as the killer responsible for the deaths.
“I doubt that there’s another one of these beasts in these waters,” he said.
This morning, the beach was crowded with people enjoying the sun, listening to music, and playing games. Laughter filled the beach while the waters were empty except for the shark spotters patrolling the waters in their boats.
One family entered the water, adults on both ends of a rubber raft carrying three children. Soon the water was filled with people swimming, shouting, laughing, and splashing.
The waters emptied out once again as a shark fin was spotted near some swimmers. Lifeguards on the beach blew their whistles and called for everyone to leave the water as the shark spotters moved in with their boats and guns.
The people who had so enthusiastically run into the water only a few minutes before ran for the beach. What they were running away from turned out to be only two boys playing with a cardboard shark fin.
The death of the real shark caused Brody to change his strategy for dealing with the recent deaths in town. Last night, at a meeting between Mayor Bob Farley, Chief Brody, and the Amity Board of Selectmen, Brody announced that the beaches were going to be closed. Before the death of the shark, the beaches were going to be closed for 24 hours.
Brody explained today that the beaches were going to stay open, although shark spotters from the Coast Guard, the Marine Patrol, the Massachusetts State Police, the U.S. Navy, Homeland Security, the FBI, and other local agencies would be on the beach looking for signs of shark activity.
“There’s always the possibility [that there are more sharks], and we’re going to be very careful,” Brody said.
Brody said in a press release that the police department believes that there is no more danger of shark attacks. He said that any shark sightings should be reported at 1-800-sharksee.
Beaches Set to Close After Two Suspected Shark Attacks
Amity town officials have decided to shut down the beaches for 24 hours following two deaths suspected to have been caused by shark attacks.
This decision was announced at a meeting last night called to discuss the town’s response to the deaths of two Amity citizens. The deaths of Wendy Watson and Alex Kintner are both under investigation, and the police department has said that they have been linked to possible shark activities.
Watson, a 16-year-old sophomore at Amity High School, was found dead on the beach on the night of July 1. There were no witnesses to her death, although an unidentified male said that Watson had decided to go swimming in a remote area of the beach.
Kintner, who was 10 at the time of his death, was killed while playing with friends in the waters of the crowded Village Beach. Witnesses report that Kintner had been floating on a rubber raft when he disappeared under the water. His body has not been found, though his raft had what appeared to be a large bite mark in it.
In response to the death of her son, Audrey Kintner has offered a $3,000 reward to anyone who kills the shark that is suspected in his death.
Chief of Police Martin Brody announced a different response to the killings. Last night, at the meeting between Mayor Bob Farley, Chief Brody, and the Amity Board of Selectmen, Brody announced that the beaches were going to be closed.
Mayor Farley said that the beaches were only going to be closed for 24 hours, and Brody said that the town was trying to get shark spotters and extra summer deputies to come help.
Fisherman Ben Quint, who was also at the meeting, offered to catch and kill the shark for $10,000.
This decision was announced at a meeting last night called to discuss the town’s response to the deaths of two Amity citizens. The deaths of Wendy Watson and Alex Kintner are both under investigation, and the police department has said that they have been linked to possible shark activities.
Watson, a 16-year-old sophomore at Amity High School, was found dead on the beach on the night of July 1. There were no witnesses to her death, although an unidentified male said that Watson had decided to go swimming in a remote area of the beach.
Kintner, who was 10 at the time of his death, was killed while playing with friends in the waters of the crowded Village Beach. Witnesses report that Kintner had been floating on a rubber raft when he disappeared under the water. His body has not been found, though his raft had what appeared to be a large bite mark in it.
In response to the death of her son, Audrey Kintner has offered a $3,000 reward to anyone who kills the shark that is suspected in his death.
Chief of Police Martin Brody announced a different response to the killings. Last night, at the meeting between Mayor Bob Farley, Chief Brody, and the Amity Board of Selectmen, Brody announced that the beaches were going to be closed.
Mayor Farley said that the beaches were only going to be closed for 24 hours, and Brody said that the town was trying to get shark spotters and extra summer deputies to come help.
Fisherman Ben Quint, who was also at the meeting, offered to catch and kill the shark for $10,000.
Friday, April 24, 2009
The Times 4/20-4/23
Monday-
A story that caught my attention right away was the one about the horse races in Hungary. Since I studied abroad there last semester, I was probably more interested in this story than the average reader would be, but I think it was well done. The writer did a good job of making this story a cheap-horse-turned-hero story, which I think could interest people even if they have not been to Hungary.
The story about the American troops in Afghanistan was interesting as well. It was written in a different format than most news stories, as it read more like a story. I think that’s a cool idea, sort of showing almost a day-in-the-life sort of story.
There were several crime stories in today’s paper. One discussed the legalization of marijuana, which is becoming a big debate across the nation. Another showed a worrying result of the falling economy: a rise in crime. This article looked at a town in South Carolina where the police are having trouble with people committing more crimes like stealing. It is interesting to think that with the economy down more people are “having to resort” to things like stealing to feed their families.
Tuesday-
One article that explained a sort of ridiculous situation was the one on the Obama administration investigating the CIA interrogation techniques. Apparently, Obama told the CIA that although they are being investigated, there will be no blame placed on them for the “mistakes” they have made. This seems sort of impossible: if you find mistakes that someone made, aren’t you by definition saying they screwed up? It seems rather weak to be saying that they are going to investigate the CIA’s practices and then do nothing about them. This will be a good story to follow and see what they do find and what they actually do about it. I bet there will be more done than Obama is limiting himself to now.
A story about a legal case caught my attention: judges are deciding whether or not to say that depictions of cruelty against animals should not be protected under the constitutional right for free speech. It seems that this law would put videos or pictures of animals being hurt on the same level of things like hate speech. I’m not sure how I feel about that. But the article brought up an interesting point: if you ban depictions of animal cruelty, does that also ban depictions of things like bullfights? Would this law keep bullfighting images out of classrooms when students want to learn about traditional Spanish culture? I think that the “slippery slope” argument works well against this law.
Wednesday-
The article about the trial of the Somali pirate brings up some worrisome issues. I wonder if this man could actually ever get a fair trial in America. It seems almost like it could turn out to be a trial just to make people feel like justice is being done. But are they going to go back to Somalia to find witnesses that could provide testimony for the defense? Are they ever going to actually find out the defendant’s age? I think it is telling that they don’t know that, because if they can’t even figure out his age, how are they going to find enough evidence to actually put on a convincing defense? I am not saying that this man should necessarily go free, I’m just skeptical as to the worth of this trial in a country that is up in arms against this man’s country and the piracy that he (allegedly) committed.
There seem to be a lot of law-related cases in this issue (and actually in past issues this week as well). There was a ruling that made it so that police don’t have a universal right to search the cars of people that they just arrested: they either need to think that they are in danger of the arrested person grabbing a gun or something out of the car, or believe that there is evidence in the car for the crime they just arrested them for. I’m not sure how much of a different this will make, because I don’t know how broadly the second reason for checking out a car could be used. Couldn’t an officer almost always say that he had reason to believe that evidence of the crime s/he is charging the suspect with was probably in the car?
Thursday-
One big story on the front page was the one about the election in Lebanon. It seems crazy how much this election is based on money. It basically seems that whoever has the most money will win. But sometimes it seems like that’s similar to how it is in our country. Not to the same degree, of course, but candidates definitely have a huge advantage if they have more money than those they are running against.
The story about the Taliban in Pakistan had an amazing picture with it, which made me start wondering about the photographer. It looks like he took the picture from like ten yards away from the Taliban fighter who had probably just killed the police officer lying on the ground. Was the photographer scared for his life? Was he hiding behind a bush or something? Did he ask the Taliban fighter “hey, could you just stand over that guy and look scary for a minute?” seems like a pretty intense job.
The article titled “slump creates lack of mobility for Americans” seems to make a few assumptions that can’t necessarily back up. It is written on the assumption that lower rates of people moving definitely show that people don’t have the money to move or aren’t willing to move because they are worried about the economic climate of the country. While I think that this could be a valid explanation for why people aren’t moving, it is possible that something else is at least partially responsible as well. The writers just don’t seem to take that possibility into account.
A story that caught my attention right away was the one about the horse races in Hungary. Since I studied abroad there last semester, I was probably more interested in this story than the average reader would be, but I think it was well done. The writer did a good job of making this story a cheap-horse-turned-hero story, which I think could interest people even if they have not been to Hungary.
The story about the American troops in Afghanistan was interesting as well. It was written in a different format than most news stories, as it read more like a story. I think that’s a cool idea, sort of showing almost a day-in-the-life sort of story.
There were several crime stories in today’s paper. One discussed the legalization of marijuana, which is becoming a big debate across the nation. Another showed a worrying result of the falling economy: a rise in crime. This article looked at a town in South Carolina where the police are having trouble with people committing more crimes like stealing. It is interesting to think that with the economy down more people are “having to resort” to things like stealing to feed their families.
Tuesday-
One article that explained a sort of ridiculous situation was the one on the Obama administration investigating the CIA interrogation techniques. Apparently, Obama told the CIA that although they are being investigated, there will be no blame placed on them for the “mistakes” they have made. This seems sort of impossible: if you find mistakes that someone made, aren’t you by definition saying they screwed up? It seems rather weak to be saying that they are going to investigate the CIA’s practices and then do nothing about them. This will be a good story to follow and see what they do find and what they actually do about it. I bet there will be more done than Obama is limiting himself to now.
A story about a legal case caught my attention: judges are deciding whether or not to say that depictions of cruelty against animals should not be protected under the constitutional right for free speech. It seems that this law would put videos or pictures of animals being hurt on the same level of things like hate speech. I’m not sure how I feel about that. But the article brought up an interesting point: if you ban depictions of animal cruelty, does that also ban depictions of things like bullfights? Would this law keep bullfighting images out of classrooms when students want to learn about traditional Spanish culture? I think that the “slippery slope” argument works well against this law.
Wednesday-
The article about the trial of the Somali pirate brings up some worrisome issues. I wonder if this man could actually ever get a fair trial in America. It seems almost like it could turn out to be a trial just to make people feel like justice is being done. But are they going to go back to Somalia to find witnesses that could provide testimony for the defense? Are they ever going to actually find out the defendant’s age? I think it is telling that they don’t know that, because if they can’t even figure out his age, how are they going to find enough evidence to actually put on a convincing defense? I am not saying that this man should necessarily go free, I’m just skeptical as to the worth of this trial in a country that is up in arms against this man’s country and the piracy that he (allegedly) committed.
There seem to be a lot of law-related cases in this issue (and actually in past issues this week as well). There was a ruling that made it so that police don’t have a universal right to search the cars of people that they just arrested: they either need to think that they are in danger of the arrested person grabbing a gun or something out of the car, or believe that there is evidence in the car for the crime they just arrested them for. I’m not sure how much of a different this will make, because I don’t know how broadly the second reason for checking out a car could be used. Couldn’t an officer almost always say that he had reason to believe that evidence of the crime s/he is charging the suspect with was probably in the car?
Thursday-
One big story on the front page was the one about the election in Lebanon. It seems crazy how much this election is based on money. It basically seems that whoever has the most money will win. But sometimes it seems like that’s similar to how it is in our country. Not to the same degree, of course, but candidates definitely have a huge advantage if they have more money than those they are running against.
The story about the Taliban in Pakistan had an amazing picture with it, which made me start wondering about the photographer. It looks like he took the picture from like ten yards away from the Taliban fighter who had probably just killed the police officer lying on the ground. Was the photographer scared for his life? Was he hiding behind a bush or something? Did he ask the Taliban fighter “hey, could you just stand over that guy and look scary for a minute?” seems like a pretty intense job.
The article titled “slump creates lack of mobility for Americans” seems to make a few assumptions that can’t necessarily back up. It is written on the assumption that lower rates of people moving definitely show that people don’t have the money to move or aren’t willing to move because they are worried about the economic climate of the country. While I think that this could be a valid explanation for why people aren’t moving, it is possible that something else is at least partially responsible as well. The writers just don’t seem to take that possibility into account.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
A ten-year-old boy was killed this morning while he played in the water with his friends at Village Beach.
The death of Alex Ferguson appears to be the result of what the police call a “vicious and unprovoked shark attack,” according to a press release by Chief of Police Martin Brody.
This attack came during a busy day on the beach. There were many beach-goers enjoying the sunny weather, and several were in the water at the time of Ferguson’s death.
Ferguson was floating on a rubber raft surrounded by children playing ball in the water. Their playful yelling turned to screams as Ferguson disappeared under water and blood floated to the surface.
Immediately, parents swarmed into the water to bring their children to safety, some even dragging the children to the beach. After the rush, one mother remained at the water’s edge, calling for her son.
Marian Ferguson, Alex Ferguson’s mother, is now at Amity Hospital where she is being treated for shock. The police have not yet found the body of her son.
According to the press release, Ferguson’s rubber raft has been recovered by police. There appears to be a large bite taken out of the raft. Police say that the investigations into Ferguson’s death and the recent death of high school student Wendy Watson are still ongoing, and no conclusions have been reached.
