After a long life the 16 year old Polar Bear at Midland Zoo passed away.

Homer was found dead this morning in Midland Zoo. Many were devastated by the news.

Homer the polar bear was loved by any Midland Zoo visitors. He was the oldest polar bear at the zoo. Zookeeper Sara Getty explained how Homer lead two 9-year-old polar bears and a 10-year-old male named Yukon.

Homer was an old polar bear but they are still determined to find the cause of his death. Dr. Shanda Lear stated, “The zoo will perform a necropsy to try to determine the cause of death. The results will not be available for several weeks.”

Midland Zoo prides itself on the environment created for polar bears to thrive. Their unique exhibits allow the bears to engage in natural behaviors, play in manufactured snow, dig in gravel and hunt trout in the chilled pool.

These polar bears are ambassadors for their wild relatives, educating zoo visitors about these threatened animals. Homer was a big part of that and had been for many years.

A memorial will be built next to the polar bear exhibit in honer of Homer’s passing.

It was 8^th-grade year and Danielle Thompson’s day consisted of walking up for school at 7:45 am and then heading to dance right after until 9:00 pm. As the year went on a series of events occurred. Danielle got severely sick preventing her from living a normal life.

She started experiencing symptoms like lightheadedness, fainting, nausea, migraines, rapid heartbeat, and blurred vision. She would faint while walking upstairs or get nauseous in class. It was scary not knowing what was wrong and experiencing symptoms that prevent you from doing normal things.

After many visits to the hospital to figure out the problem, Danielle was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).  POTS is developed from a severe illness or traumatic event that weakens your immune system.

POTS can be developed at any age. After being diagnosed the doctors told Danielle that it would go away after 2 years. Danielle is in her sophomore year of college and still struggles with POTS.

POTS has affected Danielle in many aspects of her life, but it has affected her as a dancer the most.

Danielle had taken 4 years off of dance in high school. She decided she wanted to get back in the game by joining Morningside University’s Dance Team her freshman year.

Morningside’s Dance Team was aiming for winning the National Championship title, so Danielle knew it would be intense. Taking 4 years off and joining a competitive team was a challenge.

Danielle described practice as being difficult. Walking into the dance room she knew her coach and teammates expected a lot from her. She explained, “Someone with POTS walking exerts as much energy in the body as someone running a mile, so when I do full outs it is really hard on my body because it takes so much more energy.”

Practices on Morningside’s Dance Team are no joke. Jocelyn Hendrix, junior-year teammate, describes the feeling of running through a routine. “You get to a point in the routine where your body just wants to give up, but you have to tell it to keep going and keep a smile on your face.” There are days when they run full outs 3 times in one practice. It may not sound like a lot, but a lot of energy is exerted on these routines.

When asked what it feels like to have an episode in practice Danielle responded, “It always starts with me getting really shaky. I feel like my body is underwater; like I was in a swimming pool. My vision becomes very blurry, and everything starts to slow down. I try to push through by taking salt packets or hydrating.”

Brooke Harvey, a junior-year teammate, also struggles with the same condition. When in practice they both keep an eye out for each other. If one notices the other is not doing well, they will make sure they stay hydrated or consume salt.

Despite these challenges, Danielle perseveres through practice and performance. It is important for her to take care of her body in order to be an athlete. When diagnosed, the doctors told Danielle they didn’t want her to dance, but because she took the precautions her symptoms have gotten better. She makes it a point to carry salt packets, drink Liquid IV, and drink lots of water.

Although physically Danielle has gotten better, it has taken a toll on her mental health. Danielle explained “It comes with a lot of brain fog, and it can increase feelings of depression because my body is exhausted. It makes me feel like I’m incapable of doing things on my own, so it makes me frustrated. I can’t take super-hot showers without fainting. I’m 20 and I feel like I should be in a nursing home.”

Even though it is frustrating and has gone on longer than anticipated she hopes to overcome it someday. It’s kind of a guessing game. Some people can grow out of it and others won’t. Danielle knows of a lot of people that have moved past it, so she hopes that she can.

