Broadcast story

30 10 2012

Police are looking for a suspect in a shooting that occurred yesterday around 5:00 pm.

The situation occurred at 617 Jackson Street at the home of Richard and Laurette Brunson.  The couple was married Saturday.

After the wedding, the couple’s reception began at 5 pm. At the wedding reception Laurette threw macaroni salad at her new husband.  Richard retaliated by shooting his new bride in the abdomen with a .22 calibre handgun.  With about 30 guests in attendance, a neighbor called police.

Neighbor of the couple, Michael Martin said the following.  Martin

Laurette was taken to St. Luke’s hospital where she is in satisfactory condition.  If you have seen or know the whereabouts of Richard Brunson, please contact the police.




News Comment #8

25 10 2012

In the article from USA Today, Tagg Romney, Mitt Romney’s son apologized for the comments he made after the last Presidential debate.  After the debate was over Tagg Romney spoke with Obama apologizing about the comments he had made earlier about the president.

Jokingly the article ends by Josh Romney, Tagg’s younger brother saying that the president has nothing to worry about because Josh has taken punches from his older brother.

This isn’t too big of a story and only has one main point to it but just the title alone truck me to read it. After reading the story this is news to the whole country because it deals with two of the biggest public figures right now that are in the news.  Another reason this is news is because you don’t normally hear one of the presidential candidate’s sons say that he would like to get up from his chair and punch the president in the face.

USA Today did a good job of presenting the news but also presenting the news of how Tagg apologized.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2012/10/24/obama-tagg-romney-punch/1654995/

 




Paper #2 Revised

10 10 2012

In May the National Football League referees’ contracts came to an end. When the referees went on strike, the NFL discovered they had a problem because neither side would be coming to an agreement anytime soon.  After the first few weeks of the regular season fans realized how important the regular referees were to the game of football.

Mike Ehn, Laurens-Marathon athletic director, head high school football coach, and a referee himself, said the replacement referees didn’t fail like most fans thought. “I don’t think the replacement refs failed. They were put into a situation where they did not have the experience and the speed of the game was just too fast for them.”

If the replacement referees did not fail, what do people consider a good referee to be? Luke Arnts, a die-hard Minnesota Vikings fan, said “A good referee is some who makes decisions quickly without hesitation.  A good ref needs experience in the league before he has seen and made all the calls.”

According to the book, Psychology of refereeing, “a referee must commit to four responsibilities. One, to see to it that the sporting event takes place in accordance with the rules of the game. Two, to intervene as little as possible and not make themselves the center of attention. Three, to establish and maintain a good atmosphere so as to make the event as enjoyable as possible.  And four, to show an interest in the players.”

On Monday night, September 24, the Green Bay Packers played the Seattle Seahawks, and as time expired off the clock, quarterback Russell Wilson threw a hail Mary and Green Bay safety M.D. Jennings and Seahawk receiver Golden Tate went up and both came down with the ball.  One referee ruled the play as an interception as the other ref ruled it a touchdown, which ended up being the call.

Tuesday, talk began the NFL and the referees could be coming to an agreement after Monday night’s game. By Thursday September 27, the regular referees were back on the field for the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens game.

It wasn’t an easy process to figure out how to get the referees back.  Of course most of the controversy dealt with money.  According to an article on ESPN, “The tentative pact calls for their salaries to increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019.”  The article went on to say, “Retirement benefits will be provided for new hires and for all officials beginning in 2017 through a defined contribution arrangement.”

As of next season, the league has the option of being able to hire referees to work all year compared to right now only working part time.

With all the scrutiny on how bad the replacement refs were it brings up a good question that wasn’t talked about much.  Obviously, there were differences between the regular refs and the replacements, but what were they exactly?

Ehn said, “I think the real referees have the experience and knowledge and that is why they were hired. Because they are best at what they do.”

