November 4, 2009
According to the Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/2009/10/28/michigan-braces-for-three-invaders-from-ohio/); three invasive species are being found in Michigan, the Asian longhorned beetle, sirex woodwasp, and the hemlock woolly adelgid, these bugs are likely to cause a lot of trouble in the next few months as they begin killing trees.
The Asian longhorned beetle attacks maple, willow, elm, and ash trees. The sirex woodwasps attack pine trees- with an 80% fatality rate. The hemlock woolly adelgid attacks ash trees.
Michigan State University has a lot of pine trees on campus, primary on North campus. Is the university concerned about these trees, and what is going to be done to protect Michigan wildlife from the invaders?
November 4, 2009
Back from their world tour, the All-American Rejects have teamed up with Taking Back Sunday and Anberlin for a U.S. tour. The first of this tour- MSU; the nearly 4 hour concert was held on Nov.3 in the Auditorium.
With approximately 4000 screaming fans packing the smoke-filled auditorium, the All- American Rejects were defiantly welcomed back to the states.
All three bands greatly encouraged audience participation, and this audience gave it to them. From screaming and jumping to singing and swaying, this audience made the concert a success- but the bands did help too. Anberlin started the concert with a half-hour set. Then All-American Rejects got the crowd screaming when their lead singer, Tyson Ritter, appearing with a sparkling bare chest and a ton of energy. Adam Lazzara, Taking Back Sunday’s lead singer, kept the crowd screaming till the end as he twirled the microphone cord around his neck.
The All-American Rejects, Taking Back Sunday and Anberlin continue their tour tomorrow (Nov 4) in Morganton, W.Va.
November 4, 2009
According to an MSNBC online article, retailers are lacking the adaptations that the consumers have adopted in the current economic times. Especially with the critical upcoming holiday season, the article reports that retailers need to keep up with the shopping habits of customers and figure out what will get them interested in purchasing.
This would be a good story for localization. Perspectives could be analyzed from both the retailers and the customers in the area. Everyone is affected by this issue and it is very timely with the major holiday spending season approaching.
November 4, 2009
Governor Granholm signed a budget bill on Friday that eliminates the Michigan Promise.
Now that word of the elimination is official, many colleges around the state are deciding what to do for students who will now not receive the promises funds. Delta College decided last spring that they would freeze tuition until official word was given. Saginaw Valley State University has decided to fund the Promise scholarship out of there general fund.
As of this morning, Michigan State University sent out a letter to its students effected by the promise. This letter informed students that the university has replaced the now eliminated promise scholarship with a replacement scholarship from the school. This scholarship will be paid for out of the one time federal stimulus money.
PITCH:
What does this mean to students? How exactly will this scholarship be funded? What is the opportunity cost of providing this new replacement to students? What will happen for these students next year?
The above are all valid questions that students are likely to have about this new program. This story is important, because students need to be informed on how money is being spent on campus, and how it may affect them. The first people to talk to for this story would have to be the Office of Financial Aid, and then student reaction would also be necessary. This story would likely be more for an audience of college students, and could go in the State News.
INFO
Below is the letter received by students this morning via e-mail:
Dear MSU Student:
Your fall account includes an interim credit for the state of Michigan Promise Scholarship. The state has not funded this program, so MSU has replaced your fall interim credit with an institutional grant, the MSU Promise Replacement Award. Your spring Michigan Promise Scholarship also has been replaced with the MSU Promise Replacement Award. This grant is funded with one time federal stimulus money provided to MSU.
November 4, 2009
In this article from CNN, Doug Gross investigates how Facebook has started to spread to kids, and whether or not they’re too young to be using it. They cite studies on both sides of the argument on whether or not it’s prohibiting children ability to communicate with one another.
For my article, I would like to interview teachers, parents and students at the local middle school in my hometown to see if this really is an issue anyone is concerned with.
I’ll ask questions of the parents such as their biggest concern about their child having a Facebook/Myspace, how many hours they think they spend online, whether or not it’s interfering with their homework, if they monitor it, whether or not in general they think it’s a problem.
For teachers, I’ll want to know if it’s interfering with classwork, if they themselves have Facebook and whether or not they communicate with students, do they notice a trend between how past students have acted around each other compared to this generation (if the “technology kids” are actually less social)
For students, what age they first got a Facebook/MySpace, if they know/are people who had one before the “legal” age they were allowed to have one, ever gotten in trouble with it, how they prefer to communicate, what they like to do online, how long they spend online in a typical day.
