Hoss' Blog

After BP faced the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago, the company has to face a new situation this year- being banned from a contract with the United States government. The Environmental Protection Agency, or the EPA, stated that the action was taken over BP’s “lack of business integrity” after two years of trying to recover.

The suspension is said to be lifted soon, and does not hinder the current contracts with the United States government.

The BBC article from Wednesday has subtitle that move the article through different topics. For one, they cover the “resolve and lift ban” then go into the “reckless” aspect of the oil spill. The reckless section says, “When someone recklessly crashes a car, their licence and keys are taken away.” After the reckless aspect, it moves on to contracts again.

The article flows very well, and it makes sense. Most everyone know of the oil spill, since it’s been such a huge issue for years now. I think the article is very current, considering these bans were just put into place. This could potentially affect people, though I’m unsure how much. I think it’s a news piece, but doesn’t truly capture the readers attention like it could. It should go into the consequences that BP has faces and could face due to this ban, and how it could effect American citizens, gas prices, etc.

To read the article, find it on BBC.

Over fifteen people have been killed after rockets were fired from the Gaza towards Southern Israel. However, this is not the first rocket that was fired to Israel. Hundreds have been fired, and many people have been injured.

Thankfully, the area has sirens that sounded when the rockets were fired, so some people were able to move to safety. When the rocket is fired, it puts off a sound and can be seen in the sky, but one of the rockets slipped through, and landed in a top floor of an apartment building where two families lived.

The BBC article states, “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that his country is prepared to extend its operation against Hamas.”

I think it’s a great article- there’s a lot of details, especially describing the rockets and the way you’re able to see them in the sky and hear them. However, as a person who is just tuning in to what’s happenng in Israel, the article doesn’t give much in that area. It doesn’t explain when it started, who the Hama/Gaza is, and why this is happening. I’d really like it if they were able to link to past stories, give more background knowledge, or take a paragraph to explain what is going on.

I do think that since it’s BBC, most of the readers are caught up on this situation. If it was MSNBC, I think the writer would be more willing to provide background in each article. BBC has a demographic of people who watch the news more closely.

However, it is a current piece, and is very worthy of front-page news. Attacks like these are ones that start wars, and hopefully the conflict gets solve quickly.

To read the article, go to BBC.

Newscast – Broadcast Writing

Newscast – Broadcast writing

From the Morningside College newsroom, I’m Jianna Hoss, and here’s the news

1. Michelle Obama came to Sioux City in the week prior to her husband’s re-election. Michelle rallied for support of her husband. (Quote from SC speech recording) Michelle has played a huge part in the re-election process. She travelled across the nation, talking about issues such as health care, women’s rights, education, and encouraged Iowa residents to early-vote. (Another quote from speech recording) Seeing our first lady first hand was inspiration to a lot, as the pre-election day crowd chanted. (Recording: four-more-years)

1. Katie Copple a sophomore Mass Communication major, had the weekend of a life time. Upon arriving at Kansas Speedway over fall break for the NASCAR races, Copple said she was…”” She even met her favorite NASCAR driver, Danica Patrick. “.”

1. The Morningside mock trial team is more than just suits, heels, and courtrooms. Mock trial is a dedicated team that works hard for their scores. Returning member (Nancy or Beth, whoever can record an interview) said “.” The team has already travelled all over the mid-west, and will continue to do so until regionals in March.

I’m Jianna Hoss, reporting.

On Tuesday night, the now two-term President Barack Obama swept every single swing state. The states were Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada, Colorado, New Hampshire, according to the NPR article posted Wednesday.

Because Obama swept these states and gained the electoral college votes, he won the presidential race.

Many of these races reported later than the rest of the states, but once these states had their full reports in, you saw the blue run from the east coast to the west coast.

However, many people wondered how Obama won every single swing state.

The NPR article states that, “In most of the battleground states, blacks and Latinos supplied the margin of victory,” and that “African-Americans showed up in astonishing numbers, matching or exceeding the record turnout in 2008.” These statements were made by John Geer, a professor at Vanderbilt University.

The article also states that Florida, Nevada, and Colorado had a huge latino population voting, and that the turnout was probably because of Obama’s support of the DREAM act. The DREAM act allows children of illegal immigrants to gain US citizenship.

The election was obviously huge news the week, not only for the United States, but the whole world. U.S. politics is watched from most countries, and the U.S. is a huge played in international affairs and has a lot of power. Therefore, whoever is leading our country is not only scrutinized by Americans, but Germans ad Australians and Syrians…

This NPR article ie definitely news. It covers a topic that doesn’t just affect one group, but the entire world. It’s current, and it covers a hot topic. Not many people foresaw  Obama sweeping blue through every single one of the swing states. A few? Sure. But every single one? No, of course not! It was a huge surprise to many people.

Considering the general public saw the presidential race as neck-and-neck, Obama having one hundred more electoral college votes than Romney was also a huge surprise.

I really liked this NPR article. It was an easy article to read and portrayed the information in a way that was easy to read. The professor that they quoted several times gave great information, and I think that helped the story’s quality. The article focused more on minorities and their reactions and votes to the election more than anything- after all, their votes are a lot of the reason why Obama took the states.

To read the article, click here to go to NPR.

Scientists find that it may have been more than an asteroid that killed off species in North America while dinosaurs roamed the earth. It may have also been caused by the unstable food webs of the time period.

Here’s Katie Copple with the story.

Here’s Katie Copple with the story.

For more information, find the story at PNAS.org