Elizabeth's Blog

Sioux City, IA — East Dakota Highway Patrol ordered ban of hand-held radar guns yesterday due to health concerns.

Health concerns were raised after three municipal officers in Central City filed workman’s compensation claims, saying that they developed cancer from using the radar guns. The ban was issued as a precaution while studies are looking at the possible connection between cancer and the use of the hand-held units. 

This ban results in 70 units that will not be in use. Radar units with transmitters mounted on the outside of squad vehicles will still be used.

The move is considered to be the first of its kind by a state police agency.

For our second News Comment, I read an article from The New York Times called “3 Vermont State Troopers Investigated Over Fake Vaccination Cards”. The article discussed how 3 Vermont State Troopers were suspected of having various roles in producing fake vaccine cards. All three State Troopers have resigned at this point and are under an ongoing federal investigation.

After reading the article it did seem as if the writer, Jonny Diaz, wrote this in an inverted pyramid style. The most relevant or “important” information was found near the top of the story and the less important information was found later on. There really wasn’t any bias in this story. It was very straightforward and provided merely factual information. There weren’t really any points where the author’s opinion on the matter or the coronavirus, in general, came through. I also thought the necessary information was given and if anything was still in question it was explained why that information wasn’t included. For example, the story specifically references that no further comments will be made due to the ongoing investigation.  

I found the story to be pretty relevant with the ongoing pandemic. At first, my thoughts were that this is pretty concerning if people in positions of authority are creating fake vaccine cards. Anymore today you go places that allow you to enter without wearing a mask on the basis that you are fully vaccinated. This goes for other things as well. So the idea that people are making up fake ones is a little alarming. With that being said, it was nice that Diaz included a quote from the director of the Vermont State Police saying “‘The accusations in this case involve an extraordinary level of misconduct — a criminal violation of the law — and I could not be more upset and disappointed,’”. From an everyday reader’s perspective, it was nice to see that the actions by the 3 state troopers were not found acceptable. Overall, I thought the writer did a good job including what was necessary and in a way that aligns with our learnings well.

For this week’s news comment I read an article entitled “Tropical Storm Larry Forms in the Atlantic” from the New York Times. The article discussed a new tropical storm forming and its potential impact. It also went into further detail about the trends from the past few years in regards to tropical storms and hurricanes. I liked the link from this storm to the others that have developed just recently. I also appreciated the reasoning behind why these storms are becoming stronger and more intense. The background information was helpful. 

I don’t think there was anything super problematic about the style of writing nor the content. However, as someone whose interest was peaking because of the title, it did get a little long and the end of it didn’t seem to be absolutely relevant. It went into even more detail about climate change and seemed to stray away from the main point of the article. However, I think I personally would have preferred it this way rather than be left with questions.

LINK:https://www.nytimes.com/article/tropical-storm-larry-hurricane.html

In the excerpt from “Is it newsworthy?” I came across something that I found interesting. On page 36 it referred to thinking of new, interesting, and important as the primary colors of what makes something newsworthy. I really like the way this was put and how simple it was. However, it left me thinking that yeah, that makes sense, but to who would it be interesting, important, and new to? Now, it continued on and said to think of the audience as the base, and then depending on how you mix and use those colors it will offer you a number of different circumstances to reference. Overall, as a graphic design major the analogy popped out to me and I thought it was a good way of conveying something that doesn’t necessarily have a set way of being explained.

I found a lot of things interesting about this article. When asking what the news media should do about information that could potentially mislead the public it is honestly hard to say. The article itself talks about that issue and how hard it is to keep only true information circulating and how the efforts to do this sometimes only make things worse. Another thing I found interesting is the part where it discusses that people try so hard to find the truth amongst so much differing information that they tend to stop searching. This made a lot of sense and I can even say that this has happened to me before. 

Today we will be meeting Madison Mahr. Madison is a Junior at Morningside University this year and is set to major in marketing with a sports management minor. When dealing with schedule changes, planning, and course books Madison refers to her advisor Marilyn Eastman. However, Madison’s time at Morningside wasn’t always filled with the four p’s of marketing and the basics of management. She started her time here as a biology major and then decided to switch after freshman year. 

Madison is originally from Sioux City and lives off-campus at home. She attended Sioux City East High School before deciding to stay in town for college. When discussing her choice to stay in Sioux City she explained that dance was the main reason. She is a member of the dance team here on campus and is involved with dance in many other aspects. Madison and her All-Star team won nationals this past spring semester during finals time. 

When not busy on campus Madison can be found coaching the West High School dance team, teaching at “5678” dance studio in McCook Lake, South Dakota, and working at a hospital dealing with patient access. When having downtime Madison enjoys movie marathons of all kinds with her friends.

When it comes to Madison’s future, much like other college students, the picture is not exactly clear. However, she could see herself operating her own dance studio. As for this school year? Madison’s lack of enthusiasm is best described in her own words: “I’m not a school person.”

Thank you and that concludes this week’s episode of “Who am I sitting next to.”