Germany Arrests 25 Suspected of Planning to Overthrow Government

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/world/europe/germany-coup-arrests.html

Twenty five people were arrested because they were suspected to be involved in an attempt to overthrow the German government. Among the people arrested were a German prince, a former member of Parliament, an active soldier, and former members of special forces.

Three thousand German police officers and special forces spread out across the country to raid 150 homes and arrest 25 suspected conspirators. Officials say that the group was plotting to storm the German capitol, arrest lawmakers, and execute the chancellor.

After the houses were raided, authorities found a list of 18 names of politicians that were considered enemies, one of them being Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

There have been a series of plots discovered prior to this one. It is unclear how close this group was to executing their plan.

“This represents an escalation. They had plans to march into Berlin and take out part of the federal government,” said Stephan Kramer, head of domestic intelligence of the state of Thuringia.

I think this story is extremely newsworthy. The overthrow of a country is not something to take lightly. Even for people who do not live close to Germany, the outcome of an attempt to overthrow a government could drastically change the way the world works. The new leaders could start conflicts or alliances with other countries, which at the end of the day impacts almost everyone. I think this article was well written and easy to follow. The author presented the most important information in the beginning of the article, and followed with the rest of the minor details.

Kindness isn’t the easiest trait to have, especially in the face of adversity. But when friends of Morningside student Sara Marrufo were asked to choose one word to describe her, they had no trouble making a decision.

Lucia Kruize is a good friend of Marrufo, and when asked about Sara’s character, Lucia did not hesitate to say, “Sara is always kind to everyone no matter what, even to the people who aren’t always being nice back. It is definitely one of her best qualities.”

Marrufo isn’t your typical Morningside student. Sure, she attends class and school events like most other students, but her background is what sets her apart from the rest.

Sara is from Venezuela, and moved to Sioux City to attend Morningside in January of 2022. Morningside has a large percentage of international students, but not many of them are from third world countries like Sara.

Growing up in Venezuela, Sara didn’t have the same security that students from other countries did. She rarely had guarantee of safety, whether she was at home, attending school, on vacation, or just out in her community. Protesting and political riots were common in Sara’s community when she was growing up, and the government did not respond well to those activities. Sara and her family would constantly have to be alert and ready to respond to threats.

Life in the United States is drastically different for Sara compared to life in Venezuela. She said, “I get a lot of benefits and opportunities in the US that are harder to find back home, such as good education, electricity, water, and safety. But back home I’m closer to my culture, my family and childhood friends, and our lifestyle, which I see as a little more active.”

Lucia explained how Sara has opened up to her friends and explained the daily struggles that come with living in Venezuela.

“Sara has opened my eyes to how her life at home is. Of course, I already knew some of the stuff going on in Venezuela and know how hard people can have it, but meeting someone in real life who has been through it really opens your eyes,” Lucia said.

Even though her past was filled with hardship, Sara is still kind and welcoming to every single person she meets, and is always looking to make new friends. Additionally, she has been a very successful student at Morningside, academically and socially. This semester, Sara helped revive a club called International Students Association, or ISA. Working with other students to make this happen, Sara helped advertise and create this club.

Richard Lopez is a junior at Morningside University, and is a member of ISA. Sara was the one to reach out to him and welcome him to ISA. She also is involved in promoting the club to try to increase their members.

“Sara has helped promote the club by setting up a fundraiser to get us money, she created an Instagram to reach more people through social media,” Richard said.

Overall, Sara is continuing to grow and learn here at Morningside, and she is determined to not let anything get in her way. She is proof that the past does not define the future, even though she has experienced what it is like to struggle in ways many of us will never understand.

“I’ve become so much more independent, and I’ve realized I am capable of way more than I think. I’m not as scared as I used to be to stand up for what is right, and I try to go after as many opportunities as I can, even if they seem intimidating. I try to always act from the heart and find the balance between honesty and kindness.”

Homer, a sixteen year old polar bear, passed away this morning at Midland Zoo.

The two other polar bears that shared Homer’s exhibit have been removed and are being monitored by veterinary staff. Zookeeper Sara Getty found Homer this morning and said, “Homer was a very curious and playful polar bear and we will miss him terribly.”

Polar bears have thrived at Midland Zoo since 1995. The exhibit allows them to fall into their natural behaviors, which include playing in the snow and hunting in the pool. The bears and exhibit also help educate zoo visitors about the threatened species.