I’ll still need to find out if the majority of parents/teachers are actually worried about what social networking is doing to their kids. I’ll also need to know if the majority of middle school students do in fact use Facebook.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/02/kids.social.networks/index.html
September 17, 2009
The story I found is about a Cheetah that just recently broke the previous mammal land speed record. The cheetah, who is an 8yr. old female named Sarah, is home to The Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio. The old record, which was held by a Cheetah in south africa, has been held since 2001. Sarah clocked in at 36 mph (miles per hour) putting her 100m dash time at a little over 6 seconds. The story also referenced Usain Bolt, the human record holder of the same distance.
Unusalness: I can’t imagine cheetahs are timed on a 100m sprint very often. Even more, the record isn’t broken very often.
Prominence: Sarah broke the land record for all mammals everywhere. That’s pretty cool. Very impressive.
Other: The story had some humor at the end. “The human 100-meters record holder is Usain (yoo-SAYN’) Bolt of Jamaica. He’s a relative slowpoke at over 9 seconds.” This was a good piece of sarcasm to throw into an already light story. Also, the presence of a big name (Usain Bolt) attracts an audience.
September 15, 2009
On Friday, September 11th 2009, Lansing police officers and firefighters plan to hold a service remembering all those who lost their lives eight years ago. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m., around the same time the first tower, which was the South Tower, crumbled to the ground. “It’s just a remembrance of those who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty, as well as the citizens who died,” said Lansing fire Lt. Mike Hamel. There is also another ceremony being held at the capitol building at 11 a.m on the east steps. At this ceremony, volunteers are to read off all the 2,7000 names of the victims.
This story displays building blocks of journalism because of its proximity in Lansing, and the timeliness of the story, which is taking place tomorrow morning. It’s not a very impacting story, but the story of 9/11 is very impacting in itself, so anything regarding 9/11 is worth the read.
September 15, 2009
On CNN, there was a story today about an insurance company giving out insurance policies to fantasy football team owners, in case a player of theirs gets injured. If a player on a specific team gets injured for a specific amount of games, the owner would be reimbursed the fee to get into the league. The insurance company has cashed in on the idea, making money in the 800 million dollar industry of fantasy football.
This story uses many of the building blocks of news writing. Timeliness is used in this news story considering that this week is the week that many fantasy football players are drafting their teams, and would likely read a story related to game around this time period. The story also uses unusualness, considering that having insurance on a fantasy football team is a new phenomena and would get readers looking for something new. It sort of hints at other news writing building blocks, but those two were the most prominent.
September 15, 2009
Tim Higgins of the Detroit Free Press writes of a new policy being implemented by GM-sponsored dealerships. A new marketing campaign allows buyers of select GM vehicles 60 days to decide whether or not they want to keep their new vehicle. Eligible vehicle models include cars made by Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC. The offer will begin Sept. 14 and end Nov. 30. In order to return a vehicle it must have less than 4000 miles. The guarantee will return the buyer’s money paid for purchase price and sales tax, but will not include accessories and negative equity on a trade-in.
This is a newsworthy story in Michigan primarily because of proximity. Michigan is the center for automobile production with more cars in history being assembled in Lansing than any other city in the world. As such any news regarding the automobile giant in recovering from bankruptcy is relevant to the citizens of Michigan. Timeliness is another important factor, since this new offer only runs from September 14 to November 30. Impact is relevant to the story as well, since many citizens in Michigan work at a GM factory. If the campaign is a success and more cars are bought, more will be made, opening opportunities for laid-off workers to return to their jobs. Finally, prominence is important as well since GM has been in the news constantly throughout the year because of their financial troubles.
September 15, 2009
After round-the-clock negotiations between the striking teachers and Oakland University officials, they have reached an agreement on a contract to begin the school year. The contract has yet to be formalized by the Oakland University Board of Trustees. Classes resumed today at 7:30 a.m. after the contract was completed four hours earlier. The University is still unsure if more classes will be added to make up for the lost time, because of this some teachers are all ready making plans to shorten their curriculum. For more information about this story go to http://www.freep.com/article/20090910/NEWS05/90910008/1320/OU-classes-resume-after-deal&template=fullarticle .
This story is news because it is timely, has proximity and contains conflict.