There will be a press conference tonight where Amity Mayor Bob Farley, Chief Brody, and the Board of Selectmen will discuss the request by Brody to close the beaches as well as a fisherman’s offer to begin a shark hunt.
Both Mayor Farley and Chief Brody offer their deepest condolences to the Ferguson family.
The death of Alex Ferguson appears to be the result of what the police call a “vicious and unprovoked shark attack,” according to a press release by Chief of Police Martin Brody.
This attack came during a busy day on the beach. There were many beach-goers enjoying the sunny weather, and several were in the water at the time of Ferguson’s death.
Ferguson was floating on a rubber raft surrounded by children playing ball in the water. Their playful yelling turned to screams as Ferguson disappeared under water and blood floated to the surface.
Immediately, parents swarmed into the water to bring their children to safety, some even dragging the children to the beach. After the rush, one mother remained at the water’s edge, calling for her son.
Marian Ferguson, Alex Ferguson’s mother, is now at Amity Hospital where she is being treated for shock. The police have not yet found the body of her son.
According to the press release, Ferguson’s rubber raft has been recovered by police. There appears to be a large bite taken out of the raft. Police say that the investigations into Ferguson’s death and the recent death of high school student Wendy Watson are still ongoing, and no conclusions have been reached.
There will be a press conference tonight where Amity Mayor Bob Farley, Chief Brody, and the Board of Selectmen will discuss the request by Brody to close the beaches as well as a fisherman’s offer to begin a shark hunt.
Both Mayor Farley and Chief Brody offer their deepest condolences to the Ferguson family.
The mangled body of a local high school student was found washed up on the beach early this morning.
Wendy W. Watson had been at a beach party the night before, and was last seen at 11:00 pm., according to the police press release. The unidentified male who had been with Watson at the beach last night told the police that she went missing after going swimming in a remote part of the beach.
Other witnesses from the beach party say that both Watson and the male with her had been drinking during the party.
Police say that the identity of the attacker is unknown, and Watson's body is at the coroner's office awaiting an autopsy. The investigation is ongoing, and police say that they have not been able to rule out a shark attack and no charges have been filed.
Wendy W. Watson had been at a beach party the night before, and was last seen at 11:00 pm., according to the police press release. The unidentified male who had been with Watson at the beach last night told the police that she went missing after going swimming in a remote part of the beach.
Other witnesses from the beach party say that both Watson and the male with her had been drinking during the party.
Police say that the identity of the attacker is unknown, and Watson's body is at the coroner's office awaiting an autopsy. The investigation is ongoing, and police say that they have not been able to rule out a shark attack and no charges have been filed.
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Times 4/13-4/16
Monday:
There are a bunch of interesting stories today, and it’s a nice change that not a lot of them have to do with the economy. One big story is the one about the sea captain who was rescued from the pirates. This was great to see, as I had been following the story somewhat since he was taken hostage last week. I think The Times did a good job of presenting this story, with the sidebar detailing the “final hours” before freeing the captain and showing a map of where the incident took place. This story laid the basis for another story further in the paper detailing the controversy over whether or not to arm the crews of merchant ships. This controversy comes up as there are more and more pirate attacks.
One story that did have to do with the economy, but was interesting anyway, was the one about possible changes in student lending. This seemed like it could be a good localized national story if you wanted to look into whether or not UNH is going to have changes in the loans that are given out to students.
Besides that, I thought the article about paying workers to not work was pretty interesting, as well as the one describing a law prohibiting sagging pants. Both seem sort of random, but are very interesting to read about.
Tuesday:
A few interesting stories in the news today. There were another couple stories as follow-ups to the navy rescuing the sea captain. It is interesting to read these second-day stories following the breaking news of a couple days ago. Today the stories focused on what Obama plans to do about the pirate problem (he’s not sure yet,) and retired navy seals complementing the snipers who shot the pirates.
A story on the front page shows an interesting trend that has come about because of the downturn in the economy: I wouldn’t have expected people to start to heckle the people who present at car shows. It seems sort of strange that they would take out their anger on the people who work at presenting the cars because those people aren’t involved in the things that would make someone mad. (Unless of course they are angry at the car companies selling cars.)
The article about the lady from Disney who is investigating what boys would like to see was cool to read. It is interesting how she is actually going and talking to kids to see what they like, though it seems sort of creepy that she is doing things like digging through their drawers and stuff. That seems a little extreme.
Wednesday:
The article about cancer pills and insurance shed light on some things in our country that just don’t make sense. While it’s great that researchers are developing pills for cancer patients so that they don’t need to take their meds at the hospital through an IV, those developments aren’t going to be very helpful if no one can pay for them. Paying $5,500 for the first round of pills and then $1,700 for each following month just seems a little bit excessive. I don’t understand why insurance companies aren’t covering these pills to the same extent as they cover the medicine received through an IV.
A sort of depressing story was the one on the front page about the girl who plays violin in Ohio. It seems so sad that this girl is giving up her dreams of being a violin teacher or performer because she is worried that she will not make enough money.
There was an article about an American journalist in Iran who is being accused of being a spy. This is an issue facing journalists that you don’t read about every day. I guess covering the news in some other countries is a dangerous thing. (Which I knew already, I just don’t think about it very often.)I’m curious how the trial will go and what the US will do.
There is a follow-up story on the Thailand riots, which I am interested in because my sister went to Thailand a few years ago. Apparently the rioters are taking a break because of the strong military presence, but it doesn’t seem like the situation has actually been resolved at all. They just went home, probably to riot again in the near future if something doesn’t change.
Thursday:
A story that interests me directly and also could be spun off to be a localized national story is the one about GM possibly dropping the Saturn brand. Since I drive a Saturn, I wonder what will become of this plan: will Saturns leave the market? Will people continue to make the parts I will need to fix my Saturn if it ever breaks down? Will I be able to buy a new Saturn any time in the future? It would be interesting to see what Saturn dealers in New Hampshire are doing in this time where they aren’t really sure whether or not GM is going to drop Saturns.
The article about US wiretapping is rather troubling: it talks about how the National Security Agency was looking at the emails and listening to the phone calls of US citizens. And what’s more troubling, they were listening in on people that they were not allowed to: a “significant and systemic” “over collection.” I don’t want any government official reading my emails or intercepting my phone calls. That is ridiculous.
There was an interesting article about medical research: people are looking for ways to see what specific DNA is responsible for certain diseases. That would have potential for a lot of help for victims of these diseases, or for potential victims with that DNA who could go through preventative treatment and maybe never get the disease. It’s too bad that the researchers are having trouble figuring out what DNA is responsible.
An update on the pirate front: French officials are doing something about it now. It will be interesting to see what countries come together to fight off this growing threat, and how much we can do to stop it. But for now it is encouraging to see that other countries will be in this battle as well.
There are a bunch of interesting stories today, and it’s a nice change that not a lot of them have to do with the economy. One big story is the one about the sea captain who was rescued from the pirates. This was great to see, as I had been following the story somewhat since he was taken hostage last week. I think The Times did a good job of presenting this story, with the sidebar detailing the “final hours” before freeing the captain and showing a map of where the incident took place. This story laid the basis for another story further in the paper detailing the controversy over whether or not to arm the crews of merchant ships. This controversy comes up as there are more and more pirate attacks.
One story that did have to do with the economy, but was interesting anyway, was the one about possible changes in student lending. This seemed like it could be a good localized national story if you wanted to look into whether or not UNH is going to have changes in the loans that are given out to students.
Besides that, I thought the article about paying workers to not work was pretty interesting, as well as the one describing a law prohibiting sagging pants. Both seem sort of random, but are very interesting to read about.
Tuesday:
A few interesting stories in the news today. There were another couple stories as follow-ups to the navy rescuing the sea captain. It is interesting to read these second-day stories following the breaking news of a couple days ago. Today the stories focused on what Obama plans to do about the pirate problem (he’s not sure yet,) and retired navy seals complementing the snipers who shot the pirates.
A story on the front page shows an interesting trend that has come about because of the downturn in the economy: I wouldn’t have expected people to start to heckle the people who present at car shows. It seems sort of strange that they would take out their anger on the people who work at presenting the cars because those people aren’t involved in the things that would make someone mad. (Unless of course they are angry at the car companies selling cars.)
The article about the lady from Disney who is investigating what boys would like to see was cool to read. It is interesting how she is actually going and talking to kids to see what they like, though it seems sort of creepy that she is doing things like digging through their drawers and stuff. That seems a little extreme.
Wednesday:
The article about cancer pills and insurance shed light on some things in our country that just don’t make sense. While it’s great that researchers are developing pills for cancer patients so that they don’t need to take their meds at the hospital through an IV, those developments aren’t going to be very helpful if no one can pay for them. Paying $5,500 for the first round of pills and then $1,700 for each following month just seems a little bit excessive. I don’t understand why insurance companies aren’t covering these pills to the same extent as they cover the medicine received through an IV.
A sort of depressing story was the one on the front page about the girl who plays violin in Ohio. It seems so sad that this girl is giving up her dreams of being a violin teacher or performer because she is worried that she will not make enough money.
There was an article about an American journalist in Iran who is being accused of being a spy. This is an issue facing journalists that you don’t read about every day. I guess covering the news in some other countries is a dangerous thing. (Which I knew already, I just don’t think about it very often.)I’m curious how the trial will go and what the US will do.
There is a follow-up story on the Thailand riots, which I am interested in because my sister went to Thailand a few years ago. Apparently the rioters are taking a break because of the strong military presence, but it doesn’t seem like the situation has actually been resolved at all. They just went home, probably to riot again in the near future if something doesn’t change.
Thursday:
A story that interests me directly and also could be spun off to be a localized national story is the one about GM possibly dropping the Saturn brand. Since I drive a Saturn, I wonder what will become of this plan: will Saturns leave the market? Will people continue to make the parts I will need to fix my Saturn if it ever breaks down? Will I be able to buy a new Saturn any time in the future? It would be interesting to see what Saturn dealers in New Hampshire are doing in this time where they aren’t really sure whether or not GM is going to drop Saturns.
The article about US wiretapping is rather troubling: it talks about how the National Security Agency was looking at the emails and listening to the phone calls of US citizens. And what’s more troubling, they were listening in on people that they were not allowed to: a “significant and systemic” “over collection.” I don’t want any government official reading my emails or intercepting my phone calls. That is ridiculous.
There was an interesting article about medical research: people are looking for ways to see what specific DNA is responsible for certain diseases. That would have potential for a lot of help for victims of these diseases, or for potential victims with that DNA who could go through preventative treatment and maybe never get the disease. It’s too bad that the researchers are having trouble figuring out what DNA is responsible.
An update on the pirate front: French officials are doing something about it now. It will be interesting to see what countries come together to fight off this growing threat, and how much we can do to stop it. But for now it is encouraging to see that other countries will be in this battle as well.
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Times 4/6-4/9
Monday:
Today there were a lot of international-based articles on the front page. They were made more newsworthy by the fact that they involved President Obama. The Times did something interesting with two of these articles: they ran two stories about the North Korean missile launch, and put them right next to each other. I think this worked well, as both stories looked at the news from a different angle (one focusing on the failure of the missile test, the other examining how it affects the USA.) This strategy makes it easy to look at the story more closely and to get a better idea of what the repercussions of this test could be.
It is interesting that there are also two stories about Pakistan. There is one on the front page about President Obama’s attempts to partner up with Pakistan to get rid of terrorists, while the other one discusses recent suicide attacks in Pakistan. This is sort of ironic, because in the first story the Pakistani people said that they didn’t want to partner with the US because the Taliban wasn’t a threat. Then in the second article we read how much of a threat the Taliban really is. So it is interesting to see that contrast.
The article about the candy maker whose food shop burned down starts out almost as if it is going to be a profile. I think the soft lead worked for this news story because it’s one of those next-day stories telling about what effect something had on someone. This didn’t just happen, so the hard news lead declaring that someone in Washington had a candy shop that burned down just wouldn’t fit.
Tuesday:
An article on the front page does a good job of discussing a budget without making it the focus of the story. It puts the budget in context and explains how the changes in the budget reveal a change in the way the military itself is changing. This is a good way to make something that would not be interesting (a change in budget) more interesting to the general public.
The story about the ongoing investigations into the conduct of people associated with the C.I.A. was interesting because it talked about a group of people I don’t usually associate with them: healthcare workers. I think it was good to focus on something new when doing this story, because we have already heard about many different aspects of what is going on.
This paper did something similar to yesterday’s coverage of the missile tests and Pakistan: it ran two stories about President Obama’s trip to Turkey. There was one that was a normal news story, and then one below it talking about peoples’ reactions to his visit.
The article on the front page about Russia is made more interesting because it is talking about something that we might be thinking about here in the US: auto bailouts. It is interesting to see what is happening with the economy in other countries, especially when it can be compared so directly to what is happening here. Since this article referenced what is going on in the United States in regards to auto bailouts, it makes it that much easier to compare the two.