 

 




News comment #7

10 10 2012

 

 

 

 

 

The article, “1 dead, others trapped in Miami parking garage collapse,” written by Suzette Laboy, is about a parking garage that collapsed Wednesday morning while under construction, killing one person and injuring many others.

The article says that the structure that fell was five stories tall and one bystander described it saying, “It fell to the ground like a house of cards.”

In this release of the story, it is apparent no one is sure what caused the garage to collapse.  Emergency response and construction workers rushed to the scene immediately as it happened.  Two of the trapped workers used their cell phones to talk to the rescue teams to be found and helped.

The rest of the story went on to describe what the construction site looked like and what the construction project was for.

This is news worthy and news in general because it’s something odd that doesn’t happen very often. Of course, this type of news doesn’t really affect people like us in the Midwest who have no contact with people in Miami.  If the person who died would have been a family member or you knew someone who worked on that construction site, this news story could be more interesting to you.

I also think the way this story is written is really good. The author does not only do a good job of describing what happened but visually I could see it too. Most news stories I read, it’s basically just telling you what happened. A news story like this, I think having a visual helps the story come to life a little more.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/10/workers-trapped-miami-parking-garage-collapse/1624721/




Going into the streets

8 10 2012

Over 700 Morningside students packed Eppley Auditorium as the annual “Into the Streets” took place Wednesday, October 3rd.  51 groups helped as they went out into the Siouxland community to volunteer for the morning.

This was my second year volunteering with into the streets and I loved the opportunity to give back to the community I live in. Last year I went with my passport class to Dakota Dunes to remove sandbags from the flooding during the summer of 2011. This year I went with 13 other members of the CHA CHA (wellness group) and campus ministry groups to the third through fifth grade elementary school in Sergeant Bluff.

Each member of our group was sent to a separate classroom where we worked with the teacher and the kids in that class one on one.

One of the members from the CHA CHA group, sophomore Drew Nolan said, “It was great to take a break from schoolwork to give our service to people who really appreciated it.   All the teachers at Sergeant Bluff School seemed very grateful.  It was also fun to be able to go back a few years and play with kids for the morning in P.E.”

I worked with a fourth grade classroom where the teacher had me do busy work for her. I laminated sheets of paper and cut them out. I also sorted box tops for education and put them on sheets of paper. I never really had much interaction with the students but the teacher seemed to really appreciate my help.

I was grateful for the opportunity to help someone who needed it and seemed to appreciate it.  After we got done, it was fun to be able to discuss with the rest of our group what they all experienced.  Even though our group all went to the same place each of us had a different story to tell.  Some listened to the students read, some graded papers for the teachers, and others did busy work for the teachers.  Overall each of us had a great experience working at the Sergeant Bluff elementary school.

 




Paper #2 rough draft

8 10 2012

The people who wear the black and white stripped shirts on game days might as well be wearing a target on their back. As soon as a fan, player, or coach thinks they made a bad call, the referee is automatically looked at as the bad person.

In May, the National Football League referees’ contracts came to an end the NFL found themselves in trouble because it was apparent the league and the referees were not going to come to an agreement anytime soon.  In fact, that agreement wasn’t made until the last few days of September after the season had already started.  Because the season still had to go on without the regular referees, the NFL began looking for replacement refs across the country.  The replacement referees who filled in came from various jobs such as teachers, real estate agents, lawyers, vice presidents of banks, youth referees, and many college referees.

On Monday night, September 24th, the Green Bay Packers played the Seattle Seahawks when the replacement referees made a call that has been talked about now for weeks.  The call will go down as one of the most controversial calls in the history of the NFL.  As time expired off the clock, quarterback Russell Wilson threw a Hail Marry and Green Bay safety M.D. Jennings and Seahawk receiver Golden Tate went up and both came down with the ball.  One referee ruled the play as an interception as the other ref ruled it a touchdown.  The rest of Monday night and most of Tuesday was filled with people’s thoughts across the country.  Rich Eisen, an NFL analyst, went to Twitter after the game saying, “We wondered when the replacement refs would cost a team a game. I believe we just saw one.”

