What's the Word

Last Wednesday Lindsay Lohan reportedly was arrested for a hit and run accident in New York City. Lindsay wa leaving her hotel when she struck a middle ages man and injured his knee and leg. Lindsay’s publicist says that the truth will come out and the claims against Lohan will be proved untrue.  Lohan is currently under informal probation though, and it is unclear if she will be charged with a violation of probation.  The cops are reviewing surveillance video to see if Lindsay even actually struck the man.  See the news story with the link below.

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This could be seen as newsworthy to some people.  Celebrities’ lives are always being put in the news. Anything about their life can be found in the news.  To some though, Lindsay Lohan may be a lost cause and nothing about her interests people anymore.  It is one charge after another that she is facing and people do not care anymore.  What could be newsworthy about this story though is if the man accusing her of hitting her made up this lie about a celebrity and he is charged in some way for lying to the cops.  Whether or not this is exciting news or out of the ordinary it will be considered news because it deals with a celebrity.

I am finding ledes to be difficult to write.  In my last papers or articles I would always start with a name, so I just need to remember what to do to make the reader keep reading.  I also find myself switching tenses when writing.  I think I am better writing stories off of facts rather than description or making up my own story.

In Chicago many teachers are striking against their school board leaving nearly 350,000 without schooling.  They are trying to reach an agreement, but are said to be far from one.  Parents are very upset with this say, “there should never be a reason to keep children out of school.”  The strike has been going on for three days now and neither side sees a negotiation in the near future.  The strike is because of teachers’ evaluations. They are trying to work out all points in the teachers’ contracts and are currently down to two.  Both the teachers and the board say they are working in the best interest of the students. Too read more look at the link below.

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This story can be newsworthy.  I don’t see it effecting many people outside of the schools included in the strike, but to the people involved it is very important.  The people in these schools need to be aware of what is going on and if there are agreements being made.  It is effecting the kids and parents in all those areas.  It could also be considered urgent news in those areas due to the fact that they don’t know when their kids will be sent back to school and they need to decide what to do with them in the mean time.

Iowa State University honored its first African American athlete by naming their stadium after him.  Jack Trice Stadium is the only District 1-A stadium to be named after an African American. Jack Trice was a student at Iowa State in 1922 and played football and ran track for the Cyclones. Jack or “Johnny” was the first African American to play any sports for the university.  He went through many challenges playing for the Cyclones in a time of such hardship for colored people.

The stadium was named after Jack because of the persistent efforts of the students at Iowa State University.  They wanted his legacy to go on for years.  Because of this, the stadium is a constant vision of pride.  The people that enter take pride in their team and the stadium.  All year round people drive past and think of all the exciting things that go on inside the grandstands.  During football season there is constant cheer and happiness at and around the stadium.  People that attend the games instantly become friends in cheering on the Cyclones.  On game days people surround the stadium hours in advance to the game to celebrate their pride for the team.  The parking lots are full and people are everywhere. Once the game begins a sea of cardinal and gold take over the stadium and you can hear a constant loud roar of the fans cheering on the Cyclones.

Jack’s legacy started when Jack and his fellow football players were in Minneapolis, Minnesota for a football game the next day.  Jack was staying in a separate hotel than his team due to his ethnicity. During the second play of the game in Minneapolis Jack’s collar bone was broken.  He insisted he was fine and continued to play.  During the third quarter of the game he took another hard hit and was removed from the game and taken to a Minneapolis hospital.  He was later released and traveled home to Ames.  Two days later Jack died due to a hemorrhaged lung and internal bleeding caused form his injuries in the game.

The stadium on Iowa State’s campus was originally called Cyclone Stadium and the field was named Jack Trice field. The students of Iowa State University wanted to do more for the legacy of Jack to be known.  They raised money for a statue of Jack to be placed at the entrance of the stadium.  Finally, in 1995 the whole stadium officially became Jack Trice Stadium.