Wednesday:
When looking at the leads for the articles on the front page, I think most of them are solid and clear. Most of them are hard news leads, which fit the stories, and the one soft lead is appropriate for the story about the couple who lost their camera while on their honeymoon. I didn’t really like the lead to one story, but I think the story in general was sort of confusing. This was the story discussing the investment bank Morgan Keegan. I think there was a very confusing start to this story, one that doesn’t give enough information to be effective. it seems like a very unfocused start to the story.
The story about the protests in Moldova takes an interesting route in pointing out the fact that the organizers of the protests used Twitter, text messages, and Facebook to call together a large crowd of people. I think this detail makes the story more relevant because these technologies are things that people in our society use all the time. We knew they were influential, and now we know that they can be used to start riots.
The two stories about gay rights on the front page show a contrast between rights here in the US and those in Iraq. They show how Vermont approved a bill to allow gay marriage while gay people in Iraq can be discriminated against and killed.
The story about the car dealership in Miami was interesting because it talks about something that we are worried about all over the country. This article focused in on one car dealership in a way that makes it easy to compare it to other dealerships all over the country. That connection to other places makes it more relevant and therefore more likely to be read.
Thursday:
A story that caught my attention right away was the one about the human fat cell that some studies suggest may burn calories. I noticed it because it is something I had just discussed in one of my classes. It is interesting how researchers take such a big step in declaring a certain type of fat is good for you, after years of results from studies suggesting that fat is something you want to avoid. It will be interesting to watch and see if anything results from this study, and if fat pills come out on the market.
The story about recession anxiety does a great job of showing how the recession has affected the lives of everyday people, even those who have not lost a lot financially. This makes the story relevant to anyone who is worried about the economy, instead of just focusing on those who have lost big things like homes or jobs.
The story about pirates from Somalia is made very relevant when we find out where the ship’s captain and first mate are from: they both are from New England (the captain is from Vermont, the first mate from Massachusetts). This will make it more important to follow this story as it goes along to see what will happen to these men.
There is a follow-up on the story about the Moldovan riot. It is interesting because the lead still sounds similar to a hard news lead instead of the soft lead you would expect. I think that the lead works in this case though, as it presents the dramatic scene of what happened and then explains how people are reacting to it. I think this makes the reactions more powerful because it puts them in the context of what they are actually reacting to.
Today there were a lot of international-based articles on the front page. They were made more newsworthy by the fact that they involved President Obama. The Times did something interesting with two of these articles: they ran two stories about the North Korean missile launch, and put them right next to each other. I think this worked well, as both stories looked at the news from a different angle (one focusing on the failure of the missile test, the other examining how it affects the USA.) This strategy makes it easy to look at the story more closely and to get a better idea of what the repercussions of this test could be.
It is interesting that there are also two stories about Pakistan. There is one on the front page about President Obama’s attempts to partner up with Pakistan to get rid of terrorists, while the other one discusses recent suicide attacks in Pakistan. This is sort of ironic, because in the first story the Pakistani people said that they didn’t want to partner with the US because the Taliban wasn’t a threat. Then in the second article we read how much of a threat the Taliban really is. So it is interesting to see that contrast.
The article about the candy maker whose food shop burned down starts out almost as if it is going to be a profile. I think the soft lead worked for this news story because it’s one of those next-day stories telling about what effect something had on someone. This didn’t just happen, so the hard news lead declaring that someone in Washington had a candy shop that burned down just wouldn’t fit.
Tuesday:
An article on the front page does a good job of discussing a budget without making it the focus of the story. It puts the budget in context and explains how the changes in the budget reveal a change in the way the military itself is changing. This is a good way to make something that would not be interesting (a change in budget) more interesting to the general public.
The story about the ongoing investigations into the conduct of people associated with the C.I.A. was interesting because it talked about a group of people I don’t usually associate with them: healthcare workers. I think it was good to focus on something new when doing this story, because we have already heard about many different aspects of what is going on.
This paper did something similar to yesterday’s coverage of the missile tests and Pakistan: it ran two stories about President Obama’s trip to Turkey. There was one that was a normal news story, and then one below it talking about peoples’ reactions to his visit.
The article on the front page about Russia is made more interesting because it is talking about something that we might be thinking about here in the US: auto bailouts. It is interesting to see what is happening with the economy in other countries, especially when it can be compared so directly to what is happening here. Since this article referenced what is going on in the United States in regards to auto bailouts, it makes it that much easier to compare the two.
Wednesday:
When looking at the leads for the articles on the front page, I think most of them are solid and clear. Most of them are hard news leads, which fit the stories, and the one soft lead is appropriate for the story about the couple who lost their camera while on their honeymoon. I didn’t really like the lead to one story, but I think the story in general was sort of confusing. This was the story discussing the investment bank Morgan Keegan. I think there was a very confusing start to this story, one that doesn’t give enough information to be effective. it seems like a very unfocused start to the story.
The story about the protests in Moldova takes an interesting route in pointing out the fact that the organizers of the protests used Twitter, text messages, and Facebook to call together a large crowd of people. I think this detail makes the story more relevant because these technologies are things that people in our society use all the time. We knew they were influential, and now we know that they can be used to start riots.
The two stories about gay rights on the front page show a contrast between rights here in the US and those in Iraq. They show how Vermont approved a bill to allow gay marriage while gay people in Iraq can be discriminated against and killed.
The story about the car dealership in Miami was interesting because it talks about something that we are worried about all over the country. This article focused in on one car dealership in a way that makes it easy to compare it to other dealerships all over the country. That connection to other places makes it more relevant and therefore more likely to be read.
Thursday:
A story that caught my attention right away was the one about the human fat cell that some studies suggest may burn calories. I noticed it because it is something I had just discussed in one of my classes. It is interesting how researchers take such a big step in declaring a certain type of fat is good for you, after years of results from studies suggesting that fat is something you want to avoid. It will be interesting to watch and see if anything results from this study, and if fat pills come out on the market.
The story about recession anxiety does a great job of showing how the recession has affected the lives of everyday people, even those who have not lost a lot financially. This makes the story relevant to anyone who is worried about the economy, instead of just focusing on those who have lost big things like homes or jobs.
The story about pirates from Somalia is made very relevant when we find out where the ship’s captain and first mate are from: they both are from New England (the captain is from Vermont, the first mate from Massachusetts). This will make it more important to follow this story as it goes along to see what will happen to these men.
There is a follow-up on the story about the Moldovan riot. It is interesting because the lead still sounds similar to a hard news lead instead of the soft lead you would expect. I think that the lead works in this case though, as it presents the dramatic scene of what happened and then explains how people are reacting to it. I think this makes the reactions more powerful because it puts them in the context of what they are actually reacting to.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
controversy surrounds the town of Biddeford, ME, as citizens decide if they should shut down the local airport.
This decision will be made during the general election on June 4.
Several town members say that they support the move to close the airport becuase it has failed to make enough money to support itself.
"The money is the biggest thing," said Roland Pelletier who has lived next to the airport for the past 25 years. "If it was self-supporting, fine. Let it go on." Pelletier said that people could not support businesses that do not bring in enough money to pay for themselves. He said that the economy was a factor in his opinion that the airport should be shut down.
"These are tough times," he said, "and that's the time we need to be tough."
Paul Archembault also thinks the airport should be shut down. Archembault, who has lived near the airport for the past 24 years, is the chairman of the group "Get Rid Of Our Little Airport," or "GROOLA."
"Once we started looking at the airport, we came to the conclusion that there is no financial benefit at its existing size and capacity," Archambault said. "It continues to be a tax burden."
Phyllis Landry, a private pilot, thinks that the citizens of Biddeford should vote to keep their airport.
"I've been flying out of this airport for 25 years," he said. "I love this airport. If I couldn't fly out of here I'd have to go to Sanford or Portland."
Landry says that the airport is worth the cost that keeps it running.
"Maybe it's expensice to run the airport," he said. "But it's a great resource. I know business people who fly in here all the time."
John Bubier, the Biddeford city manager, said that the airport annual takes in about $56,000. Records from his office show that the airport has cost more than that to run in the past two years. The airport costs have been $47,000; $72,000; and $60,000 respectively for the years 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Bubier says that the city is not taking a position on the issue of whether or not the airport should be closed. Instead, they are leaving it up to the citizens to decide.
This decision will be made during the general election on June 4.
Several town members say that they support the move to close the airport becuase it has failed to make enough money to support itself.
"The money is the biggest thing," said Roland Pelletier who has lived next to the airport for the past 25 years. "If it was self-supporting, fine. Let it go on." Pelletier said that people could not support businesses that do not bring in enough money to pay for themselves. He said that the economy was a factor in his opinion that the airport should be shut down.
"These are tough times," he said, "and that's the time we need to be tough."
Paul Archembault also thinks the airport should be shut down. Archembault, who has lived near the airport for the past 24 years, is the chairman of the group "Get Rid Of Our Little Airport," or "GROOLA."
"Once we started looking at the airport, we came to the conclusion that there is no financial benefit at its existing size and capacity," Archambault said. "It continues to be a tax burden."
Phyllis Landry, a private pilot, thinks that the citizens of Biddeford should vote to keep their airport.
"I've been flying out of this airport for 25 years," he said. "I love this airport. If I couldn't fly out of here I'd have to go to Sanford or Portland."
Landry says that the airport is worth the cost that keeps it running.
"Maybe it's expensice to run the airport," he said. "But it's a great resource. I know business people who fly in here all the time."
John Bubier, the Biddeford city manager, said that the airport annual takes in about $56,000. Records from his office show that the airport has cost more than that to run in the past two years. The airport costs have been $47,000; $72,000; and $60,000 respectively for the years 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Bubier says that the city is not taking a position on the issue of whether or not the airport should be closed. Instead, they are leaving it up to the citizens to decide.
Potential lead for story in The Citizen of Laconia
"Despite the lack of approval from the Legislature, officials have begun to shut down the Lakes Region Facility prison in an attempt to save $1.7 million."
"Despite the lack of approval from the Legislature, officials have begun to shut down the Lakes Region Facility prison in an attempt to save $1.7 million."
Friday, April 3, 2009
the Times 3/30-4/2
Monday:
One article that held my attention was the one about Glenn Beck. It started with the headline (calling someone mad, apocalyptic, and tearful catches the reader’s attention) and went all the way through. I thought it was a good article but sort of biased. It seemed to be an article written about a conservative from a liberal’s point of view.
I think a great international story is the one about people in Iraq buying Hummers. This is a neat way of showing how the culture we are familiar with can be seen abroad, even in places like Iraq where we are used to just hearing war stories from.
the story about gun control on Texas campuses caught my attention just because it is something you don’t hear about very often. usually schools are very firm about their no-guns policy so it’s interesting to hear about one that isn’t.
Tuesday:
One article that caught my eye right away was the one about colleges and money. It is a new trend in this economy that I don’t think anyone wants to see. And it raises the question as to how much financial status influences the decisions for admission at UNH.
Another front-page story that I noticed was the one about the auto companies. It was interesting to see what is happening in this story as it develops over a few days/weeks. I think that is one advantage that newspapers have over our stories: it is interesting to follow a story as it goes along. (It is probably easier for daily papers to do that than for weekly…)
A story that I thought was interesting was the one about bullfighting in Korea. I think it caught my attention just because it was random and I never would expect to find a bullfighting story in the New York Times. I guess this is an example of how it is important to find a new story, or at least a new approach to a story, in order to make it interesting to readers.
Wednesday:
A story that I thought very interesting was the one about how boats were being abandoned in South Carolina. This trend just puts a new face on the state of the economy: people are so low on money that they have to just leave boats on the shore because they can’t afford them and no one else can afford to buy them.
A developing story that is interesting is the one about injured workers and how they fare when trying to collect workers’ compensation. This story is interesting because it deals with the economy, the government, and has a strong human-interest appeal: it is discussing the lives of regular citizens.
a few articles on governmental issues were interesting. two stories caught my eye because they were placed on the same page and both used the word “democrat” in the title. I am not sure why this caught my attention, but the repetitive headlines sort of made me wonder where the republicans were on all this and so I had to check out the stories. on that same page, I thought it was interesting about the government apologizing to Hawaii. This is something that you don’t see every day, and it also brought out an interesting conflict as it discussed the apology contrasted with the decision to still take land.
Thursday:
an article that caught my attention immediately was the one on the first page of the Business Day section that talked about anxiety in Hungarian markets. I think this is an article that wouldn’t interest a lot of people, as many do not know much about Hungary, but I studied abroad there last semester and am therefore very interested in what is going on.
Another article that I thought was interesting was the one about the Stevens case. It seems very strange that a court would consider dropping all charges against a man convicted on seven felony counts last year. When the story mentions violations of the prosecution as a reason for dropping the charges, it brings in a sense of irony since Stevens was convicted on ethics violations.
I think it was good that they put in another story about workers’ injuries. This story went on to show people’s reactions to what is going on. I think this is a nice way to continue this story; instead of just focusing on what is happening it is good to see what people think of it.
The story about visas did a good job of explaining what you need to know about the visa process without going into all the unnecessary, and perhaps confusing, details. this story pointed out a difference in what was expected because of the bad economy and what is actually happening. I think this made it a stronger article than what it would have been if it had merely talked about what is happening.