Chris P. Bacon, Midland Zoo Director, said, “We will do everything in our power to determine how this bear died. Animal welfare and the preservation of species are our primary goals here at the zoo.”

The zoo will complete a necropsy to determine the cause of Homer’s death, and the results will be available in the weeks to come.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mcdonalds-hosts-two-soccer-clinics-to-celebrate-fifa-world-cup-qatar-2022-as-official-sponsor-301691744.html

---

• The story is that McDonald’s in New York Metro announced that they will host two soccer clinics during the FIFA World Cup 2022, as they are an official sponsor of the event. It will be available to children ages 10 and under.
• The audience is families with young children that are interested in soccer, or World Cup fans. This could be a fun event for children that are watching the World Cup and are now taking an interest in playing soccer.
• The benefit to the reader is an opportunity for soccer coaching and experience, as well as a fun event to participate in. This story gives parents an opportunity to get their kids out of the house and trying something new.
• The benefit for McDonald’s is exposure to the community, as well as showing the community that the company cares about them and their children. After hosting an event like this, parents may see McDonald’s as a family friendly organization and are more likely to take their business to them.
• This is different than the previous stories I have read for this class because it is purely promotional for McDonald’s. It isn’t presenting any argument and is therefore presenting “biased” information to promote the company.

The article I chose presented information on Christmas at Morningside and when tickets for the public will be available. Christmas at Morningside will occur on Thursday, Dec. 1, and Friday, Dec. 2, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. in Eppley Auditorium on Morningside’s campus. Tickets for the general public will be available for purchase online beginning at 8 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 17, and can be found on Morningside’s website.

I think I would consider this news, because it is a campus event that is important for people to know about so they can attend. Potential audiences for this story are Morningside students, staff and faculty, as well as members of the Sioux City community. The purpose of this story is to advertise Christmas at Morningside and spread the word as much as possible. The benefit of this story for Morningside is attention from the public and high attendance at Christmas at Morningside, as well as revenue from the tickets sold.

R.S.V. Strains California Hospitals

The rates of respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V., is surging and rates of children falling ill are significantly higher than usual across the United States.

Dr. Tami Hendriksz, a pediatrician and the dean of Touro University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine in Vallejo, said, “We still haven’t seen the top of this peak yet.” Anyone can catch this virus, but it is especially harmful to infants and toddlers, as well as older adults.

Rates of R.S.V. and hospitalizations in California are the highest they have been in recent years, which matches recent spikes in coronavirus and flu cases in the state. Health professionals are suspecting that R.S.V. is having a much larger impact on children this year because young children have been protected by social distancing guidelines, and this is the first time they are being exposed to the illness.

There is no available vaccine for R.S.V., so doctors are urging parents and families to be mindful and protect their children.

I think this article is news worthy. Especially during the holiday season, I think it is important for families to know that their children may be at higher risk for illness this year. I think that is important to keep in mind in a season where many family gatherings occur. The article was well-organized and easy to follow, and was a quick read, which was perfect for presenting this type of information. The article held my attention and I was able to read through the entire piece.

Lucia Kruize has been a perfectionist for almost her entire life. When she is in high school, she took pride in her perfect attendance record. Her school had a system that would keep track of attendance, and had an overall percentage of how many classes students missed. Lucia wanted to keep her record at a perfect zero percent, and she did.

While it payed off to have this perfect record, it didn’t happen without stress. Lucia went to classes while being sick, and was so caught up in being perfect in her attendance that she would get extremely stressed if she was running late to school.

Her friends noticed her record and became very impressed, which only motivated Lucia to continue the streak. Lucia said that this has transferred into her life as a college student, and still has not skipped a single class, which can be very easy to do in a college environment. She even said that there were some days that she would try to tell herself to skip, and found herself walking to class anyways.

Lucia is not only a perfectionist when it comes to her attendance.

“It has affected me just being always on time for things and being very structured in my schedule. I’m a really big procrastinator but I wanted my assignments to be perfect,” Lucia said.

Her experience in high school caused her to become a perfectionist, and that has helped her do high quality work in everything she does.

University of Virginia Shooting Raises Questions of Missed Warning Signs

Michael Haggard, the lawyer who is representing the family of a victim of the University of Virginia shooting, is raising questions on whether or not the university investigated the warning signs the suspect presented thoroughly enough.