(Still need to add other two interviews)

It was 8^th-grade year and Danielle Thompson’s day consisted of walking up for school at 7:45 am and then heading to dance right after until 9:00 pm. As the year went on a series of events occurred. Danielle got severely sick preventing her from living a normal life.

She started experiencing symptoms like lightheadedness, fainting, nausea, migraines, rapid heartbeat, and blurred vision. She would faint while walking upstairs or get nauseous in class. It was scary not knowing what was wrong and experiencing symptoms that prevent you from doing normal things.

After many visits to the hospital to figure out the problem, Danielle was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).  POTS is developed from a severe illness or traumatic event that weakens your immune system.

POTS can be developed at any age. After being diagnosed the doctors told Danielle that it would go away after 2 years. Danielle is in her sophomore year of college and still struggles with POTS.

POTS has affected Danielle in many aspects of her life, but it has affected her as a dancer the most.

Danielle had taken 4 years off of dance in high school. She decided she wanted to get back in the game by joining Morningside University’s Dance Team her freshman year.

Morningside’s Dance Team was aiming for winning the National Championship, so Danielle knew it would be intense. Taking 4 years off and joining a competitive team was a challenge.

Danielle described practice as being difficult. She explained, “Someone with POTS walking exerts as much energy in the body as someone running a mile, so when I do full outs it is really hard on my body because it takes so much more energy.”

When asked what it feels like to have an episode in practice Danielle responded, “It always starts with me getting really shaky. I feel like my body is underwater; like I was in a swimming pool. My vision becomes very blurry, and everything starts to slow down. I try to push through by taking salt packets or hydrating.”

Despite these challenges, Danielle perseveres through practice and performance. It is important for her to take care of her body in order to be an athlete. When diagnosed the doctors told Danielle they didn’t want her to dance, but because she took the precautions her symptoms have gotten better. She makes it a point to carry salt packets, drink Liquid IV, and drink lots of water.

Although physically Danielle has gotten better it has taken a toll on her mental health. Danielle explained “It comes with a lot of brain fog, and it can increase feelings of depression because my body is exhausted. It makes me feel like I’m incapable of doing things on my own, so it makes me frustrated. I can’t take super-hot showers without fainting. I’m 20 and I feel like I should be in a nursing home.”

Even though it is frustrating and has gone on longer than anticipated she hopes to overcome it someday. It’s kind of a guessing game. Some people can grow out of it and others won’t. Danielle knows of a lot of people that have moved past it, so she hopes that she can.

Amazon’s Halo Rise falsely advertises its efficiency in collecting sleep-tracking data.

Halo Rise is supposed to track your activity while sleeping and determine if you got good or bad sleep. It uses motion sensors to collect this information. Once you wake up it shows you a chart with the sleep stages and tells you if you got sufficient rest or not.

The author used the product themselves and critiqued its ability to accurately measure the data. They used the products themselves and didn’t feel like the information gathered was accurate or reliable.

They even asked Amazon if it was really reliable. Amazon said that they believed it was accurate but they needed to do more test to make sure.

This is news because this is a product that someone may want to buy and it is good to get a review on the product. I was also not aware that Amazon had released Halo Rise, so I learned something new.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/technology/personaltech/amazon-halo-rise-review.html

“Subway Unveils the Worlds First Footlong Cookie Only Available on National Cookie Day”

What is the “story,” the news? They are promoting Subway’s new limited edition footlong cookie. It will be sold on December 4th.

Who is its audience? Any current customer, anyone who loves cookies, and any potential consumers.

What is the benefit to the reader? They are made aware of a new limited edition product that they may be interested in.

To the company placing the story? They are making people aware of their limited edition product. Not only that but it is spreading brand awareness. They could potentially gain more sales and consumers which increases profit.

How is it like/unlike the stories you have done for this class? Because it is PR the writing is opinion based. It is not like a news article just informing people of an event.

Adidas fires garment workers living in poverty for allegedly asking for a raise.