One article that held my attention was the one about Glenn Beck. It started with the headline (calling someone mad, apocalyptic, and tearful catches the reader’s attention) and went all the way through. I thought it was a good article but sort of biased. It seemed to be an article written about a conservative from a liberal’s point of view.
I think a great international story is the one about people in Iraq buying Hummers. This is a neat way of showing how the culture we are familiar with can be seen abroad, even in places like Iraq where we are used to just hearing war stories from.
the story about gun control on Texas campuses caught my attention just because it is something you don’t hear about very often. usually schools are very firm about their no-guns policy so it’s interesting to hear about one that isn’t.
Tuesday:
One article that caught my eye right away was the one about colleges and money. It is a new trend in this economy that I don’t think anyone wants to see. And it raises the question as to how much financial status influences the decisions for admission at UNH.
Another front-page story that I noticed was the one about the auto companies. It was interesting to see what is happening in this story as it develops over a few days/weeks. I think that is one advantage that newspapers have over our stories: it is interesting to follow a story as it goes along. (It is probably easier for daily papers to do that than for weekly…)
A story that I thought was interesting was the one about bullfighting in Korea. I think it caught my attention just because it was random and I never would expect to find a bullfighting story in the New York Times. I guess this is an example of how it is important to find a new story, or at least a new approach to a story, in order to make it interesting to readers.
Wednesday:
A story that I thought very interesting was the one about how boats were being abandoned in South Carolina. This trend just puts a new face on the state of the economy: people are so low on money that they have to just leave boats on the shore because they can’t afford them and no one else can afford to buy them.
A developing story that is interesting is the one about injured workers and how they fare when trying to collect workers’ compensation. This story is interesting because it deals with the economy, the government, and has a strong human-interest appeal: it is discussing the lives of regular citizens.
a few articles on governmental issues were interesting. two stories caught my eye because they were placed on the same page and both used the word “democrat” in the title. I am not sure why this caught my attention, but the repetitive headlines sort of made me wonder where the republicans were on all this and so I had to check out the stories. on that same page, I thought it was interesting about the government apologizing to Hawaii. This is something that you don’t see every day, and it also brought out an interesting conflict as it discussed the apology contrasted with the decision to still take land.
Thursday:
an article that caught my attention immediately was the one on the first page of the Business Day section that talked about anxiety in Hungarian markets. I think this is an article that wouldn’t interest a lot of people, as many do not know much about Hungary, but I studied abroad there last semester and am therefore very interested in what is going on.
Another article that I thought was interesting was the one about the Stevens case. It seems very strange that a court would consider dropping all charges against a man convicted on seven felony counts last year. When the story mentions violations of the prosecution as a reason for dropping the charges, it brings in a sense of irony since Stevens was convicted on ethics violations.
I think it was good that they put in another story about workers’ injuries. This story went on to show people’s reactions to what is going on. I think this is a nice way to continue this story; instead of just focusing on what is happening it is good to see what people think of it.
The story about visas did a good job of explaining what you need to know about the visa process without going into all the unnecessary, and perhaps confusing, details. this story pointed out a difference in what was expected because of the bad economy and what is actually happening. I think this made it a stronger article than what it would have been if it had merely talked about what is happening.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
profile
Everyone needs someone to go through with their questions. Where do you go when you have caught a prize fish, longer than any you’ve ever caught, and you want to make it into a trophy? Where do you go when you are the student working late at the UNH biological sciences library, you smell smoke, and you wonder if you should close down for the night?
The person to go to with questions like these is one of the librarians at the biological sciences library, David Lane.
Lane has been working at the bio sci library for 24 years now, and he explains that the job involves much more than the usual check in and shelve that most people expect of librarians. He works on much more than that.
As part of his work with the bio sci library, Lane is responsible for going to classes to explain to students how to do research, and what research has already been done in their field of study. As an associate professor he works with another professor to teach students how to take their research ideas from vague questions to the actual proposal and research process.
But besides this work with students and research, Lane has several questions and hobbies of his own. Perhaps the most outlandish is his fascination with plants, mostly with the variety of plants that eats animals. Lane explains that he enjoys working with plants other than the carnivorous plants, but that those are his main focus.
This focus can be clearly seen by just a brief visit to his office in the bio sci library in Kendall Hall. Immediately to your left as you walk through the door sits a large glass aquarium. This aquarium, instead of providing a place for fish to swim, houses several varieties of exotic plants. The moss covering the floor of the aquarium is saturated in water, which evaporates to settle on the glass walls. Looking through these droplets you can see the plants climbing over each other, creating a miniature jungle safely contained in pots behind glass.
Looking more closely at the shelves lining the wall adjacent to this aquarium you see further evidence of Lane’s interest in exotic plants and animals. You observe book covers titled “The Atlas of Creation” and “The Secret Life of Spiders.” There are several plastic toy Venus Flycatchers and several other hungry-looking plants settled on the shelf by the window behind the desk.
Lane sits at this desk for most of the days he works in the library, working at one of the six mac computers he owns. This desk is where he works on the library work as well as preparing for events such as the university’s open house at the greenhouse, and answers the varied questions that people stop by to ask him.
Lane says that he likes his work because it allows him to focus on both his library work and his work with his plants.
“I like it because you can sort of combine them that way,” he says.
But Lane has not always planned on combining his love for plant life and a career as a librarian.
“I didn’t know you could actually work at a library,” he said.
Lane started out his undergraduate career here at UNH, where he graduated with a degree in botany. He said that he started out as one of a few marine biologists, but that didn’t work out because he got seasick.
From UNH, Lane began to “collect graduate degrees,” earning degrees in botany and library sciences. After collecting these degrees, Lane ended up back at UNH. He lives in Durham caring for his elderly mother while working at the university.
He says one of the most interesting parts of his job is the questions people ask him as a research librarian.
“You never know what someone will ask you in the next five minutes,” he said.
The person to go to with questions like these is one of the librarians at the biological sciences library, David Lane.
Lane has been working at the bio sci library for 24 years now, and he explains that the job involves much more than the usual check in and shelve that most people expect of librarians. He works on much more than that.
As part of his work with the bio sci library, Lane is responsible for going to classes to explain to students how to do research, and what research has already been done in their field of study. As an associate professor he works with another professor to teach students how to take their research ideas from vague questions to the actual proposal and research process.
But besides this work with students and research, Lane has several questions and hobbies of his own. Perhaps the most outlandish is his fascination with plants, mostly with the variety of plants that eats animals. Lane explains that he enjoys working with plants other than the carnivorous plants, but that those are his main focus.
This focus can be clearly seen by just a brief visit to his office in the bio sci library in Kendall Hall. Immediately to your left as you walk through the door sits a large glass aquarium. This aquarium, instead of providing a place for fish to swim, houses several varieties of exotic plants. The moss covering the floor of the aquarium is saturated in water, which evaporates to settle on the glass walls. Looking through these droplets you can see the plants climbing over each other, creating a miniature jungle safely contained in pots behind glass.
Looking more closely at the shelves lining the wall adjacent to this aquarium you see further evidence of Lane’s interest in exotic plants and animals. You observe book covers titled “The Atlas of Creation” and “The Secret Life of Spiders.” There are several plastic toy Venus Flycatchers and several other hungry-looking plants settled on the shelf by the window behind the desk.
Lane sits at this desk for most of the days he works in the library, working at one of the six mac computers he owns. This desk is where he works on the library work as well as preparing for events such as the university’s open house at the greenhouse, and answers the varied questions that people stop by to ask him.
Lane says that he likes his work because it allows him to focus on both his library work and his work with his plants.
“I like it because you can sort of combine them that way,” he says.
But Lane has not always planned on combining his love for plant life and a career as a librarian.
“I didn’t know you could actually work at a library,” he said.
Lane started out his undergraduate career here at UNH, where he graduated with a degree in botany. He said that he started out as one of a few marine biologists, but that didn’t work out because he got seasick.
From UNH, Lane began to “collect graduate degrees,” earning degrees in botany and library sciences. After collecting these degrees, Lane ended up back at UNH. He lives in Durham caring for his elderly mother while working at the university.
He says one of the most interesting parts of his job is the questions people ask him as a research librarian.
“You never know what someone will ask you in the next five minutes,” he said.
Right now it is hard to say specifically what my contributions to the future of journalism will be. I have not yet decided whether or not I want to pursue a career in journalism, but it is still an option that I am considering.
If I do decide to become a journalist, it will be my job to contribute to journalism. I will do this through stories that I write and through always chasing after the stories that only journalists will tell. There are many things that everyday citizens don't have the time, energy, resources, or motivation to investigate, and so it is the journalists' job to inform them of such things.
If I do not become a journalist, I will still have my curiosity for what truly goes on in the world and to understand what goes on in those stories that most people do not investigate. it will be important to support journalism through reading what they write, or supporting their rights whenever they come into question and cooperating with them if I am ever in the position to do so. while many people seem to have a negative view or a distrust of journalists, I think it is important for some of the public--who are not journalists themselves--to understand what sorts of things journalists have to deal with and to look at the criticism of journalism with some skepticism.
If I do decide to become a journalist, it will be my job to contribute to journalism. I will do this through stories that I write and through always chasing after the stories that only journalists will tell. There are many things that everyday citizens don't have the time, energy, resources, or motivation to investigate, and so it is the journalists' job to inform them of such things.
If I do not become a journalist, I will still have my curiosity for what truly goes on in the world and to understand what goes on in those stories that most people do not investigate. it will be important to support journalism through reading what they write, or supporting their rights whenever they come into question and cooperating with them if I am ever in the position to do so. while many people seem to have a negative view or a distrust of journalists, I think it is important for some of the public--who are not journalists themselves--to understand what sorts of things journalists have to deal with and to look at the criticism of journalism with some skepticism.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The times 3/23-2/26
Monday
an article that i thought had a pretty good lead was the one about violence in Tuscon. This lead started out by setting the scene. it made it more dramatic by mentioning the blood and the bullet hole in the home, which was a very good start to the story.
Also, there were a couple articles that I noticed doing a good job of trying to keep the reader reading past the jump to the later page. These articles were the story about international trade and then the one about economics and roads or urban sprawl.
The article about trade was in the middle of discussing a seeming contradiction between countries agreeing to promote trade and actually implementing barriers to trade. since it was an interesting discussion, I wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen.
The article about expanding urban sprawl with stimulus money made me go on to the next page because it mentioned New Hampshire right before the jump. Since i live in NH, I naturally wanted to know what was going on.
This made me think how the sentence or two before the jump to a different page is almost like a second lead: in the first lead you need to get the reader interested in the story as a whole, and right before the jump you need to re-catch their interest so that they will actually go on reading.
Tuesday
an article in today's paper that i think qualifies as a local issue story is the one about the strip-search of a 13-year-old girl at her school. since there seem to be some people on the side of the girl and some on the side of the school, it seems to be a very interesting issue.
another interesting story was the one that discussed how candy sales seem to be rising since the start of the economic crisis. This is interesting because it gives a completely new angle to the economics issue.
it was interesting to see that there were two different stories about suspected terrorists and their trials. this is something that you don't see too often, so i wonder if they meant to put them both in the paper the same day as some sort of larger strategy, or if it just happened to work out that way.
then there was a development in the AIG case: someone is trying to convince people who work there to pay back their bonuses. I think with stories as big as this one, it is important to follow up with developments as they happen.
Wednesday
and interesting front-page story was the one about how a school is trying to implement a new grading system. it discussed a NY school that has changed to giving out number grades instead of the normal letter grades. This story then went on to make it a national issue as it discussed the fact that this school is not the only one implementing this new grading system, and by talking about what educators in general think of this strategy.
in yet another article with an economic twist, today's paper discussed prison costs. this was something that i had never really thought about as an important cost, but it was an interesting thing to look at through the economics lens.
another article that caught my eye was the one about the debate over the first amendment and political campaigns. this seems to be an issue that is focused on politics but could lead down a slippery slope of banning things in the future.
Thursday
one of the stories in today's paper started out as a local story and then broadened out to a national issue. this was the story about tent cities and homelessness. it began talking about one man, and one city, and then broadened out to discuss similar situations across the nation.
the budget story, although not the most interesting topic for me, had a couple of writing things that I thought were well done. The first was in the lead. While this was not a dramatic story, and therefore could not have a tremendously dramatic lead, this story did a good job of using creative words like "loped" to set the mood. This story also made me want to keep reading past the jump to a further page because of the way the writer set up the story right before the jump. the sentence before you would have to move on to a later page was in the middle of explaining what the writer called a "paradox," and then ended in the middle of explaining what paradox s/he was talking about.
The story about Mrs. Clinton going to Mexico is one that probably would not have caught my eye if Mrs. Clinton was not involved. This is an example about how stories are much more newsworthy if they involve famous people.
And finally, I liked the story about the online age quiz. I'm not sure exactly what I liked about it, but it almost made me want to go online and try out that quiz for myself.
an article that i thought had a pretty good lead was the one about violence in Tuscon. This lead started out by setting the scene. it made it more dramatic by mentioning the blood and the bullet hole in the home, which was a very good start to the story.
