October 2009 Archives

Fourteen americans died on Monday when two helicopters crashed in two different crashes in different parts of Afghanistan.

In the the west, seven soldiers and three agents of The Drug Enforcement Administration, and in the south a helicopter collision resulted in the death of four american soldiers. 

A spokeswoman for the American military, Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, would not specify an exact location for the crash in the west, although she said the craft was a large Chinook helicopter and the military was "98 percent sure that insurgent activity was not involved.", states the New York Times.

It was the heaviest single-day loss of life since June 28, 2005, when 16 U.S. troops on a special forces helicopter died when their MH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down by insurgents. The casualties also mark the first DEA deaths in Afghanistan since it began operations there in 2005, according to the Star Tribune.

Both crashes are being further investigated.

A man was found dead in acar in a south Minneapolis parking lot early this morning police say.

The man was reportedly shot to death.  Police found the  victim just after 1 a.m. in the parking lot near Groveland Avenue and Nicollet Avenue. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Star Tribune.

Witnesses said they saw a group of people run from the car, according to KSTP-TV.

Investigators were still on the scene at 6 a.m. this morning.

Police have no suspects in custody. Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact them, Pioneer Press.

The Press Release that I found was at WhiteHouse.gov and was "Remarks by the President at Signing of the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act", I also found this in the Washington Post as "Obama signs law ending budget delays for veterans care".

The first thing that I noticed right off the bat between the press release and news report is the in the press release Obama talked for almost ten paragraphs before he even touches on what the new budget care reform is going to help with and doesn't go into details until the fourth to last paragraph, whereas in the new report the budget care reform is mentioned in the first paragraph, and already explained in detail by the 3rd.

I also noticed that Obama went into great detail in the people who helped make this reform possible, whereas in the New report the only person credited is President Obama. 

The obvious key difference between the press release and new report, was the writer obviously took the main points of interest to the public and put it in the new report.  They asked themselves whats going to be the most important for the viewer to know about this topic in the least amount of space. 

A Burnsville boy scout leader has been arrested and charged with sexually abusing boys in his troop on Monday.

44-year-old Peter Robert Stibal was charged with six counts of criminal sexual conduct in Dakota County. Police said he abused three boy scouts and performed a sex act on one of the victims at his cabin and later at a drive-in theater. They also found child pornography on his home computer, according to the Pioneer Press.

We train young people to recognize, resist, and report abuse -- the three R's," said Kent York, spokesman for the Northern Star Council of the Boy Scouts of America, states WCCO.

Stibal will not be able to sneak out of this one so easily, Judge Kathryn Messerich set bail in the amount of $1 million, or $500,000 with multiple conditions. Stibal's next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 7 in Hastings.

A French Red Cross worked was abducted in Sudan's volatile Darfur region on Thurdays. 

Gauthier Lefevre, a staffer for the International Committee of the Red Cross, was taken near the town of Al Geneina in West Darfur, close to the border with Chad by several armned men, the Red Cross said. CNN

The Red Cross group was heading north to help local communities upgrade their water. 

"The ICRC currently has no indication of who the abductors might be or of their motives," it said in a statement according to the New York Times, "Reuters"

Hip-Hop artist Lil Wayne is expected to received a one year jail sentence after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a weapon charges on Thursday.

Police said a gun was found on Lil Wayne's tour bus in Manhattan in 2007. Lil Wayne acknowledged in court that there was a gun on the tour bus and identified it as a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol, states the New York TImes.

When he was indicted in February 2008, Carter pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal possession of a weapon, the district attorney's office said. His guilty plea Thursday was to a reduced charge, according to CNN.

This grammy winning rapper also faces felony drug possession and weapons charges in Arizona. He has pleaded not guilty in that case, which is scheduled to go to trial in March, according to the New York Times.

Three more Minnesotans have been reported dead this week from the H1N1 virus.

This new number brings Minnesota to a total of ten individuals who have died from this disease. 

The Minnesota Health Department reported today the deaths involved a Martin County woman in her early sixties, a child from Steele County and a child from Freeborn County, both of whom were younger than 7, according to the Star Tribune.

All individuals who have died from this disease have had an underlined health problem, so the virus alone isn't to blame. 

The department said Thursday that there now have been 611 hospitalized cases of confirmed swine flu in the state, states the Pioneer Press.

Minnesota does have hope, and about 210,000 dose of the vaccine have either arrived or are on there way.   

Six imams were removed from a flight in the MSP airport in 2006 over suspision behavior and fasley arrested.  Tuesday, three years after the incident, the lawsuit was finally settled.

The six imans sued on being falsey arrested and ill treated because of their ethic and religious backgrounds.

Neither the imams nor attorneys in the case would discuss terms of the tentative settlement, announced today, which requires approval from a federal judge, according to the Pioneer Press.

One of the imams, Marwan Sadeddin of Phoenix, told the Associated Press that the settlement does not include an apology but he considers it an acknowledgment that a mistake was made. He said he couldn't divulge the terms because both sides had agreed not to discuss them publicly. "It's fine for all parties. It's been solved. ... There is no need for a trial," Sadeddin said. Star Tribune

According to the StarTribune, "the commission's liability insurance policy limits potential financial exposure in such cases to $50,000. The insurer has the right to assume control of the defense or settlement of claims and exercised that right in this case."

The two different news organizations I looked at were the Star Tribunes Web site, and the New York TImes Web site.

 The type of multimedia that the Star Tribune has on its website is video, audio, slideshows,podcast, photo galleries, and news graphics. 

The type of multimedia that The New York Times has on their Web site is video, audio, galleries, opinions, and podcasts.

