Hoss' Blog

A newly-wed shot at wedding by own husband at a wedding last Saturday. Laurie Brunson is now in St. Luke’s Hospital. Her husband, Richard Brunson, fled after the shooting.

Richard Brunson shot his wife at the reception with a .22 calibre handgun. Sgt. Mann commented on the incident. After the shooting a neighbor called the police. By that time, the groom had disappeared.

The newly weds had lived together for five months before the wedding.

Laurie Brunson is said to be in satisfactory condition.

Gilbert Araujo, a Brazilian car washer, was thought to have been murdered. Or at least that’s what his family thought after Gilberto’s brother wrongly identified him. His brother said he hadn’t seen Gilberto in four months and the man that was murdered was also a carwasher and looked a lot like Gilberto.

Gilberto found out about his “death” only after an acquaintance he ran into informed him that his family was having a funeral, and he was in the coffin. He tried calling others who were at the wake, and after no success, he decided to show up in person.

I picked this article because of how humorous it is… It’s not funny that a man did end up dying, but the fact that he was wrongly identified by his own brother I found a bit ludicrous.

As always, I find this story to be a bit news worthy because of the rarity of it. How often do people get to show up at their own wake, their own funeral? Never. This was a BBC News story in the Latin American section, and thankfully wasn’t a headliner. This story link didn’t ven have a picture beside it. That’s good, don’t get me wrong- it’s a good story, but it doesn’t deserve to be a big story. This article doesn’t apply to anyone outside of the family that was involved, and the family of the man who was murdered. It’s about a Brazil man, so the article doesn’t fall into the proximity class of news values. It doesn’t have a big impact.

I find it to be a relatively funny story, perhaps a human interest or feel-good story for people to read when they don’t feel like dealing with all the other tragic news. The rarity and the human interest of it all makes it a bit of a news-worthy story, but not fully. That’s where BBC got it straight- they didn’t headline it, they didn’t advertise it much- it was a plain link to the story, no jazz added to it.

To read the full article, click here.

As the fall semester hits the half way mark, the two Morningside mock trial teams are gearing up for their first competition. Mockers start to compete as early as October, and the season could extend as far as May.

Mock trial is the reenactment of a case in a courtroom setting. Each team is composed of three witnesses and three attorneys, and the teams portray both defense and plaintiff. Mock trial is not only for political science and pre-law students. It’s a diverse activity to be part of. The teams at Morningside have majors from elementary education, history, pre-law, and theatre, among others.

“Throughout my experiences in mock trial, I have witnessed theatre majors portray accents, design costumes, and give life to the person they are supposed to be. I have also watched perspective lawyers, too nervous to talk in front of their friends, stand toe-to-toe with the best team in the state,” said sophomore elementary education major Liz Johnson. Johnson has been in mock trial since she was in high school and plans on becoming a lawyer in her future.

Johnson advocated that mock trial helped her, and others. “Mock trial doesn’t just help you become a lawyer, it helps you gain confidence and step out of your shell,” she said.

Amanda Heinrichs is a sophomore political science student and a first year mocker. “It’s been very interesting to be a first year mocker. We just had our first scrimmage and I can tell I’m going to love it! I have gained confidence and I’m actually doing better in another political science class because of it,” Heinrichs said.

Heinrichs, along with the other fourteen team members, have been working steadily from day one for the upcoming competing season. By their first competition, Heinrichs said that they will have done two scrimmages for preparation.

The Morningside team is led by Hinton lawyer Tara Vonnahme, and its Morningside representative and traveling coach, political science professor Lillian Lopez.

This year, collegiate mock trial teams throughout the entire nation will compete over a civil case. The case was written about a fictional accidental death of a spouse while a couple was on vacation. “It’s about an extremely dangerous scuba dive, where a diver had a medical condition, and the scuba diving company left her down in the water to die,” Johnson stated. The teams develop their cases to best suit their interests and goals and to best portray the witnesses they are calling to the stand.

“Now we have to decide if it’s the scuba diving company’s fault or the diver’s fault for failure to disclose information about her medical history,” Johnson said.

The upcoming competition, taking place at Hamline University in St. Paul, will be held over fall break. The team will compete in four rounds over the course of two days, performing both plaintiff and defense roles twice. The team will also compete several times around the midwest until regionals is held in March.

“Neither team knows what to expect at this point. I think once the first competition is under our belt, we can start being more competitive and all of the tension will fall away,” Johnson said.

As the fall semester hits the half way mark, the two Morningside mock trial teams are gearing up for their first competition. Mockers start to compete as early as October, and the season could extend as far as May.

Mock trial is the reenactment of a case in a courtroom setting. Each team is composed of three witnesses and three attorneys, and the teams play both defense and plaintiff. Mock trial is not only for political science and pre-law students. It’s a pretty diverse activity to be part of. The teams at Morningside have majors from elementary education, history, pre-law, and theatre, among others.

“Throughout my experiences in mock trial, I have witnessed theatre majors portray accents, design costumes, and give life to the person they are supposed to be. I have also watched perspective lawyers, too nervous to talk in front of their friends, stand toe-to-toe with the best team in the state,” said sophomore elementary education major, Liz Johnson. Johnson has been in mock trial since she was in high school and has plans on becoming a lawyer in her future.

Johnson advocated that mock trial helped her, and others. “Mock trial doesn’t just help you become a lawyer, it helps you gain confidence and step out of your shell,” she said.

Amanda Heinrichs, a sophomore political science student, is a first year mocker, who Johnson has helped prepare for competition. “It’s been very interesting to be a first year mocker. We just had our first scrimmage and I can tell I’m going to love it! I have gained confidence and I’m actually am doing better in another political science class because of it,” she said.