The World Cup in Qatar has led to the production of jerseys from companies like Adidas. This has shed light on the bad working conditions and harsh punishments.

The Pou Chen Group factory in Yagon, Myanmar recently fired 26 employees after they had asked for a raise. They were making $2.27 a day and asked for a $1.51 raise and were denied.

Many of the workers can barely survive with what they are currently making. One worker talked about how she didn’t eat for three days until a friend brought her some.

Adidas has been called out and made a statement that they would check the legality of the the employees that were fired.

This is news because these are brands that we most likely wear. It is important to keep these brands socially responsible. Ultimately if we don’t say or do anything they are going to keep doing it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/01/business/world-cup-myanmar-adidas-wages.html

“Grant Writing Class Turns Practice Into a Funded Proposal for the Sioux City International Film Festival”

Would you consider this news? Yes because it is informing people of the success of the grant writing class.

Who are the potential audiences for this information? Students, faculty, potential students, and alumni. Basically, anyone wanting to learn more about Morningside and what is going on.

What’s the “purpose” of the story? The purpose of the story is to make Morningside look good by showing the good things that are happening.

What might the readers of this story gain? They may gain knowledge about the grant writing class and may want to join. Basically they are being informed of a good thing that came out of Morningside education.

What’s the benefit? It is positive publicity for Morningside. People will have good things to say about Morningside and potential students may want to come.

What does Morningside gain from the story? The story highlights how a student succeeded outside of the classroom from classroom knowledge. It makes Morningside look good because it shows how

SpaceX employees are fired after speaking up about Elon Musks’ accusations.

Eight employees were fired after writing an open letter critical of the chief executive. SpaceX hosted a meeting with about 20 engineers to discuss this open letter. Multiple employees had concerns over the sexual assault allegations against Musk.

Vice President, Jon Edwards, said the letters were extremist and distracting to the company.

Employees wanted there to be a separation between Elon Musk and SpaceX because they do not condone his behavior, but the article stated “SpaceX is Elon and Elon is SpaceX”.

The letter lead to nine employees being fired. Unfair-labor-practices were filed with National Labor Relations Board on behalf of eight of the employees that were fired.

This is news because Elon Musk owns a lot of different companies and it is important to know that these companies have a good culture. If he is doing unethical things, he should be held accountable. Employees shouldn’t be punished for Elon’s actions.

Retail takes a lot of patients

Paige Padavich is a Buckle employee. It was a Satruday, and there was a family shopping for clothing for their family photos. Assisting customers is “very hands-on”, says Padavich. While she was helping this family, another family needed her assistance. The family photo family asked Padavich to find a certain shirt, and at the same time, the second family asked for her assistance as well. Padavich explained how “there are some customers that are very demanding and want things now”. Padavich stays calm and doesn’t get worked up when having to assist multiple demanding families at the same time. After a lot of back and forth between the two families, Padavich was able to successfully assist both families.

Body composition test cause controversy among athletes struggling with eating disorders.

Audra Koopman, a former Penn State track runner, discussed her struggles with bulimia in college. Koopman explained how her coaches praised her for losing body fat, and the body composition test gave her a great amount of pressure to maintain a low weight. Koopman described how she spiraled and had to go on medical leave.

Other athletes have also gone through a similar situation. Coaches put this pressure on athletes to lose weight and use the body composition test to track the athlete’s progress. These athletes were not told to find their perfect body fat percentage but instead were told that the lower the percentage the better.

The athletes agree that the body composition test can be a great tool to help athletes with their health. The downfall is that coaches are not well educated on these results and are harming their athletes by setting unrealistic expectations.

The athletes in the article all agree that testing can be a helpful tool but colleges need to be more aware of the effect it may have on athletes’ mental health.

This is news because athletes feel great pressure to perform. Sometimes this pressure can turn into harmful practices to achieve their goals. This can not only be harmful physical but mental as well. It is important that coaches are well-educated on this subject to make sure their players are healthy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/sports/college-athletes-body-fat-women.html