4/10/09

Local: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_12111096?nclick_check=1

http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_12114566

National: http://www.startribune.com/nation/42795267.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

http://www.startribune.com/nation/42794742.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

International: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7993765.stm

I chose to blog about  the article titled “Small LA town struggles with police shooting  of 73- year old black man, raising race questions.” This was about the killing of Bernard Monroe a 73-year old African American mute. He was gunned down at his home after his son was being chased down by cops. The law enforcement said that Monroe started shooting at them through a screen door. A witness said Monroe was holding a bottle of sports water and that the police planted the gun next to Monroe after they shot him dead. Now there is a lot of tension in the neighborhood especially racial tension between the black community and the police. This has a cause a stir and has reached influential leaders such as Reverend Al Sharpton. This article was written quite well. It was extremely descriptive and as i read further along i could definately picture everything that was being described in the article especially the chase scene.

3/3/09

National:

http://www.startribune.com/nation/42465627.html?page=1&c=y

http://www.startribune.com/nation/42473567.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Local:

http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_12068216?nclick_check=1

http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_12060041

International: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7983696.stm

I chose to blog about the first article. This story was about a mass shooting taken place in Binghamton, NY. A man came into the American Civic Association Community Center and shot the two receptionists from close range killing one, but the other survived by playing dead and called 911 and fed information to the police for about 90 minutes while having a gun shot wound to her abdomen. After firing at the receptionists, the shooter walked right into a class where several immigrants were taking their citizenship tests. He opened fire killing 13 people. According to Governor David Paterson, this was by far the worst tragedy in the history of the city. I really liked this article and how it was written. There was a lot of detail as well as background details. Also there was a lot of statements from the police which gives it credibility. I think that the headline should be written differently. The first part was about the receptionist but only 2 sentences were about her and the rest was about the shooting. At the second page I already forgot about the receptionist.

3/27/09

Local:

http://www.twincities.com/ci_12006929?source=most_viewed

http://www.twincities.com/ci_12006117?source=most_viewed

National:

http://www.startribune.com/politics/41966577.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

http://www.startribune.com/projects/41830152.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU1yDEmP:QMDCinchO7DU

International:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7968087.stm

“Red River Valley Flooding 2009″

This article was about the recent flooding that has been going on in Fargo and Moorehead. The article is quite informative on what the weather is looking like, how much flooding is going on and what the citizens of Fargo and Moorehead are doing in preparation of more flooding. It wasn’t an article where they just interviewed one person about how the flood is effecting their lives but instead its giving the rest of the country a heads up on everything that is going on such as how much sandbags they have, what the weathers service is saying about the future weather and just the precautions that the citizens are taking. In this article there is a lot of credibility. Everytime the writer states a fact, he tells us exactly where he got his information from. The writer uses a lot of statistics to give more of an impact to how serious this situation really is.

Blog post 3/5/09

Local: http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_11839941?nclick_check=1

http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_11838306

National: http://www.startribune.com/nation/40785547.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

http://www.startribune.com/local/40789082.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

International: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7925578.stm

The first article that I posted was in my opinion written well but I think it was choppy and short. The writer of this article had all his/her basic questions in with short but clear answers. One thing I noticed was that there wasn’t any unnecessary information and he got right to the point. The headline of the article got my attention quickly because of the wording he used, the only thing that confused me was the word “rebuffed” only because I don’t know that word. But the way he used it I could assume that it meant rejected. Everytime there was a quote or some evidence of the information, it gave us exactly where the information came, giving it credibility.

Fiona’s Blog #4

International: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7913147.stm

Local: http://www.startribune.com/local/40340982.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

http://www.startribune.com/40380757.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiacyKU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs

National: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/us/politics/26budget.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

http://www.startribune.com/40354162.html?elr=KArksCCCWiaEyayP4O:DW3ckUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiacyKU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs

The last URL i posted goes to an article in the Startribune titled “Suspect Senate ballot may have innocent explanation”

This story is about  a good amount of absentee ballot return envelopes looking suspicious because they were not signed by a witness and the addresses on the envelopes all looked like they were written by the same person. By state law it is required that they are signed in order to be accepted. But in this case they were accepted without that requirement. These documents were released by lawyers of Norm Coleman so that it could support their argument that these ballots were counted under later rulings. But St Louis County elections director Paul Tynjala fired back with a simple explanation. Read more of the article to find out what happens.

What I noticed in this article is that it starts out like a narrative story in the first paragraph:

At first blush, they looked a little suspicious.

Numerous absentee ballot return envelopes had names and street addresses printed as if they were written by the same person. None of them were signed by the voters or witnesses, as required by state law, yet they were marked “accepted” by local elections officials.

When I read this,  I feel like the author of this article was right there and he/she saw the envelopes them self. This may or may not be the case. I really liked the first sentence, it sucks you in right away especially with the word “suspicious”. As a reader a word like suspicious always catches my attention.

Top 5 stories of the week (2/19)

Local

http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_11734669?nclick_check=1

http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_11735353

National

http://www.startribune.com/nation/39846627.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/house/39851042.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

International

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7897206.stm

I chose to write about an article in BBC news about Bishop Desmond Tutu’s speech at the British Council. He chose  .  The words in this article is actually coming from the Archbishop himself.In the article Tutu talks about his reaction to Obama becoming president and relates it to his memories of Apartheid in South Africa. He also spoke about his personal feelings about the new president referring to how he felt during the abolishment of apartheid and how some of the same feelings came back when Obama became president. Tutu also . I really liked this article because it started off with a great quote and each new subject has so much substance in it. I really enjoyed the bit of Black role models and how even though Tutu is older, his life is being changed by the new presidency. I do believe this article was written very well, each lead kept you intrigued and the historical background made it very captivating.

5 Top stories of this week

International: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7884282.stm

National: http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/congress/39424242.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

http://www.startribune.com/nation/39467407.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Local: http://www.twincities.com/minnesota/ci_11681286

http://www.twincities.com/minnesota/ci_11678355

My thoughts…. [ Zimbabwean prime minister vows to stabalize the country’s shattered economy and end political violence]

The headline of this article caught my attention, as a reader I wanted to know how he was going to stabalize the economy and end political violence. One of the things I noticed was that the article had good background information on Zimbabwe itself including some statistics about unemployemnt rate etc. The lead quote “The first priority is to stabilise the economy,” he said. “The economic collapse has forced millions of our most able to flee the country. This must end today.”  I think they could’ve used a better lead quote with maybe some of  the prime minister’s future plans. What I really liked aout this article was that there was very good concrete supporting details. There wasn’t much of an ending sentence the article ended with a diagram of the power-sharing deal between the prime minister and the president of Zimbabwe. There could of been a explanation at the end and a sentence that wrapped the article up.

-F-Rodrigues

My first blog

Local/metro= http://www.startribune.com/local/north/39162607.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU

http://www.startribune.com/local/east/39179672.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU

National=http://www.startribune.com/nation/39180577.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU

International=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/world/asia/06japan.html?ref=world

(First link under national)

Landlord seeking late rent says it was unaware tenants were killed in Christmas Eve massacre

The journalist that wrote this article does not have very good concrete sources, they are pretty generic, but there is some credibility to it. I am surprised that this story was one of the headlines in the Star Tribune. Yes what happened is quite tragic but I really don’t believe a landlord wouldn’t know that one of his/her tenants was killed in a massacre on the property. There wasn’t a direct quote from the landlord either but most quotes were taken from the Alliance company and that makes me believe that there’s more to the story off the record.