Heinrichs, along with the other fourteen team members, have been working steadily from day one for the upcoming competing season. By their first competition, Heinrichs said that they will have done two scrimmages for preparation.

The Morningside team is led by Hinton lawyer, Tara Vonnahme, and it’s Morningside representative and traveling coach, political science professor Lillian Lopez.

This year, collegiate mock trial teams throughout the entire nation will compete over a civil case. The case was written about a fictional accidental death of a spouse while a couple was on vacation. “It’s about an extremely dangerous scuba dive, where a diver had a medical condition, and the scuba diving company left her down in the water to die,” Johnson stated. The teams develop their cases to best suit their interests and goals and to best portray the witnesses they are calling to the stand.

“Now we have to decide if it’s the scuba diving company’s fault or the diver’s fault for failure to disclose information about her medical history,” Johnson said.

She compared this year’s case to last year, saying, “This year’s case only has two witnesses deal with math and tables, which makes it easier.”

The upcoming competition, taking place at Hamline University in St. Paul, will be held over fall break. The team will compete in four rounds over the course of two days, performing both plaintiff and defense roles twice.

“Neither team knows what to expect at this point. I think once the first competition is under our belt, we can start being more competitive and all of the tension will fall away,” Johnson said.

BBC News Health section posted an article today about studies showing strokes are affecting people younger than they used to. The article compares both the United States and the United Kingdom’s rates of stroke and the ages that they happen. BBC uses a creduble source, a doctor from the Stroke Associate to give a quote on the matter. Dr. Clare Walton commented that these strokes are happening younger and younger, before the age of 55, and that they can be prevented. “For example, eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly and getting your blood pressure checked can all make a huge difference,” Walton said in the article.

I found this article on the front page of BBC online, and thought it belonged there. Not only is is health related, which is very important to have updates about, but it calls out to younger people to read it. The fact that these strokes give younger people a heads up on their health, a warning to take care of themselves before they face a stroke, instead of after, and provides (brief) ways on how to prevent them. This is a great article, but it should have had more sources and information regarding the studies on the decreasing age of average strokes.

It is important to know what ages these things start happening on average. I wish there was more information regarding how to prevent them, why they happened (for those who aren’t sure what exactly a stroke is), and more information regarding the studies. It would have made the article better and more interesting to read.

Read the article here.

As the fall semester hits the half way mark, the two Morningside mock trial teams are gearing up for their first competition. Mockers at Morningside College have been working since the first day of classes of the fall semester to prepare for the long competing season. The season involves months of preparation, and competitions from October through March, when regional competitions are held.

Mock trial is the reenactment of a case in a courtroom setting. Each team is composed of three witnesses and three attorneys, and the teams play both defense and plaintiff. Mock trial is not only for political science and pre-law students. It’s a pretty diverse activity to be part of. The teams at Morningside have majors from elementary education, history, pre-law, and theatre, among others.

“Throughout my experiences in mock trial, I have witnessed theatre majors portray accents, design costumes, and give life to the person they are supposed to be. I have also watched perspective lawyers, too nervous to talk in front of their friends, stand toe-to-toe with the best team in the state,” said sophomore elementary education major, Liz Johnson. Johnson has been in mock trial since she was in high school and has plans on becoming a lawyer in her future.

She advocated that mock trial truly helps a person. “Mock trial doesn’t just help you become a lawyer, it helps you gain confidence and step out of your shell,” she said.

This year, collegiate mock trial teams throughout the entire nation will compete over a civil case. The case was written about a fictional accidental death of a spouse while a couple was on vacation. “It’s about an extremely dangerous scuba dive, where a diver had a medical condition, and the scuba diving company left her down in the water to die,” Johnson stated. The teams develop their cases to best suit their interests and goals and to best portray the witnesses they are calling to the stand.

“Now we have to decide if it’s the scuba diving company’s fault or the diver’s fault for failure to disclose information about her medical history,” Johnson said.

She compared this year’s case to last year, saying, “This year’s case only has two witnesses deal with math and tables, which makes it easier.”

The upcoming competition, taking place at Hamline University in St. Paul, will be held over fall break. The team will compete in four rounds over the course of two days, performing both plaintiff and defense roles twice.

“Neither team knows what to expect at this point. I think once the first competition is under our belt, we can start being more competitive and all of the tension will fall away,” Johnson said.

Regardless of the nervousness in the team, Morningside’s mock trial teams, well prepared, will put up a fight at Hamline University over fall break. They are in for a long season, but one worth the effort.

We all have the freedom of expression. We can say what we want,  write what we feel, and wear what we decide. However, in lgiht of the upcoming presidential election, one high school student in Pennslyvania was booted form the classroom. Why? Her teacher is an Obama supporter, and the student was wearing a Romney t-shirt. The teacher even compared it to “wearing a KKK shirt.” (I did noticed that the write of the article used “wearing a KKK shirt” as a quote to avoid attribution and conflict in the phrasing!)

The student wore her Romney-Ryan t-shirt to school one day, and upon arriving in math class, she was told to take off the shirt, that another one would be provided, and the the teacher asked her about her parents political opinions.

I was stunned when I read that the teacher laster apologized, but excused her statements as part of a “joke.” It’s not a joke to embarrass a 16-year-old who supports a presidential candidate.

I think I would publish, but I don’t know how news worthy it is. It is an odd, public official case, which may lead to it being news worthy. Some schools do not allow any political shirts or gear (when I lived in Florida during the 2008 election, political material was prohibited in case it caused fights) but this school must not have had such rules in place. the fact that a teacher called her out on her opinions was rude, and I don’t think it should matter what the parents’ or even the student’s political opinion is. The story has interest to the public because it could happen to their own children, it’s current in that it deals with the election next months, and it’s not a commonly reported topic. The teacher was transferred to a different class because of this incident.

To read the full article, find it on MSNBC.