Hurricane Ian has left more than 2.5 million people without power, and thousands have called emergency lines seeking assistance.
This storm has destroyed sections of the Sanibel Causeway and Pine Island bridges, which connect the mainland to two barrier islands near Fort Myers. Governor Ron DeSantis predicted that rebuilding these bridges and other parts of the state could take years.
The New York times is receiving reports from several reporters with live updates on the progression and impacts of Hurricane Ian.
Reporter Mitch Smith stated, “Forecasters warned of ‘widespread, life-threatening catastrophic flooding’ across parts of central Florida on Thursday, even as Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm and moved toward the state’s eastern coast.”
This article is open for live updates, and reporters are still adding information to the site.
I really liked how this article was set up. The beginning of the article summarized the major things that the public would need to know about Hurricane Ian, and the rest of it had updates from various reporters about what they were seeing. I haven’t read an article that contained live updates like this, and I really liked how that was included because it helped me realize the real impact of this hurricane. I think this topic is definitely news worthy, as Hurricane Ian is impacting the lives of millions of people on the east coast.
Lucia Kruize, a sophomore student athlete attending Morningside University says that the most notable athletic failure would be choosing to come to Morningside. Lucia is a striker on Morningside’s women’s soccer team.
When asked about an athletic failure, Lucia said “I would say coming to Morningside, I don’t know if it’s necessarily a failure, but it was definitely not what I expected.”
She said that there are about forty five girls on the team, which creates a lot of competition to secure a spot on a roster of eighteen to twenty players. Lucia wasn’t expecting to have to compete with so many other players.
“We were such a big group coming in my freshman year. There were about twenty two girls that came in, so there’s a lot of competition on the team all the time and I just didn’t know it was going to be like that.”
While she says that coming to Morningside is what came to mind when asked about an athletic failure, Lucia did say that she still likes going to school and playing at Morningside. She said, “I think the word failure is wrong to use but that is probably the biggest failure I have experienced.”
After completing my first article, I learned a lot about the writing process and how much time goes into building an article with a variety of sources. For my first article, I wrote about the devastating flooding in Pakistan with the goal of informing my audience about the effects of the flood on the people and the country as a whole.
When constructing this article, I put the most effort into gathering information from other credible sources. I thought that this was one of the most important steps in the writing process. I wanted to make sure my article was full of important facts that interested the audience but were also credible and relevant. I think that this part of the process went very smoothly, but was the most time consuming of all.
However, I do wish that I spent more time prior to starting my article on becoming more familiar with the style of writing that was expected. I think I did well when it came to learning how to write leads and keeping my paragraphs short and to the point, but I struggled with incorporating the source I used into my sentences. Looking back on the assignment, I would have liked to prepare the format more before starting to write the article.
The most difficult part of writing this paper was trying to keep an unbiased voice and not sound too repetitive with the information I was presenting. I wanted to provide information about the flooding through various different lenses, for example, how the floods affected certain parts of Pakistan and how they affected the country’s crop output. I struggled with not repeating the same type of information and sentences, because while there were different lenses to look through, most of the news about the flooding was the same. I think I did well in overcoming this struggle, but it was something that I was concerned with when writing the first draft.
Other than trying to avoid sounding repetitive, the biggest problem that I encountered with writing this paper was properly incorporating the sources I used into my sentences. I had never written in this style before, so it was uncomfortable to try in the beginning. To overcome this problem, I split my article into sections by separating each source I used. After having all of this information in one group, I looked for places to incorporate the source name in a way that wasn’t repetitive and overwhelming, but still gave credit where credit was due. After revising my article, I had named each source that I used for information at least once, ensuring that credit was given.
Overall, I think I learned a lot from this assignment. I now know which areas of the writing process I need to spend a little more time on, and which areas I excel in. I think this first assignment has taught me valuable information that can continue to apply in the future.
Judge Kelsey Hanlon temporarily halted Indiana’s abortion ban on Thursday, September 22, 2022.
This decision means that abortions up to 20 weeks after fertilization can resume in the state. The ruling also prohibits prosecutors from charging providers in the counties where abortions are performed, as well as prevents the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana from revoking the licenses of abortion providers.
Judge Hanlon wrote that the exceptions included in the previous abortion ban stated that a woman could only have the procedure after “first experiencing extreme sexual violence or significant loss of physical health or death.” She continued to write that the ban “materially burdens the bodily autonomy of Indiana’s women and girls by significantly and arbitrarily limiting their access to care.”
I think this article is newsworthy because it could potentially shift the political climate of the United States. States that are imposing abortion bans could follow Indiana’s example and start suspending their bans as well. Indiana’s ban only lasted for a week before Judge Hanlon temporarily revoked it. This could be the case for other states in the US. I think the article was well-organized, and the author did a good job with clearly presenting the information and staying on topic.
Today I walked around Morningside University and interviewed two strangers, one about her biggest pet peeve, and the other about her experiences at Morningside, along with her autograph on a Post-It note.
The first person I interviewed was a senior at Morningside named Jaden. She is a student employee at the campus post office. When asked if I could have a few minutes to interview her, she was very open to the idea and readily answered questions. While working in the post office, Jaden is consistently interacting with people, so I think that is why the conversation went so smoothly. When asked about her biggest pet peeve, Jaden said, “When people chew with their mouth open while they’re eating.”
The second person I interviewed was Jodi Strohbeen, a Morningside staff member who has been working in the campus bookstore for five years now. Jodi was also more than happy to participate in an interview, and was ready to answer every question I had. She seemed to be genuinely interested in the topics I asked her about, and was very invested in our conversation.
When asked about her favorite memory of her time at Morningside, Jodi brought up the first football national championship because there was “a lot excitement from people who don’t get to the bookstore everyday but go to the championship game.” She said that it was fun to see everyone get excited about new merchandise coming in.