Also, there were a couple articles that I noticed doing a good job of trying to keep the reader reading past the jump to the later page. These articles were the story about international trade and then the one about economics and roads or urban sprawl.
The article about trade was in the middle of discussing a seeming contradiction between countries agreeing to promote trade and actually implementing barriers to trade. since it was an interesting discussion, I wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen.
The article about expanding urban sprawl with stimulus money made me go on to the next page because it mentioned New Hampshire right before the jump. Since i live in NH, I naturally wanted to know what was going on.
This made me think how the sentence or two before the jump to a different page is almost like a second lead: in the first lead you need to get the reader interested in the story as a whole, and right before the jump you need to re-catch their interest so that they will actually go on reading.
Tuesday
an article in today's paper that i think qualifies as a local issue story is the one about the strip-search of a 13-year-old girl at her school. since there seem to be some people on the side of the girl and some on the side of the school, it seems to be a very interesting issue.
another interesting story was the one that discussed how candy sales seem to be rising since the start of the economic crisis. This is interesting because it gives a completely new angle to the economics issue.
it was interesting to see that there were two different stories about suspected terrorists and their trials. this is something that you don't see too often, so i wonder if they meant to put them both in the paper the same day as some sort of larger strategy, or if it just happened to work out that way.
then there was a development in the AIG case: someone is trying to convince people who work there to pay back their bonuses. I think with stories as big as this one, it is important to follow up with developments as they happen.
Wednesday
and interesting front-page story was the one about how a school is trying to implement a new grading system. it discussed a NY school that has changed to giving out number grades instead of the normal letter grades. This story then went on to make it a national issue as it discussed the fact that this school is not the only one implementing this new grading system, and by talking about what educators in general think of this strategy.
in yet another article with an economic twist, today's paper discussed prison costs. this was something that i had never really thought about as an important cost, but it was an interesting thing to look at through the economics lens.
another article that caught my eye was the one about the debate over the first amendment and political campaigns. this seems to be an issue that is focused on politics but could lead down a slippery slope of banning things in the future.
Thursday
one of the stories in today's paper started out as a local story and then broadened out to a national issue. this was the story about tent cities and homelessness. it began talking about one man, and one city, and then broadened out to discuss similar situations across the nation.
the budget story, although not the most interesting topic for me, had a couple of writing things that I thought were well done. The first was in the lead. While this was not a dramatic story, and therefore could not have a tremendously dramatic lead, this story did a good job of using creative words like "loped" to set the mood. This story also made me want to keep reading past the jump to a further page because of the way the writer set up the story right before the jump. the sentence before you would have to move on to a later page was in the middle of explaining what the writer called a "paradox," and then ended in the middle of explaining what paradox s/he was talking about.
The story about Mrs. Clinton going to Mexico is one that probably would not have caught my eye if Mrs. Clinton was not involved. This is an example about how stories are much more newsworthy if they involve famous people.
And finally, I liked the story about the online age quiz. I'm not sure exactly what I liked about it, but it almost made me want to go online and try out that quiz for myself.
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Times 3/9-3/13
Monday:
One article that caught my eye was the one about health care in Romania. This story took two issues that seem to be on everyone’s minds—healthcare and money—and combined them in one story. I think this is a great idea for any story: if one issue makes a story interesting, think of how much more interesting it could be with two issues!
A story that is an example of a national story written with a local angle is the one about college tuition in Rhode Island. This story gives a new/different outlook on the immigration issue because it focuses on students at a local school.
Another article that I thought was interesting was the one about corruption in China. It was interesting to see the human interest side of the story while still gaining a legal and cultural perspective.
Tuesday:
One article that caught my attention and then lost it was the one about the voting law. This article caught my attention just because I usually am interested in justice and court related stories.
However, the story was written in a confusing way, confusing enough to make me not want to finish reading it. Since the authors didn’t do a good job of explaining the issue, I got frustrated enough to stop reading.
I thought that the story on the killings in Africa was written very well. This story looked at something you read about occasionally but found a completely new angle on it. It was very unusual to read that the killings could actually make a country more stable than it was before. I appreciated this story because it was able to take something familiar and make it new.
Wednesday:
A story today that did a good job of taking a big issue and humanizing it was the story about people who need to live in motels because of the hard economic times. I think that everyone is so tired of hearing about bad economics that people who want to write about that need to find some new way to present it. This article did just that. It told you the story of a family who was kicked out of their home because of the economic time, and then you wanted to read more about that because you wanted to find out more about the family.
However, this wasn’t the only story that related economics to something else, so maybe it’s just that everything is related to economics these days.
Even the article about stem cell research combined the story with money issues. since most stories have a strong financial aspect to them, many authors seem to be taking that rout because they know that people are thinking about it and therefore will be interested in their stories.
Thursday:
Today there was a story about whether or not print newspapers will cease to exist. It is always interesting to read newspaper stories about papers, so this story caught my eye.
Today’s paper also continued this week’s trend of talking about China. This story talked about yet another way that the Chinese are resisting their government, which is very interesting to see. I don’t know why the paper decided to run a bunch of stories on China this week, but I think it is an effective tactic: if you get people to start thinking about something, and then run a bunch of different stories that are somehow related to that topic, you will probably get more people to read your stories.
Today there was yet another story that used economics as a starting point. This story was discussing home makeovers and organizing, and yet it added in the issue of finances. This goes along with what a lot of stories were doing earlier this week, where they take a couple issues and find a way to discuss both in order to make your story more interesting. I think that most of these stories did a really good job of that.
One article that caught my eye was the one about health care in Romania. This story took two issues that seem to be on everyone’s minds—healthcare and money—and combined them in one story. I think this is a great idea for any story: if one issue makes a story interesting, think of how much more interesting it could be with two issues!
A story that is an example of a national story written with a local angle is the one about college tuition in Rhode Island. This story gives a new/different outlook on the immigration issue because it focuses on students at a local school.
Another article that I thought was interesting was the one about corruption in China. It was interesting to see the human interest side of the story while still gaining a legal and cultural perspective.
Tuesday:
One article that caught my attention and then lost it was the one about the voting law. This article caught my attention just because I usually am interested in justice and court related stories.
However, the story was written in a confusing way, confusing enough to make me not want to finish reading it. Since the authors didn’t do a good job of explaining the issue, I got frustrated enough to stop reading.
I thought that the story on the killings in Africa was written very well. This story looked at something you read about occasionally but found a completely new angle on it. It was very unusual to read that the killings could actually make a country more stable than it was before. I appreciated this story because it was able to take something familiar and make it new.
Wednesday:
A story today that did a good job of taking a big issue and humanizing it was the story about people who need to live in motels because of the hard economic times. I think that everyone is so tired of hearing about bad economics that people who want to write about that need to find some new way to present it. This article did just that. It told you the story of a family who was kicked out of their home because of the economic time, and then you wanted to read more about that because you wanted to find out more about the family.
However, this wasn’t the only story that related economics to something else, so maybe it’s just that everything is related to economics these days.
Even the article about stem cell research combined the story with money issues. since most stories have a strong financial aspect to them, many authors seem to be taking that rout because they know that people are thinking about it and therefore will be interested in their stories.
Thursday:
Today there was a story about whether or not print newspapers will cease to exist. It is always interesting to read newspaper stories about papers, so this story caught my eye.
Today’s paper also continued this week’s trend of talking about China. This story talked about yet another way that the Chinese are resisting their government, which is very interesting to see. I don’t know why the paper decided to run a bunch of stories on China this week, but I think it is an effective tactic: if you get people to start thinking about something, and then run a bunch of different stories that are somehow related to that topic, you will probably get more people to read your stories.
Today there was yet another story that used economics as a starting point. This story was discussing home makeovers and organizing, and yet it added in the issue of finances. This goes along with what a lot of stories were doing earlier this week, where they take a couple issues and find a way to discuss both in order to make your story more interesting. I think that most of these stories did a really good job of that.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
soft lead
Soon after the Durham zoo opened this morning, visitors were forcibly removed from the zoo while chaos erupted inside.
Police officers and zoo workers took out their high-powered rifles or their pistols in a search for a dangerous spotted leopard said to be missing from her cage. The search covered the whole zoo, from behind buildings, to inside trash cans and the cotton candy concession.
The police department called in the New Hampshire State Police, the state Wildlife Department, and the National Guard to help with the search.
This panic took place after zookeepers couldn’t find Fluffy, the zoo’s spotted leopard, this morning when the park opened. Since Fluffy could be dangerous, zoo workers and the police department worked hard to find her as soon as possible.
“We are searching the grounds of the zoo, but so far we haven’t a clue,” said Gerry Durrell, the director of the zoo. “She may have left the area and she could be walking around Durham at this point.
Later this afternoon, a zoo worker found that Fluffy had not left her cage at all, but was sleeping soundly under a pile of hay.
Police officers and zoo workers took out their high-powered rifles or their pistols in a search for a dangerous spotted leopard said to be missing from her cage. The search covered the whole zoo, from behind buildings, to inside trash cans and the cotton candy concession.
The police department called in the New Hampshire State Police, the state Wildlife Department, and the National Guard to help with the search.
This panic took place after zookeepers couldn’t find Fluffy, the zoo’s spotted leopard, this morning when the park opened. Since Fluffy could be dangerous, zoo workers and the police department worked hard to find her as soon as possible.
“We are searching the grounds of the zoo, but so far we haven’t a clue,” said Gerry Durrell, the director of the zoo. “She may have left the area and she could be walking around Durham at this point.
Later this afternoon, a zoo worker found that Fluffy had not left her cage at all, but was sleeping soundly under a pile of hay.
first zoo story
Mayhem ensued at the Durham Zoo this morning when zoo workers discovered that Fluffy, the spotted leopard, was missing from her cage.
Officials immediately closed the zoo, and removed all the visitors. A few minutes after zookeepers realized Fluffy was missing, police officers arrived at the zoo to help with the search.
Kitty Smith, the zoo’s chief biologist, said that Fluffy is “extremely dangerous,” and that whoever finds her should be very careful.
Police Chief William Blair said that the officers would work with the zookeepers to find Fluffy as quickly as possible to prevent any harm to come either to her or to people in the nearby residential neighborhood.
“We will first search every inch of this zoo,” Blair said. “We are concerned because this is a residential neighborhood with an elementary school and we don’t want Fluffy wandering around after the kids get out of school.”
Gerry Durrell, the director of the zoo said that Fluffy’s cage looked normal this morning when workers began feeding the animals.
“The door was shut and did not appear to have been tampered with, and the fencing was unbroken,” he said.
The first sign that something was wrong came at about 7:30 when James Petronkis, a visitor to the zoo, went to see Fluffy in her cage.
“Everything seemed normal, until I got to the cage,” Petronkis said. “Then I knew something was wrong right away.
Petronkis said that he told a guard Fluffy was missing, but none of the zoo workers did anything for about half an hour.
As soon as zoo workers realized Fluffy was missing, they cleared the zoo of visitors and started a search with the help of police officers. Some officers and zoo workers brought out their high-powered rifles, while others simply carried pistols.
The search covered all corners of the zoo. Searchers looked behind buildings, in trees, in trash cans.
Blair said that the National Guard offered five helicopters with infrared sensors to help with the search for Fluffy. The police department asked both the New Hampshire State Police and the New Hampshire State Wildlife Department to send people to help.
Both zoo officials and police officers explained that the search was so urgent because Fluffy could become dangerous, even deadly.
“We have got to find her before 3 pm,” said Blair. “If we don’t, it could be a very messy night.”
Officials immediately closed the zoo, and removed all the visitors. A few minutes after zookeepers realized Fluffy was missing, police officers arrived at the zoo to help with the search.
Kitty Smith, the zoo’s chief biologist, said that Fluffy is “extremely dangerous,” and that whoever finds her should be very careful.
Police Chief William Blair said that the officers would work with the zookeepers to find Fluffy as quickly as possible to prevent any harm to come either to her or to people in the nearby residential neighborhood.
“We will first search every inch of this zoo,” Blair said. “We are concerned because this is a residential neighborhood with an elementary school and we don’t want Fluffy wandering around after the kids get out of school.”
Gerry Durrell, the director of the zoo said that Fluffy’s cage looked normal this morning when workers began feeding the animals.
“The door was shut and did not appear to have been tampered with, and the fencing was unbroken,” he said.
The first sign that something was wrong came at about 7:30 when James Petronkis, a visitor to the zoo, went to see Fluffy in her cage.
“Everything seemed normal, until I got to the cage,” Petronkis said. “Then I knew something was wrong right away.
Petronkis said that he told a guard Fluffy was missing, but none of the zoo workers did anything for about half an hour.
As soon as zoo workers realized Fluffy was missing, they cleared the zoo of visitors and started a search with the help of police officers. Some officers and zoo workers brought out their high-powered rifles, while others simply carried pistols.
The search covered all corners of the zoo. Searchers looked behind buildings, in trees, in trash cans.