After the Packers Seahawks game, talk began maybe this was what the NFL and the referees needed to get the situation figured out.  Fortunately, they did.  By Thursday night September 27th, the regular referees were welcomed with a standing ovation as they made their way on the field to ref the Browns and Ravens game.

It wasn’t an easy process to figure out how to get the referees back.  Of course most of the controversy dealt with money.  According to the article, “Refs due back Thursday night,” it stated, “The tentative pact calls for their salaries to increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019.”  The article went on to say, “Retirement benefits will be provided for new hires and for all officials beginning in 2017 through a defined contribution arrangement.”  As of next season, the league has the option of being able to hire referees to work all year compared to right now only working part time.

With all the scrutiny on “how bad the replacement refs were,” it brings up a good question that wasn’t talked about much.  Obviously, there were differences between the regular refs and the replacements but what were they exactly?  And what exactly makes a regular ref a good ref?

Laurens-Marathon’s Mike Ehn, the head high school football coach, the athletic director, and a referee himself said, “I think the real referees have the experience and knowledge and that is why they were hired. Because they are best at what they do.” Ehn went on to say, “A good referee is someone who hustles to get into position, calls a fair game, and is not noticed in the game.  They allow the players to decide the outcome of the game.”

Someone else who might not have quite the experience as Mike Ehn has had with referees but has been watching football since he could hold his head up, Luke Arnts, a die hard Minnesota Vikings fan says, “The regular referees are better because they have years upon years of experience. They have also dealt with and seen every odd situation that has appeared in the game.” Arnts thoughts on what makes a good referee were, “They make decisions quickly without hesitation.  Like I said before, a good ref needs experience in the leagues before he has seen and made all the calls.”

A lot of comparing was been done between the replacement and regular officials.  Fans were used to the way the regular referees called the game.   Many fans seemed to think the replacement refs failed but maybe that wasn’t the case.

Luke Arnts said, “I don’t believe the replacements failed. They did the best job they knew how given the circumstances they were thrown into.  Yes, they made mistakes, but the regulars have made mistakes since coming back too.”

Mike Ehn agreed with Arnts saying, “I don’t think the replacement refs failed. They were put into a situation where they did not have the experience and the speed of the game was just too fast for them.”

No matter if the person who calls a game is a replacement or regular referees, all of them are human.  Not a single refereeing squad has ever had a perfect game.  At the end of the day, they are all people. It’s not the people in the stripped shirts fault for the outcome of the game. Teams win some and lose some and then life goes on.




News Comment #6

3 10 2012

President Obama and Mitt Romney get ready to face off in their first debate tonight, October 3rd, in Denver, Colorado at the University of Denver.  The candidates also have two other debates scheduled until November 6th.

This article talks about how the president and Romney prepared for this debate.  Romney faced 19 debates during primaries earlier in the year where as Obama hasn’t had a face-to-face debate with anyone since he was running against Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2008.  When practicing for the debate Obama brought in Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Romney chose Ohio Senator Rob Portman to represent the president.

As this story made it clear, according to opinion polls, President Obama has an advantage over the nation and the majority of the swing states where the outcome between the candidates will likely be decided.

With voting day less than five weeks away now, these debates could possibly make or break the decision for whom to choose as president for some people.

I believe this article is news related because the presidential elections is something that news teams cover every day and it’s a topic that is very interesting to people.  Who the better candidate is for president is a debatable issue between voters so sometimes news stories can help them with arguments they make towards one another.