I also asked Jodi if she was willing to give her autograph, and even though she was wearing a wrist brace, she was more than happy to “make it pretty.”
Overall, I think this was a very productive experience. Both Jaden and Jodi were very pleasant to interview, and we were able to have great conversations.
Since the beginning of June 2022, the country of Pakistan has suffered severe flooding, leaving more than 1,300 people dead.
According to the United Nations, more than 1,300 people in Pakistan have died, along with another 6,000 who have been injured. On September 11, 2022, the New York Times reported that around 33 million people have been declared missing. Approximately 100,000 square miles of Pakistan have been flooded.
When releasing a message that launched an appeal for international assistance for Pakistan, Secretary-General of the U.N. Antonio Guterres stated, “The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids — the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding.”
While the people of Pakistan are battling these severe floods, the country’s crops and agricultural output have been damaged as well. When discussing the effects of these floods, the New York Times stated that Sindh Province is among the areas that have been hit the hardest by the monsoon rains. According to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, this province produces approximately one third of Pakistan’s food supply, and fifty percent of the province’s crops have been damaged by flooding.
Sanghar, one of the largest cotton producing districts in Sindh, is also feeling the wrath of the floods. Imdad Hingorja, a farmer living in Sanghar, was growing cotton prior to the flooding. When interviewed by the New York Times, he said, “I have lost everything now. There is five to six feet of water in my fields, and I do not know how long it will take the water to dry. I will have not only lost my standing crops but also wasted my entire agricultural year.”
In an article reporting the effects of severe flooding on villages in Pakistan, The Guardian stated residents that live near Lake Manchar, the largest freshwater lake in Pakistan, are stranded after the severe flooding caused the banks of the lake to burst last week. Several surrounding villages have been submerged by water.
The deputy commissioner of Jamshoro, Fareeduddin Mustafa, said the majority of local residents have evacuated the area and they were being provided with shelter in government buildings. The Guardian reported that authorities are ensuring civilians that the water pressure will be reduced and Lake Manchar will be brought under control.
Pakistani authorities have warned it could take up to six months for the deadly floods to recede in hard-hit areas. Fear in Pakistan is rising over the potential for the spread of waterborne diseases including dengue and cholera.
In an article published on September 13, 2022, CNN reported that the climate minister of Pakistan, Sherry Rehman stated, “Karachi is seeing an outbreak of dengue as hundreds and thousands of patients are reporting daily at government and private hospitals. The dengue cases this year are 50% higher than last year. With 584,246 people in camps throughout the country, the health crisis could wreak havoc if it will go unchecked.”
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah released a statement to CNN that included, “We are expediting our efforts to provide medicines and medics to the 81 calamity-hit flood affected districts of the country. However, these are still very initial estimates as new data is coming up on the ground.”
The Pakistani government blames global climate change for the monsoon rains and harsh weather, and is continuing to find support for their people along with solutions to help the country.
New Trial Is Ordered for Water Polo Coach Convicted in ‘Varsity Blues’ Scandal
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Jovan Vavic, former water polo coach at the University of Southern California, was accused of taking bribes in the name of the water polo team and to fund private school tuition for his children and convicted of bribery and fraud.
Vavic was granted a new trial by Judge Indira Talwani, who questioned whether USC should be considered a victim in this case because the university kept the money.
“There was no evidence in the record to suggest that Vavic was taking U.S.C. water polo team money for his own benefit,” she wrote in her decision. “And, however distasteful, there is nothing inherently illegal about a private institution accepting money in exchange for a student’s admission.”
Vavic was also accused of being a part of the admissions scheme which involved the recruitment of students with false athletic credentials in return for payments to athletic officials. Vavic and his lawyers are denying any involvement with this scandal.
I think this article was interesting because it built upon the “Operation Varsity Blues” scandal at USC in 2019. As part of the New York Times audience, I found this article compelling and newsworthy because I was unaware that yet another coach potentially participated in bribery and fraud, and it added yet another layer to the shocking admissions scandal. I think this news could potentially impact what colleges and universities students would want to apply to, which could greatly impact the revenue and status of these universities. This article was well-written and easy to follow, and was organized in a way that presented the most important facts first.
Fifteen horses are dead after a barn fire at four o’clock this morning at the Norfolk Downs Race Track in Chicago.
Only ten horses survived the fire, which is suspected to be arson. An arson squad has been called to the scene to investigate. The fire smoldered until noon, only leaving charred wooden supports of the one-story barn. Jim Connery, the fire chief, stated, “The fire exploded near the center of the barn. Flames were shooting out of the building when we got here. The fire is definitely suspicious.”
The assistant general manager of the track, Dan Bucci said, “It could have been of an incendiary nature because it started in the middle of the barn, not at the end. The only heaters and electrical outlets were in the tack rooms at the ends of the barns.”
This tragic event occured one day prior to the opening of racing season, leaving jockey Albert Ramos emotional. Pointing at the surviving horses Ramos said, “That’s my best friends. I love horses more than I do people. I feel like I want to cry.”
Last night, Cathy Wensen, a twenty two year old senior attending Vanderbilt University was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Wensen is a highly successful straight-A student studying biology at Vanderbilt University. Wensen was this year’s homecoming queen, and has also been a cheerleader. She is also the daughter of Jim Wensen, a locally prominent attorney. This is Cathy Wensen’s third arrest for driving under the influence in the last six months.
Students entering Backwater State University in the fall of 2023 will be required to take one math, computer science, and foreign language course.
The university’s president David French announced the changes in graduation requirements. A recent study showed that only 15% of students took a foreign language course, and only 20% took a math course while attending Backwater State University. French stated, “We feel that these new course requirements will allow us to turn out better-educated persons.”