Blair said that the National Guard offered five helicopters with infrared sensors to help with the search for Fluffy. The police department asked both the New Hampshire State Police and the New Hampshire State Wildlife Department to send people to help.
Both zoo officials and police officers explained that the search was so urgent because Fluffy could become dangerous, even deadly.
“We have got to find her before 3 pm,” said Blair. “If we don’t, it could be a very messy night.”
Friday, March 6, 2009
the times 3/2-3/5
Monday:
Following what appears to be the trend lately, today’s paper focused mainly on the economy. There were many different angles discussed, however.
One thing that was interesting was the discussion on Europe’s economy. There was an article discussing European economic troubles in general, and one discussing the problems in Ukraine. Both of these caught my eye for a couple reasons. First, it was interesting to see how the economic crisis was affecting people outside the United States. Second, both of these articles mentioned Eastern and Central Europe, which is where I spent last semester while I studied abroad in Hungary.
Another angle that they took on the economic crisis was discussing how it changed the number and type of students applying to public colleges and universities. It discussed how many people who are academically qualified to attend higher level private colleges are actually going to public schools. This is because it costs so much less to go to school at a public university. This story is an example of how you could take a national issue (the economic crisis) and relate it to something happening locally (like applications at nearby colleges.)
Tuesday:
An article that I found very interesting today was the one about the women’s homes in Afghanistan. As part of my Justice Studies major, I’ve thought a bunch about the issues around women’s homes here in the US and it was interesting to get the international perspective. Also, we hear so much about how it is awful for women in that part of the world and it is good to see that people are finally starting to do something about it.
Another story that was interesting was the one about how some doctors in Maine are now learning basic dental skills because of the state’s lack of dentists. It’s the side of health care that we don’t hear about as much, and I have never heard of doctors being dentists as well. It was a good human interest story made better because I am interested in what goes on in Maine because I work there during the summer and know a lot of people who live there.
A local New York story that caught my eye was the one about some kids having school on a snow day. That was a cool story as it showed kids that actually liked having school while others were off, which is something you don’t see very often.
Wednesday:
Today’s paper had another interesting Google story. It talked about Google’s idea to try and scan every book in the world. It focused on the ironic mode of advertizing for this project: putting ads in newspapers. I think that was a good angle to take because it gave the article humor and also allowed it to explain everything that Google was doing while still relating it back to that point.
An article dealing with a major issue going on now was the one about organic food. It discussed both sides of the issue: how many people believe that organic food is not only more “natural,” but it is also healthier; and the reality that many times it is not. This was made timely by discussing the recent salmonella poisonings and how the peanuts responsible were from organically certified plants.
An article that I think would catch a lot of people’s attention is the one about debt collecting. This story had a good headline that caught my attention, and then discussed an issue that everyone is thinking about: money. This story put an interesting spin on things, though, as I never really thought about people looking to collect debts owed by dead people. This story had a good lead and kept it interesting, so it wasn’t just another story about hard economic times.
Thursday:
This paper had a couple follow-up stories from earlier in the week. It had a story talking about how the Sudanese leader now had a warrant issues against him. This story was showing what was going on after an article earlier in the week talked about how arresting this leader could end some times of relative peace.
There was a story about the police in Pakistan. This story showed their response to a shooting on Tuesday. It was interesting to get a second story on this event, as the first just sort of explained the event of the shooting, and the second one explained people’s reactions and plans on what to do next.
A major issue story was the one about the ban on same-sex marriage in California going to court. This is an issue that has major conflict all over the country, which makes it very newsworthy. The court date gives it its timeliness, but the article itself seems to fall short of these issues. It focuses a lot on the legal aspects of things, and just is not written in a very interesting way. While there are some good quotes, there are too many legal-sounding phrases that don’t need to be there and make it harder to read.
Another court story that was much more interesting to read was the one about legal actions against companies that make unsafe drugs. This article was made interesting by talking about how it would affect normal people as well as the drug companies. It gave an example of someone who lost their arm because of faulty drugs, which is an extreme example sure to get people’s attention.
Following what appears to be the trend lately, today’s paper focused mainly on the economy. There were many different angles discussed, however.
One thing that was interesting was the discussion on Europe’s economy. There was an article discussing European economic troubles in general, and one discussing the problems in Ukraine. Both of these caught my eye for a couple reasons. First, it was interesting to see how the economic crisis was affecting people outside the United States. Second, both of these articles mentioned Eastern and Central Europe, which is where I spent last semester while I studied abroad in Hungary.
Another angle that they took on the economic crisis was discussing how it changed the number and type of students applying to public colleges and universities. It discussed how many people who are academically qualified to attend higher level private colleges are actually going to public schools. This is because it costs so much less to go to school at a public university. This story is an example of how you could take a national issue (the economic crisis) and relate it to something happening locally (like applications at nearby colleges.)
Tuesday:
An article that I found very interesting today was the one about the women’s homes in Afghanistan. As part of my Justice Studies major, I’ve thought a bunch about the issues around women’s homes here in the US and it was interesting to get the international perspective. Also, we hear so much about how it is awful for women in that part of the world and it is good to see that people are finally starting to do something about it.
Another story that was interesting was the one about how some doctors in Maine are now learning basic dental skills because of the state’s lack of dentists. It’s the side of health care that we don’t hear about as much, and I have never heard of doctors being dentists as well. It was a good human interest story made better because I am interested in what goes on in Maine because I work there during the summer and know a lot of people who live there.
A local New York story that caught my eye was the one about some kids having school on a snow day. That was a cool story as it showed kids that actually liked having school while others were off, which is something you don’t see very often.
Wednesday:
Today’s paper had another interesting Google story. It talked about Google’s idea to try and scan every book in the world. It focused on the ironic mode of advertizing for this project: putting ads in newspapers. I think that was a good angle to take because it gave the article humor and also allowed it to explain everything that Google was doing while still relating it back to that point.
An article dealing with a major issue going on now was the one about organic food. It discussed both sides of the issue: how many people believe that organic food is not only more “natural,” but it is also healthier; and the reality that many times it is not. This was made timely by discussing the recent salmonella poisonings and how the peanuts responsible were from organically certified plants.
An article that I think would catch a lot of people’s attention is the one about debt collecting. This story had a good headline that caught my attention, and then discussed an issue that everyone is thinking about: money. This story put an interesting spin on things, though, as I never really thought about people looking to collect debts owed by dead people. This story had a good lead and kept it interesting, so it wasn’t just another story about hard economic times.
Thursday:
This paper had a couple follow-up stories from earlier in the week. It had a story talking about how the Sudanese leader now had a warrant issues against him. This story was showing what was going on after an article earlier in the week talked about how arresting this leader could end some times of relative peace.
There was a story about the police in Pakistan. This story showed their response to a shooting on Tuesday. It was interesting to get a second story on this event, as the first just sort of explained the event of the shooting, and the second one explained people’s reactions and plans on what to do next.
A major issue story was the one about the ban on same-sex marriage in California going to court. This is an issue that has major conflict all over the country, which makes it very newsworthy. The court date gives it its timeliness, but the article itself seems to fall short of these issues. It focuses a lot on the legal aspects of things, and just is not written in a very interesting way. While there are some good quotes, there are too many legal-sounding phrases that don’t need to be there and make it harder to read.
Another court story that was much more interesting to read was the one about legal actions against companies that make unsafe drugs. This article was made interesting by talking about how it would affect normal people as well as the drug companies. It gave an example of someone who lost their arm because of faulty drugs, which is an extreme example sure to get people’s attention.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Students in Portsmouth who have disciplinary problems may have to spend an extra day in school.
Parents and students are opposed to a suggested change in school rules that would cause students with disciplinary issues to attend classes on Saturday mornings.
The Portsmouth School Board discussed a motion Monday night to require students with discipline problems to serve their detentions on Saturday mornings. This would replace the existing practice of in-house suspensions, which take place during the school week.
Tim Steele, a member of the School Board, presented the motion during the meeting. He explained that the change to Saturday morning detentions would hopefully lead to fewer in-house suspensions. This would allow students to serve their detentions without missing any class time.
Steele said that smoking is one of the major disciplinary issues dealt with at the high school.
“I just want to keep students from smoking in the high school bathrooms,” Steele said. “There are other problems, but smoking is by far the biggest one.”
Peggy Bacon, whose son attends Portsmouth High School, was opposed to the idea.
“I work six days a week—including Saturday morning,” Bacon said. “It’s bad enough to get my son off to school Monday through Friday. Why should I have to worry about Saturday as well?”
Bacon was also opposed to the cost of this program. Steele said that this new policy would cost about $3,000 a year to pay for staff.
“I just don’t think it’s going to make any difference,” Bacon said. “And the parents are going to pay for it—in higher taxes as well as in ruined Saturday s.”
Bob Farley, who lives in Portsmouth, said that he agreed with the motion.
“Parents can whine all they want about this,” Farley said, “but maybe it’s time parents in America were made to take a little responsibility for their kids.”
Farley said that kids aren’t learning any respect for rules.
“Maybe if they have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up,” he said.
Senior Lisa Gallagher was one of five Portsmouth High students to attend the meeting. She said that although she had never served a detention, she is opposed to this proposed rule change.
“I think it’s just being done to make life easier for the faculty,” she said, “so they don’t have to deal with detentions during the week.”
The discussion of the issue ended with a 5-3 vote to table the issue until the next School Board meeting. At this meeting, which will take place on March 7, Steele will present figures on in-house detentions from this school year.
The Portsmouth School Board discussed a motion Monday night to require students with discipline problems to serve their detentions on Saturday mornings. This would replace the existing practice of in-house suspensions, which take place during the school week.
Tim Steele, a member of the School Board, presented the motion during the meeting. He explained that the change to Saturday morning detentions would hopefully lead to fewer in-house suspensions. This would allow students to serve their detentions without missing any class time.
Steele said that smoking is one of the major disciplinary issues dealt with at the high school.
“I just want to keep students from smoking in the high school bathrooms,” Steele said. “There are other problems, but smoking is by far the biggest one.”
Peggy Bacon, whose son attends Portsmouth High School, was opposed to the idea.
“I work six days a week—including Saturday morning,” Bacon said. “It’s bad enough to get my son off to school Monday through Friday. Why should I have to worry about Saturday as well?”
Bacon was also opposed to the cost of this program. Steele said that this new policy would cost about $3,000 a year to pay for staff.
“I just don’t think it’s going to make any difference,” Bacon said. “And the parents are going to pay for it—in higher taxes as well as in ruined Saturday s.”
Bob Farley, who lives in Portsmouth, said that he agreed with the motion.
“Parents can whine all they want about this,” Farley said, “but maybe it’s time parents in America were made to take a little responsibility for their kids.”
Farley said that kids aren’t learning any respect for rules.
“Maybe if they have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up,” he said.
Senior Lisa Gallagher was one of five Portsmouth High students to attend the meeting. She said that although she had never served a detention, she is opposed to this proposed rule change.
“I think it’s just being done to make life easier for the faculty,” she said, “so they don’t have to deal with detentions during the week.”
The discussion of the issue ended with a 5-3 vote to table the issue until the next School Board meeting. At this meeting, which will take place on March 7, Steele will present figures on in-house detentions from this school year.
Friday, February 27, 2009
The Times 2/23-2/26
Monday
This paper started out with a few stories about economic issues in the US. This makes sense, because that is something most people are worried about. So having stories about the stimulus plan and about the economic situation with the nation’s banks will be interesting to most people reading the paper.
The headlines on the front page are also pretty good today. They use a lot of words to draw people in: dire, embroil, struggle, and commandos.
An article that caught my eye was the one about how researchers are developing new types of medicine to fight off certain types of flu. This reminded me of the article we read a few weeks ago about young adults trying to self-medicate because of lack of insurance. These drugs, however, are not ready to use and therefore don’t impact anyone yet. Because of that, I don’t think I would have been interested in the article if it hadn’t made me think of the one I had read a while ago.
Tuesday
Today, there seemed to be a lot of articles about either finances or art. It was interesting to read about how the Iraqi museum was reopening. Another article about the arts caught my eye because of the title: “A Russian City’s Wounds are Dressed in Opera Garb.” It was interesting to compare these two situations even though they are in different countries. They both deal with places suffering because of terrorists or war. But then both continue (or reopen) artistic traditions.
An article on the finance side of things that interested me was the one about sending aid to Gaza. It seemed like a lot of money to be sending over to Gaza while we’re in the middle of an economic crisis. However, the article did a good job of putting that in context of the help we have pledged to send there before, and who we’re going to give it to.
Wednesday
This paper focused a lot on the story that most people in America would want to read: Obama’s first address to Congress. I found it interesting how they put a picture and a small column on the front page and then saved the rest for inside. I think this was effective, as the picture caught your eye and then after reading what was on the front page you wanted to read more.
The article about some states trying to get rid of the death penalty caught my eye, both because that’s interesting and because it mentioned that New Hampshire was one of those states. This shows that you can’t always tell why someone would be interested in your story because you don’t know what experiences or background they will have: this story interested me because it was about where I live.