Haggard represents the family of D’Sean Perry, one of the victims killed in the shooting that took place at the University of Virginia. Perry was one of three students that were killed.

The university received a tip in September that the suspect had a gun, but after a brief investigation they learned that the suspect’s roommate had not seen a gun in the room or in his possession. The investigation did uncover that the suspect did have a concealed-weapon conviction in 2021 in a different county in Virginia.

The owner of a sporting goods store near the suspect’s hometown said that the suspect had made multiple attempts to buy guns in previous years, even after being denied twice.

This was a very well written article. The information is clear and easy to understand. I think it is an interesting topic and provides more information about a tragic event. Not only is the shooting itself tragic, but the idea that there could have been signs and action taken to prevent it just adds to the grief. This article is informing people of the UVA community and others around the country and is probably created empathy for the victims of the shooting.

Good morning and welcome to your local news.

Today we start with a look at this year’s midterm election [CM1] as results are being finalized. The New York Times has reported that President Joe Biden has scored the best midterm result of any president in twenty years.

Control of the House and the Senate still remain up in the air. President Biden stated that voters sent “a clear and unmistakable message” that they wanted to preserve abortion rights and democracy.

While the midterm results obviously have large impacts throughout the country, students attending Morningside are also affected.

Sophomore Hayden Stephenson spoke about how Morningside prepares and involves students in the election and voting process.

[student interview]

Morningside University also provided students the opportunity to vote on campus and did not hold any classes on election day in order to encourage students to go vote.

—

In health news, Rhode Island embraces a daring addiction strategy as overdoses soar by becoming the first state to legalize supervised drug use sites to attempt to lower overdose rates.

The New York times reported Project Weber is hoping to curb overdose deaths and reduce infectious diseases by letting people use drugs under the supervision of social and medical workers. The goal is to encourage users to use better medication and supplies for safer drug use. Rhode Island has authorized a two-year trial period that Project Weber will lead.

Today we spoke with student Emerson Smith about her take on Rhode Island’s new strategy.

[interview quote]

Rather than criminalizing drug use, these Rhode Island facilities will have the goal of providing a safe and respectful environment for drug users.

Critics of this strategy argue that these sites will harm drug users by facilitating the use of drugs, which will quickly lead to addiction and fatal overdoses. [CM3] 

—

Moving to the war in Ukraine, on Wednesday November 9, Russian forces retreated from Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine[CM4] .

Kherson was seized in February in the initial days of the war and was the only regional capital that Russia gained control of. This is one of the most significant reversals of Vladimir Putin’s war effort.

Morningside has a high population of international students, with the majority of them from Europe. While this conflict may not seem pressing to the average student, it is much more real to international students.

Nienke van Drunen is a sophomore attending Morningside, and she is from the Netherlands. Today we got a look into how the war has impacted her.

[student interview]

Thank you for tuning in to your local news and have a great rest of your day.

---

 [CM1]https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/09/us/election-updates-results

 [CM3]https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/us/politics/rhode-island-overdoses.html

 [CM4]https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/world/europe/ukraine-russia-kherson-retreat.html

Biden Celebrates Beating the Odds, but He Faces a New Challenge

President Joe Biden appears to have the best midterm results of any president in the last 20 years.

Many people predicted that there would be a “giant red wave” after this week’s midterm elections, but President Biden celebrated the absence of that and established that he intends to run again in 2024.

Even if Democrats hold the Senate, Biden faces the possibility of a House dominated by Republicans, which could interrupt his legislative agenda. Biden said that while he is open to cooperation with Republicans, he said he would block any of their efforts to reverse his accomplishments of the first two years of his presidency.

It still may take weeks to unfold all of the results of the midterm elections and what they mean for Biden’s presidency, but we do know that Biden received the best results in the midterm election of any president in the last 20 years.

I think the topic of this article is definitely newsworthy. It is important for people to be at least aware of the political state of the United States if they live here, and I feel like many people are not very aware of what is going on. This article is fairly easy to follow and provides the basic details of the midterm results that are important to understand. The author of the article starts to get into specifics of what these results mean for Biden later in the article, after covering the broad pieces of information that are important to know. Overall I think this article is structured well and does a good job presenting information to the audience.