Riley's blog

After several deaths to the animal family, Midland Zoo is sorry to announce that Homer the Panda has died. The bear was discovered early this morning. The two younger polar bears Yukon and McKenzie were removed to be monitored by veterinary staff.

“Homer was a very curious and playful bear and we will miss him terribly,” remarked Zookeeper Sara N. Getty. The bear was found dead in his exhibit at 7 a.m. Homer is one of several that have thrived at Midland since 1985. The zoo will perform a necropsy to find the cause of death.

Director Chris P. Bacon is overseeing the results of necropsy. He stated that the “Animal welfare and the preservation of species are our primary goals here at the zoo.” The results will not be available for several weeks. This month Regina the bobcat and Kenya the giraffe also passed away. The three deaths are unrelated.

Donald Trump met with the leader of Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on Thursday. The Prime Minister met with President-elect Trump after Trump received a barrage congratulations from foreign leaders around the globe. Prime Minister Abe said Trump was “a leader in whom I have great confidence.”

Trump also met with former foreign advisors to discuss foreign affairs. Trump has reportedly been very personable and intellectually curious during all his meetings. This is much different from the Trump that we saw during the campaign, who built his reputation on insults. Hopefully this shows that Trump will hold to his campaign promise of being “very different as President.”

This information can be found in the New York Times article Donald Trump, After Fits and Starts, Focuses on Foreign Policy. This is an enjoyable article. It is mostly enjoyable because there is no longer a candidate to be attacking or reports of the candidates’ attacks. This is informative and should be read because it represents a different Donald Trump than what we saw during the campaign, which makes me optimistic.

I did find that there are elements in this article that I could use in a feature story. I like that we are given information about Donald Trump that is common knowledge, so it needs no attribution. But the main point of the article is, arguably, found in the interviews with those surround the President-elect. This gives a nice balance of what we’ve know compared to what may be coming.

Sophomore Devin Phaly was successful even before his attendance at Morningside. He is an accomplished wrestler himself with several top ten and top five finishes in high school. Intrigue by the acclaimed wrestling program brought Phaly to Morningside College. Since becoming a Mustang, Phaly has become an accomplished wrestler within the region.

Away from his success in wrestling, Phaly has found success in academics. He is excelling with his Advertising major and performing well with his minor in Spanish. He plans to use in major in the future to work for an advertising firm. A dream for Phaly in the future is to operate his own firm.

“If your good at something, it’s worth it” Phaly says of his college experience. He says it definitely is more time consuming to balance his school work and wrestling career, but he says he enjoys it. “When you’re graduated it’s good to look back and say you made something of your four years.”

Phaly is a Sergeant Bluff native and is never too far from family. When he wanders from sports and academics, he enjoys listening to music to relax. He has a wide range of listening material and claims Chris Brown is his favorite artist. Phaly also enjoys to travel with his most exciting destination in San Fransisco, California.

The election is just three days away, and the damage is done. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are now locked in a slim battle for the presidency. Mrs. Clinton’s lead was larger in early October after the backlash from the Access Hollywood tapes against Trump. However, as the month neared it’s end, the FBI’s renewed interest into Clinton’s emails turned momentum toward Donald Trump.Voter’s are now split about there choice for President outside and within their respective parties.

These are some of the issues brought up in the New York Times article Voters Express Disgust over U.S Politics in New Times/CBS Poll. The article brings up the fact that both parties have damaged each other, but also the lack of enthusiasm for the candidates. 52% of Trump voters are enthusiastic about their candidate and Mrs. Clinton hovers around 47%. They also discussed how Donald Trump has caused a divide in his party, but how Hillary Clinton is losing demographics usually won by Democrats.

This article is interesting but not informative. It doesn’t shed new light on anything for me, but I don’t believe that was the goal. The purpose was to show the ugly our politics are in, in which it is successful. I found it interesting how demographics have switched among parties and what developments may help the candidates. It almost feels like it is anti-Trump, but the information is taken from polls around the country. This makes the article bipartisan, informative, and an interesting read, but it isn’t one that will sway readers.