Thursday
Today’s paper had several interesting stories on the front page. The article about oil in Iraq was interesting as it took two things that are in the paper very often, and combined them. Readers are used to hearing about the Iraq war and rebuilding Iraq, but it is interesting to see it through the new angle of how lower oil prices would affect that.
Another article caught my eye because of the picture. The story about Mexican drug dealers using American guns was an interesting story, and including a picture of a gun helped catch my interest so I would read it. Another story with a good use of a picture was the one about the British politician and his son. This one is interesting because in involves a child, which seems to always catch my attention. While this story was about the death of a child, it also gave insight into British life and politics, which I do not know much about.
One story on the inside of the paper that I really enjoyed reading was the one about Google. It was interesting because Google is something I (and most other readers) am very familiar with. Also, I enjoyed the writing style a lot. It seemed upbeat and fun instead of just a news article. Part of this, I think, is due to using the second person in the lead (“unless you’re just off the shuttle…”) and some of the wording used in the article. Some examples of good phrases would be “kick the tires,” “half-baked Google creations,” and words like “cram” and “jungle.” This just helps it to flow well and use random words to make it more interesting while still conveying the point.
This paper started out with a few stories about economic issues in the US. This makes sense, because that is something most people are worried about. So having stories about the stimulus plan and about the economic situation with the nation’s banks will be interesting to most people reading the paper.
The headlines on the front page are also pretty good today. They use a lot of words to draw people in: dire, embroil, struggle, and commandos.
An article that caught my eye was the one about how researchers are developing new types of medicine to fight off certain types of flu. This reminded me of the article we read a few weeks ago about young adults trying to self-medicate because of lack of insurance. These drugs, however, are not ready to use and therefore don’t impact anyone yet. Because of that, I don’t think I would have been interested in the article if it hadn’t made me think of the one I had read a while ago.
Tuesday
Today, there seemed to be a lot of articles about either finances or art. It was interesting to read about how the Iraqi museum was reopening. Another article about the arts caught my eye because of the title: “A Russian City’s Wounds are Dressed in Opera Garb.” It was interesting to compare these two situations even though they are in different countries. They both deal with places suffering because of terrorists or war. But then both continue (or reopen) artistic traditions.
An article on the finance side of things that interested me was the one about sending aid to Gaza. It seemed like a lot of money to be sending over to Gaza while we’re in the middle of an economic crisis. However, the article did a good job of putting that in context of the help we have pledged to send there before, and who we’re going to give it to.
Wednesday
This paper focused a lot on the story that most people in America would want to read: Obama’s first address to Congress. I found it interesting how they put a picture and a small column on the front page and then saved the rest for inside. I think this was effective, as the picture caught your eye and then after reading what was on the front page you wanted to read more.
The article about some states trying to get rid of the death penalty caught my eye, both because that’s interesting and because it mentioned that New Hampshire was one of those states. This shows that you can’t always tell why someone would be interested in your story because you don’t know what experiences or background they will have: this story interested me because it was about where I live.
Thursday
Today’s paper had several interesting stories on the front page. The article about oil in Iraq was interesting as it took two things that are in the paper very often, and combined them. Readers are used to hearing about the Iraq war and rebuilding Iraq, but it is interesting to see it through the new angle of how lower oil prices would affect that.
Another article caught my eye because of the picture. The story about Mexican drug dealers using American guns was an interesting story, and including a picture of a gun helped catch my interest so I would read it. Another story with a good use of a picture was the one about the British politician and his son. This one is interesting because in involves a child, which seems to always catch my attention. While this story was about the death of a child, it also gave insight into British life and politics, which I do not know much about.
One story on the inside of the paper that I really enjoyed reading was the one about Google. It was interesting because Google is something I (and most other readers) am very familiar with. Also, I enjoyed the writing style a lot. It seemed upbeat and fun instead of just a news article. Part of this, I think, is due to using the second person in the lead (“unless you’re just off the shuttle…”) and some of the wording used in the article. Some examples of good phrases would be “kick the tires,” “half-baked Google creations,” and words like “cram” and “jungle.” This just helps it to flow well and use random words to make it more interesting while still conveying the point.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
chase story
A detective shoots an armed suspect after a high speed chase through the streets of New York City Saturday afternoon.
This shooting took place on the stairway to the 15th Street railway station after suspected assassin Pierre Jeantot fled the stopped train. The shooting took place after Jeantot boarded the train to escape from police detective Jimmy Doyle.
Doyle began the chase after Jeantot shot and killed a bystander on the street. After Jeantot entered the train, Doyle followed in a passerby’s car.
Margret Johnson, who was taking a walk with her baby says she nearly got hit by Doyle’s speeding vehicle.
“I heard a commotion,” Johnson said, “And I saw a big burgundy car coming in my direction.”
Johnson said that Doyle swerved out of the way before hitting her or her baby carriage. She said that Doyle’s actions had been dangerous.
“He put a lot of innocent lives in danger,” she said, “He almost hit me and my baby.”
Before being shot by Doyle, Jeantot killed three people on the passenger train. Betty Lou, of New York City, said that she saw the first of these shootings take place. Train conductor Horatio Hornblower was the first of Jeantot’s victims on the train.
“The first conductor told the man with the gun ‘you’re not going to get away with this,’” she said, “Then he shot him and I ran away.”
Ronald Evans, an officer of the New York Police Department was also shot by Jeantot while on the train. He was shot after confronting Jeantot following the shooting of Hornblower.
The chase came to a stop following the death of Peter Howe, who was the trainman in charge of the controls. Howe died of a heart attack right before the train reached the station at 35th Street. His death caused the train to hit the end of another train stopped at the station.
After the train stopped, Jeantot left the train and was shot after a confrontation with Doyle.
Police Chief Morgan Freeman said that the police department supports Doyle in his decision to shoot Jeantot.
“We regret the loss of innocent life,” he said, “In the end, we believe detective Doyle did the right thing.
He said that Doyle’s actions prevented a dangerous suspect from getting away.
“The suspect would have been capable of eluding him,” Freeman said, “Though we would have certainly liked to bring him in alive, it’s better than not brining him in at all…We commend [Doyle’s] bravery in tracking down a dangerous criminal.”
This shooting took place on the stairway to the 15th Street railway station after suspected assassin Pierre Jeantot fled the stopped train. The shooting took place after Jeantot boarded the train to escape from police detective Jimmy Doyle.
Doyle began the chase after Jeantot shot and killed a bystander on the street. After Jeantot entered the train, Doyle followed in a passerby’s car.
Margret Johnson, who was taking a walk with her baby says she nearly got hit by Doyle’s speeding vehicle.
“I heard a commotion,” Johnson said, “And I saw a big burgundy car coming in my direction.”
Johnson said that Doyle swerved out of the way before hitting her or her baby carriage. She said that Doyle’s actions had been dangerous.
“He put a lot of innocent lives in danger,” she said, “He almost hit me and my baby.”
Before being shot by Doyle, Jeantot killed three people on the passenger train. Betty Lou, of New York City, said that she saw the first of these shootings take place. Train conductor Horatio Hornblower was the first of Jeantot’s victims on the train.
“The first conductor told the man with the gun ‘you’re not going to get away with this,’” she said, “Then he shot him and I ran away.”
Ronald Evans, an officer of the New York Police Department was also shot by Jeantot while on the train. He was shot after confronting Jeantot following the shooting of Hornblower.
The chase came to a stop following the death of Peter Howe, who was the trainman in charge of the controls. Howe died of a heart attack right before the train reached the station at 35th Street. His death caused the train to hit the end of another train stopped at the station.
After the train stopped, Jeantot left the train and was shot after a confrontation with Doyle.
Police Chief Morgan Freeman said that the police department supports Doyle in his decision to shoot Jeantot.
“We regret the loss of innocent life,” he said, “In the end, we believe detective Doyle did the right thing.
He said that Doyle’s actions prevented a dangerous suspect from getting away.
“The suspect would have been capable of eluding him,” Freeman said, “Though we would have certainly liked to bring him in alive, it’s better than not brining him in at all…We commend [Doyle’s] bravery in tracking down a dangerous criminal.”
Friday, February 20, 2009
The Times 2/16-2/19
Monday:
One of the first articles that caught my eye was the one on the first page about librarians needing to be computer-literate as well. Since I work at the UNH library, this seemed especially relevant. This means that many stories you write might be relevant and interesting to some people while being boring or irrelevant to others.
Another article interested me because it involved a writer. This article was about Mr. Xu, a writer who was stabbed in Beijing. This story also had a clever title, as it did a play on words with the place, Reading, Beijing, and the subject of the story, a writer.
This issue also had a bunch of articles about what the Obama administration is doing. This is important because a lot of people are going to be wondering what he is up to now that he is president.
Tuesday:
I think one article that does a really good job making international news relevant to Americans started off in the title: “From a Pakistan Valley, Taliban Threats Are Heard in New York.” This is a good example of how it is possible to take big, important, international news and tell it on a smaller, local scale so that people will be interested. The story followed a man from New York who was kidnapped by the Taliban while visiting family in Pakistan.
Another article that mixes both international and more local news is the article about Obama and the Czech Republic. This article talks about how the Czechs want Obama to visit their country and argue that he should be interested in small countries as well as the larger, wealthier countries. While this one does not involve a local person, involving President Obama makes it a more important story to Americans. Also, it involves themes that appeal to many Americans, such as smaller countries trying to get out of the influence of a larger country, and just the theme of an underdog in general. I think this makes it more appealing to many readers.
Wednesday:
Several articles were interesting today. The article on the first page about auto companies looking for more money caught my eye. This article shows how the falling economy could affect many people, not just those in the auto industry. The reason it caught my attention is because it mentioned Saturns among brands of cars that G.M. might phase out. Since I currently drive a Saturn, I think it’s too bad that they are going to phase them out.
Another article that I thought was very relevant to college students was the one about do-it-yourself medical care. This article talked about young people who can’t afford insurance and so just try to treat themselves. This could lead to interesting stories about UNH students and health insurance. Also, it reminded me of one of my friends who couldn’t afford health insurance during the year she took off between high school and college as she was no longer covered by her parents and the normal plans were too expensive as she tried to save money for school.
Finally, an article that caught my eye because of my interest in law was the one about the second trial for the men accused of planning to blow up flights in London. That piqued my interest because it’s a story about a trial and because it seemed to violate the laws of double-jeopardy (which I realize do not need to be followed in London, but it’s still interesting). It turns out the jury did not actually reach a ruling in the first trial, which may allow a second trial, even in the US. I’m not sure.
Thursday:
One article that caught my eye today was the one about the Pakistani reporter who was killed when covering a peace march. This caught my eye because it was about a reporter, and I wanted to find out more about what happened. However, when I read the article, it didn’t actually tell too much about what happened to the reporter. It told a lot about what has been going on in Pakistan, but didn’t give the details of the reporter’s death until towards the end of the story.
Some of the stories I found interesting included the one about the mane in Palestine accused of spying for Israel, the one about the farmers trying to protect themselves from the rebel army in Africa, and the one about mortgages. The first two just interested me because of the subjects, but the story about mortgages was good because it did a good job of using both interviews and research, which we had talked about in class.
One of the first articles that caught my eye was the one on the first page about librarians needing to be computer-literate as well. Since I work at the UNH library, this seemed especially relevant. This means that many stories you write might be relevant and interesting to some people while being boring or irrelevant to others.
Another article interested me because it involved a writer. This article was about Mr. Xu, a writer who was stabbed in Beijing. This story also had a clever title, as it did a play on words with the place, Reading, Beijing, and the subject of the story, a writer.
This issue also had a bunch of articles about what the Obama administration is doing. This is important because a lot of people are going to be wondering what he is up to now that he is president.
Tuesday:
I think one article that does a really good job making international news relevant to Americans started off in the title: “From a Pakistan Valley, Taliban Threats Are Heard in New York.” This is a good example of how it is possible to take big, important, international news and tell it on a smaller, local scale so that people will be interested. The story followed a man from New York who was kidnapped by the Taliban while visiting family in Pakistan.
Another article that mixes both international and more local news is the article about Obama and the Czech Republic. This article talks about how the Czechs want Obama to visit their country and argue that he should be interested in small countries as well as the larger, wealthier countries. While this one does not involve a local person, involving President Obama makes it a more important story to Americans. Also, it involves themes that appeal to many Americans, such as smaller countries trying to get out of the influence of a larger country, and just the theme of an underdog in general. I think this makes it more appealing to many readers.
Wednesday:
Several articles were interesting today. The article on the first page about auto companies looking for more money caught my eye. This article shows how the falling economy could affect many people, not just those in the auto industry. The reason it caught my attention is because it mentioned Saturns among brands of cars that G.M. might phase out. Since I currently drive a Saturn, I think it’s too bad that they are going to phase them out.
Another article that I thought was very relevant to college students was the one about do-it-yourself medical care. This article talked about young people who can’t afford insurance and so just try to treat themselves. This could lead to interesting stories about UNH students and health insurance. Also, it reminded me of one of my friends who couldn’t afford health insurance during the year she took off between high school and college as she was no longer covered by her parents and the normal plans were too expensive as she tried to save money for school.