Jack Trice stadium is the second newest stadium in the Big 12 conference.  The stadium is made of two layers of grandstand, bleachers behind the south end zone, and hillside seats on the corners holding nearly 55,000 fans.  Erin Wissink spoke about the stadium saying, “The hillside seats are a unique part of the stadium.  No matter where you look there is a sea of red inside the stadium.” At the north end zone is the Richard O. Jacobsen Athletic Building.  The stadium’s press box is located above the west grand stand. The first score board was put up in 2002 at the south end, and a second was added in 2011 above the athletic building to the north.

“We are one” is the saying that all Cyclone fans say no matter where they are cheering from.  The group as a whole has so much pride and believes in traditions and legacies.  We all honor Jack Trice and what he gave to be a Cyclone.  His statue still stands to the north of the stadium for everyone to honor as the enter Jack Trice Stadium.

Joyce Ceffey was arrested four times within 26 hours last week.  Three of the arrests were for reports of loud ACDC and Guns n Roses music coming from her home.  The last arrest was for throwing a frying pan at her nephew when he entered her house. Each time Joyce was released on increasing amounts of bail. After the last arrest the judge ordered Joyce to have a mental health test done on herself.  If she completes her evaluation she can be released to her home with certain monitoring. Read this story in the like below.

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This news article is very out of our normal stories we read. We hear stories of people getting arrested all the time, and depending on the crime committed some of those can be considered news.  This story though, is out of the norm because of Joyce’s consistency on not stopping after each arrest.  The type of music she was listening to is interesting, people could look into the choice of songs she played and make different assumptions on why she would not stop playing it so loudly.  This story is not urgent news that everyone needs to be informed or worried about, but I believe this odd woman’s story is news worthy.

New Lede: Morningsider from Le Mars, Iowa has taken her love for dance into the next chapter of her life.

Lindsay Marie Martin was born on August 2, 1992 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  She has a mother named Terri and her father’s name is Blaine.  Lindsay also has a little sister named Maddison.  Lindsay spent her time growing up in Le Mars, Iowa before she moved to Sioux City to attend Morningside College. Lindsay decided to come to this college after she received a dance scholarship. She did not always plan to attend Morningside, she wanted to go to the University of Iowa but decided to come here last minute.  Her scholarship helped her decision to come here, but ultimately she said she wanted, “a small school and to not feel like just a number at a larger school.”  Lindsay is very happy with her decision now. Lindsay loves her dance team here.  She has taken dancing to another level and started working at a studio in Sergeant Bluff and coaching the high school dance team there as well.  Lindsay is majoring in mass communications with an emphasis in corporate communications with a minor in advertising. Her credits that transferred here are allowing Lindsay to graduate a year early. With Lindsay’s major an internship is also required.  She would enjoy working for a non-profit organization such as Big Brothers Big Sisters.  Once she starts her life after college she would like to also work for one of those organizations and move to a city such as Chicago.

On August 25, 2012 there was a shooting at the Empire State Building.  Jeffery Johnson shot and killed a former co-worker.  Jeffery had blamed the co-worker for him losing his job.  After Jeffery had killed his co-worker cops arrived and shot and killed Jeffery and hurt nine other with bullet fragments. Jeffery’s mother is not looking back and asking, “Why?”  Why did her son do this, what made him so angry to take actions like this?  Some past events in his life may have made him snap into the person that killed his co-worker.  The mother believed he wanted the cops to kill him.

I believe this is news. It is out of the ordinary and many people will be interested in what happened and why it happened. This is note worthy because it happened near a national monument.  People have a positive image of this place, and knowing about such a shocking event could possibly change many views.  It is useful to let people know of events going on and what can happen if gun fires are being shot near you.  I believe many different people will interested in this story.  Crime intrigues many people and they will feel pity for others through this story.  This news will travel fast and through many differnet groups of people because it is so out of the normal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/nyregion/after-empire-state-building-shooting-jeffrey-johnsons-mother-asks-why.html?pagewanted=1&ref=todayspaper