With this article though, I find that as you read it, it seems as if the debate has already happened.  Since this was posted around 4:15 pm on Wednesday, October 3rd, and the debate doesn’t start until 7:30 pm tonight, it seems as if boston.com news missed something.  It appears as if they either accidently published this story already or wrote the story in past tense which makes it seems as if it’s already happened.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/10/03/first-debate-sets-moment-high-risk-theater/osKwTZ1TWStSKB0WXivxdI/story.html

UPDATE: I checked back on this article around 8 pm and the news story had been updated to a story that seems to preview the debate rather than talk as if it already happened, which was the way the story was earlier this afternoon.




News Comment #5

26 09 2012

 

 

 

A call who some say cost the Green Bay Packers a tally in the win column Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks is a hot topic with sports sites, NFL commentators and specialists, and football fans everywhere this week.

Now three weeks into the season with replacement referees, the fans are beginning to see a difference.  The last call of the Packers Seahawks game came down to a Hail Mary pass thrown by Seahawk’s quarterback Russell Wilson.  The back of the end zone was filled as both teams went up in the air to fight for the ball.  Packers safety M.D. Jennings and Seahawk Golden Tate came down simultaneously with the ball.  As Jennings landed on top and the two wrestled to the ground, one of the end zone referees signaled a touch back while the other signaled a touchdown.  From that moment on, people have been raising a lot of heck about these replacement referees. Spectators also didn’t forget about the pass interference call the refs didn’t call during all that commotion or the few questionable flags before that as well.

As this article mentions, headlines from different sports websites read different things such as, “DISGRACE!” “Nightmare scenario,” “The Straw That Broke the NFL’s Back,” and many more.  Twitter users also took to their accounts to express their anger towards the NFL and the outcome of the game.

As the whole deal with the replacement referees in the NFL has been building this is news for anyone who likes football or maybe even is just a football fan.  Of course, if a reader doesn’t care about football or the recent replacement referees, then any of the football related news article is not news for them.  For me, I would consider this news. For someone who doesn’t care about football at all, this would not be news for them at all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/nfl-faces-national-outrage-over-blown-call-by-replacement-refs/2012/09/25/25e50714-073f-11e2-858a-5311df86ab04_story_1.html




Big plans for the weekend?

20 09 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a gloomy Thursday morning, the admissions office sits quite with friendly secretary Colleen Knapp, sitting at the front desk. She was sporting a shorter style haircut with her dirty blonde hair, glasses, a bright pink shirt, and a smile on her face.

I walked into the admissions office and was greeted by Colleen saying, “What can I help you with?”  I explained to her I had a project for my journalism class and asked if she would mind answering a question of what her big plans for the weekend were.

Without hesitation Colleen said, “My weekend isn’t very exciting. I plan on finishing hemming curtains for my daughter, visiting friends, going to church, and baking.”

With a busy weekend ahead, hopefully the gloomy weather this morning doesn’t continue throughout the weekend so Colleen can enjoy the weekend!




News Comment #4

20 09 2012

After the teachers’ strike in Chicago ended today, 350,000 kids could return to school after not being able to go for a week.  In this article, the author talks about how it’s still not clear there is solution to the problems that initiated the strike.

Although the strike is over, the union and city leaders have not exactly come to an agreement on what the teachers were on strike for.  The mayor of Chicago was able to make school days longer for teachers. With the lengthening of school days, teachers still gave up other things as well. They gave up their accumulated sick days, agreed to join a wellness program to keep their health care costs down, gave up their request for a 30% raise over four years. The teachers were forced to accept that their students’ test scores were going to be included in their evaluations.

This strike was a way for the teachers to show the people in Chicago that they still have a way of making a difference. Some people think ultimately this was a loss for the students. They lost out of school for over a week and still have teachers that are truly happy with the decisions being made.

The strike coming to an end is news for anyone following the story or anyone in the Chicago area affected the by the strike. I also think its news for the general audiences because this is a rare type of news. You don’t hear about schoolteachers going on strike to often anymore.   The only thing I think the author could have added to make this article a little more understanding for the reader is to include a short synopsis of what the original reasons for the teachers going on strike.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/chicago-strike-ends-no-clear-winner-163924823.html