Finally, an article that caught my eye because of my interest in law was the one about the second trial for the men accused of planning to blow up flights in London. That piqued my interest because it’s a story about a trial and because it seemed to violate the laws of double-jeopardy (which I realize do not need to be followed in London, but it’s still interesting). It turns out the jury did not actually reach a ruling in the first trial, which may allow a second trial, even in the US. I’m not sure.
Thursday:
One article that caught my eye today was the one about the Pakistani reporter who was killed when covering a peace march. This caught my eye because it was about a reporter, and I wanted to find out more about what happened. However, when I read the article, it didn’t actually tell too much about what happened to the reporter. It told a lot about what has been going on in Pakistan, but didn’t give the details of the reporter’s death until towards the end of the story.
Some of the stories I found interesting included the one about the mane in Palestine accused of spying for Israel, the one about the farmers trying to protect themselves from the rebel army in Africa, and the one about mortgages. The first two just interested me because of the subjects, but the story about mortgages was good because it did a good job of using both interviews and research, which we had talked about in class.
Friday, February 13, 2009
NY times 2/9-2/12
Monday:
There were lots of interesting stories today. I had heard already about the Australia wildfires, so I wanted to read more about that. The article on sex offender registries interested me because this topic came up in one of my classes today.
There was a fun column called “Metropolitan Diary” with random observations sent in by readers. That was fun to read. Also, the article about the luggage from the plane that crashed in the Hudson last month was pretty neat to read.
Tuesday:
Today the paper had a bunch of interesting stories. There were a lot talking about the economic plan and discussing different people’s views on that.
One of the most interesting stories for me was the one about indulgences for Catholics. It said that the Catholic Church was going to offer this form of amnesty from punishment for sin. That interested me because I remember learning about indulgences in history class when I was younger and I wouldn’t have expected the church to start giving them out again.
Wednesday:
Paper again had some stories about the country’s economic situation. This makes sense, because that is what a lot of people are thinking and worrying about. There were stories on other things, however.
One of the more interesting stories was about a woman with an artificial arm. She had lost her arm a few years ago, and new technology has allowed researchers to create a fake arm that reacts to her brain and lets her do most things someone with a natural arm could do.
There was also an article about the recent peanut butter scare. Apparently the peanut butter plant in Texas was shut down because of salmonella contamination.
Thursday:
While there are still stories about the stimulus plan and other aspects of economics, there is a lot of variety in today’s paper, which I appreciate. There were stories ranging from covering a tornado in Oklahoma to tactics to fight global warming.
The article about in vitro fertilization was interesting to read because it showed some people’s reactions to the recent octuplet birth. This is something I discussed in one of my classes, and therefore it’s neat to read what other people think or what is happening because of this birth.
Another article that caught my attention was the one discussing the fall in ethanol production. This surprised me because I hadn’t heard that ethanol companies were struggling.
There were lots of interesting stories today. I had heard already about the Australia wildfires, so I wanted to read more about that. The article on sex offender registries interested me because this topic came up in one of my classes today.
There was a fun column called “Metropolitan Diary” with random observations sent in by readers. That was fun to read. Also, the article about the luggage from the plane that crashed in the Hudson last month was pretty neat to read.
Tuesday:
Today the paper had a bunch of interesting stories. There were a lot talking about the economic plan and discussing different people’s views on that.
One of the most interesting stories for me was the one about indulgences for Catholics. It said that the Catholic Church was going to offer this form of amnesty from punishment for sin. That interested me because I remember learning about indulgences in history class when I was younger and I wouldn’t have expected the church to start giving them out again.
Wednesday:
Paper again had some stories about the country’s economic situation. This makes sense, because that is what a lot of people are thinking and worrying about. There were stories on other things, however.
One of the more interesting stories was about a woman with an artificial arm. She had lost her arm a few years ago, and new technology has allowed researchers to create a fake arm that reacts to her brain and lets her do most things someone with a natural arm could do.
There was also an article about the recent peanut butter scare. Apparently the peanut butter plant in Texas was shut down because of salmonella contamination.
Thursday:
While there are still stories about the stimulus plan and other aspects of economics, there is a lot of variety in today’s paper, which I appreciate. There were stories ranging from covering a tornado in Oklahoma to tactics to fight global warming.
The article about in vitro fertilization was interesting to read because it showed some people’s reactions to the recent octuplet birth. This is something I discussed in one of my classes, and therefore it’s neat to read what other people think or what is happening because of this birth.
Another article that caught my attention was the one discussing the fall in ethanol production. This surprised me because I hadn’t heard that ethanol companies were struggling.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
A young Sudanese refugee prevented a car from being crushed by a train early Monday morning in Old Orchard Beach.
While walking to work, James Laboke found Francois Truffaut slumped over the steering wheel of his car that had stalled on the train tracks. After trying unsuccessfully to wake Truffaut, Laboke ran to the nearby police station to get help. An officer was able to ram Truffaut’s car off the tracks with her police cruiser seconds before train passed by.
“I never thought about it. I just knew I couldn’t let that man get crushed by a train,” Laboke said.
Seventeen-year-old Laboke has lived in Old Orchard Beach for three years. He has worked as a waiter at the Eezy Breezy Restaurant for eight months, and his habit of walking to work every morning is what caused him to find Truffaut.
Police Chief Brian Paul said that Janet Paradiso, a captain with the police force, rammed Truffaut’s car out of the way of the train just 30 seconds before the train came.
“It was that close,” he said.
Truffaut, who has diabetes, is in stable condition at Southern Maine Medical Center. He says he does not know what caused his car to stall.
“I don’t remember a thing,” he said.
Laboke’s boss, Charles Champaigne, said later that Laboke’s actions were not surprising.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all. That young man is one of my most responsible employees. He’s just a great kid.”
While walking to work, James Laboke found Francois Truffaut slumped over the steering wheel of his car that had stalled on the train tracks. After trying unsuccessfully to wake Truffaut, Laboke ran to the nearby police station to get help. An officer was able to ram Truffaut’s car off the tracks with her police cruiser seconds before train passed by.
“I never thought about it. I just knew I couldn’t let that man get crushed by a train,” Laboke said.
Seventeen-year-old Laboke has lived in Old Orchard Beach for three years. He has worked as a waiter at the Eezy Breezy Restaurant for eight months, and his habit of walking to work every morning is what caused him to find Truffaut.
Police Chief Brian Paul said that Janet Paradiso, a captain with the police force, rammed Truffaut’s car out of the way of the train just 30 seconds before the train came.
“It was that close,” he said.
Truffaut, who has diabetes, is in stable condition at Southern Maine Medical Center. He says he does not know what caused his car to stall.
“I don’t remember a thing,” he said.
Laboke’s boss, Charles Champaigne, said later that Laboke’s actions were not surprising.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all. That young man is one of my most responsible employees. He’s just a great kid.”
Friday, February 6, 2009
Times blog 2/2-2/5
Monday:
There were lots of financial stories today, (stories about taxes, the economic plan, and the banks). This shows that people are wondering what is going to happen and how Obama is going to try to fix the economic situation.
There was an interesting story about immigration issues. The title sums it up pretty well: “Border Agents in California say they were given Arrest Quotas.” Another story that caught my interest was the one on page A 14 about the changing justice system.
Tuesday:
Today there were a few articles that caught my interest. The story on the front page about Bolivia was interesting to me because I have a friend who used to live there. Bolivia has large quantities of lithium, which is needed in the new electric cars. Since many countries are trying to find ways to avoid dependence on oil, they will need to find stores of lithium to use for their electric cars. Bolivia, however, appears to want to nationalize the lithium.
Another story that was interesting was the one about someone throwing a shoe at the Chinese prime minister. It is interesting that the same form of protest would be used both against the Chinese prime minister and President Bush.
Wednesday:
Not a whole lot of interesting news today. Like Monday, a lot of the stories have to deal with various financial issues. One of Obama’s nominee’s withdrew his nomination after being found to have unpaid taxes. The treasury department is considering limiting the salary of executives from companies receiving large bailout payments.
One article that did interest me was the one about the woman who was found to be recruiting suicide bombers. It is the type of story that you don’t see every day because most stories from that part of the world are about men. So although this story wasn’t as interesting as I expected it to be, it was different to hear about a woman training terrorists instead of just men.
Thursday:
Today’s paper was more varied than yesterdays. It was interesting to see that two of the stories on the front page had to do with the Holocaust, as one dealt with a Bishop who had denied the Holocaust, and one examining the life of a Nazi doctor who had moved to Egypt. The lead story expanded on a story from yesterday, as it stated that Obama had suggested the $500,000 maximum salary for executives of companies receiving aid.
One story I found interesting because it dealt with a court case that is going on. This story discussed the United States’ alleged attempt to repress evidence in the trial of a British citizen charged as a terrorist. There are charges that this alleged terrorist was tortured while imprisoned by the US, and the US is trying to keep the particulars of that evidence quiet.
There were lots of financial stories today, (stories about taxes, the economic plan, and the banks). This shows that people are wondering what is going to happen and how Obama is going to try to fix the economic situation.
There was an interesting story about immigration issues. The title sums it up pretty well: “Border Agents in California say they were given Arrest Quotas.” Another story that caught my interest was the one on page A 14 about the changing justice system.
Tuesday:
Today there were a few articles that caught my interest. The story on the front page about Bolivia was interesting to me because I have a friend who used to live there. Bolivia has large quantities of lithium, which is needed in the new electric cars. Since many countries are trying to find ways to avoid dependence on oil, they will need to find stores of lithium to use for their electric cars. Bolivia, however, appears to want to nationalize the lithium.
Another story that was interesting was the one about someone throwing a shoe at the Chinese prime minister. It is interesting that the same form of protest would be used both against the Chinese prime minister and President Bush.
Wednesday:
Not a whole lot of interesting news today. Like Monday, a lot of the stories have to deal with various financial issues. One of Obama’s nominee’s withdrew his nomination after being found to have unpaid taxes. The treasury department is considering limiting the salary of executives from companies receiving large bailout payments.
One article that did interest me was the one about the woman who was found to be recruiting suicide bombers. It is the type of story that you don’t see every day because most stories from that part of the world are about men. So although this story wasn’t as interesting as I expected it to be, it was different to hear about a woman training terrorists instead of just men.
Thursday:
Today’s paper was more varied than yesterdays. It was interesting to see that two of the stories on the front page had to do with the Holocaust, as one dealt with a Bishop who had denied the Holocaust, and one examining the life of a Nazi doctor who had moved to Egypt. The lead story expanded on a story from yesterday, as it stated that Obama had suggested the $500,000 maximum salary for executives of companies receiving aid.
One story I found interesting because it dealt with a court case that is going on. This story discussed the United States’ alleged attempt to repress evidence in the trial of a British citizen charged as a terrorist. There are charges that this alleged terrorist was tortured while imprisoned by the US, and the US is trying to keep the particulars of that evidence quiet.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
2/4 story in class
Who: Jamie Peterson + two female passengers, witnesses Josie M. Crandall and Tom Carroll Jr.
What: car crash, dirt road, Budweiser cans
When: Monday at about 9 p.m.
Where: Mile Hill Rd. , Belmont, MA
Why: speed, drinking, dirt road, no streetlights
How: driving fast, turn, flip the car
So what: local, fatal accident there before
Rescuers used the jaws of life to free two teenage passengers from a crushed car after an accident Monday night.
The accident took place on Mile Hill Road in Belmont, MA at about nine p.m. The 17-year-old driver of the car, Jamie Peterson, was unhurt when his vehicle hit an embankment on the side of the road and flipped onto its roof. The two young women in the car with him were trapped in the car for 45 minutes before rescuers pulled them out and brought them to Belmont’s Memorial Hospital. One of the victims was in stable condition while the second was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital.
Tom Carroll Jr. was driving behind Peterson before the accident. He said that Peterson’s car sped up before going around a curve and flipping onto its roof.
“I thought the worst,” Carroll said, “They were flying. It’s hard to see kids your age in something like this.”
What: car crash, dirt road, Budweiser cans
When: Monday at about 9 p.m.
Where: Mile Hill Rd. , Belmont, MA
Why: speed, drinking, dirt road, no streetlights
How: driving fast, turn, flip the car
So what: local, fatal accident there before
Rescuers used the jaws of life to free two teenage passengers from a crushed car after an accident Monday night.
The accident took place on Mile Hill Road in Belmont, MA at about nine p.m. The 17-year-old driver of the car, Jamie Peterson, was unhurt when his vehicle hit an embankment on the side of the road and flipped onto its roof. The two young women in the car with him were trapped in the car for 45 minutes before rescuers pulled them out and brought them to Belmont’s Memorial Hospital. One of the victims was in stable condition while the second was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital.
Tom Carroll Jr. was driving behind Peterson before the accident. He said that Peterson’s car sped up before going around a curve and flipping onto its roof.
“I thought the worst,” Carroll said, “They were flying. It’s hard to see kids your age in something like this.”
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