Both organization's multimedia helps their story because if gives other elements to the story than just the basic hard news writing, and allows the viewers to get a deeper knowledge of the story, as well as feel more involved.  You are able to see the individuals and family members apart of the stories, and get a feeling that there not just a name on paper, and they have a face and a voice for that name.  Also, both sites provide links to further information on the topics that newspaper don't have the capability to do.

The type of writing that goes into this multimedia are mostly subtitles for the video, explaining who the speaker is, small bylines for the pictures giving a brief description of what is going on in each photo, and a small exert of informaton next to each graphic explaing what the graphic is showing.

The characteristics of the writng that goes into the multimedia is very brief and straight to the point.  Very few details, or descriptive words.  Short and sweet.  

Hurricane Rick off the Southwest coast of Mexico Pacific has strengthened in a extremeley dangerous Category 4 storm on Saturday. 

The storm had sustained winds near 135 mph (185 kph) and has a strong chance to grow into a monster Category 5 storm with winds of 155 mph (250 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported, though it said the storm was likely to lose much of that punch before hitting land, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The storm have been estimated to hit the Baja California peninsula in about five days. 

Pacific storms pose no threat to Mexico's large oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico, but the Baja California peninsula is popular with U.S. tourists for its resorts in the Los Cabos area, States the New York Times

Three pigs on exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair may have tested postive for the H1N1 virus, making them the first in the United States to have been found to harbon the disease.

There have been infected pigs found in eight other countries.

It's not clear how the pigs could have contracted H1N1, but a group of young people staying at a dormitory at the State Fair were sickened with the illness at the same time researchers were collecting samples. Fair officials sent a few hundred students from the 4-H program home before the fair's end when at least four of them tested positive for H1N1, according to the Star Tribune.

One concern about animals' harboring the virus is the possibility that viruses will change as they move back and forth between species, perhaps by mixing with other viruses, states the New York Times.

Federal health officials said Friday that 11 more children have died in the past week because of the H1N1 virus.

Their have been at total of eight-six children that have died from the swine flu since its outbreak last spring, 43 of those 86 have been in September and October alone.

That's a startling number because in some past winters, the CDC has counted 40 or 50 child deaths for the entire flu season, she said, and no one knows how long this swine flu outbreak will last, according to The Star Tribune.

Also surprising, about half of the child deaths reported since Sept. 1 have been teenagers. Until now, much of the attention has focused on younger children, Fox News states.

These statistics are causing quite a panic across the country.

Madonna's neighbors are suing the buildings co-op board for her usage of the apartment as a rehearsal studio.

Karen George, of Manhattan, lives above Madonna in a building on Central Park says the superstar's loud music and frequent dance sessions are causing a commotion, according to the Star Tribune.

George complained about ''unreasonably high-decibel, amplified music'' and vibrations pouring through walls, ceilings and radiator, New York Time said.

The building said that they have already threatened to evict Madonna, but she has not responded for comment.

Target Corporation is apologizing for an "illegal alien" costume that they posted on their website on Thursday. 

The costume, posted on Target's web site, features the mask of an alien with a green card and an orange jumpsuit with "illegal alien" written across the front, according to the Pioneer Press.

The Minneapolis retailer said the costume was added to its website by mistake and said it would be removed, the Star Tribune said. 

Target started getting complaints on Thursday afternoon once the costume went up, and it didn't get taken down until Friday evening.

There is a great tension in the Latin American community, and putting up this costume was just adding fuel to the fire. 

A crash between a school bus carrying the Ely High School football team and a car Friday night led officials to cancel the homecoming football game and dance.

The State Patrol says the crash happened on Highway 169 in Coleraine about 3:30 p.m. Nobody on the team bus was hurt, according to the Star Tribune.

The Patrol did also say that the car carried three females, one was seriously injured and airlifted to a Duluth hospital.

Detail how the accident happened are not yet availabe, states the Pioneer Press.

A car with packed with explosive devices blew up outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul Afghanistan on Thursday morning.

There were 17 people killed in the explosion and over 80 wounded. 

The blast appeared to be similar in pattern to the earlier attack, in July 2008, in which a car bomber detonated at the embassy gates around the same time, according to the New York Times.

It was the deadliest attack in Kabul since Sept. 17, when a bomber killed 16 people, including six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghan civilians, on a road in the center of the capital, states Fox News.

The foreign ministry is working towards prevention from future bombing. 

The house voted Thursday to make it a federal crime assault individuals because of their sexual orientation, expanding the hate crime laws. 

Democratics led the 281-146 vote, with 15 democrats and 131 republicans in opposition, according to the USA Today.

"It's a very exciting day for us here in the Capitol," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying hate crimes legislation was on her agenda when she first entered Congress 22 years ago.

It's been almost 11 years since the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student, whose death has had a great influence on this bill to be passed.

The hate-crimes legislation allocates $5 million a year to the Justice Department to provide assistance to local communities in investigating such crimes, a process that can sometimes strain local police resources. It allows the Justice Department to assist in the investigation and prosecution of such crimes if asked to do so by local authorities, according to the New York Times.

The FBI says there are some 8,000 hate crimes reported around the country in a year. More than half of those are motivated by racial bias. Next most frequent are crimes based on religious bias at around 18% and sexual orientation at 16%, states the USA Today.

With these large numbers focused on sexual orietatation it does not come at as a suprise that this bill was so easily passed. 

State investigators are saying that nursing assistant at St.Louis Park nursing home has sexually abused one of the residents that has dementia. 

The report released today says Texas Terrace Care Center has suspended the employee and police have referred the case for possible criminal sexual conduct charges, according to the Pioneer Press.

"The state Health Department says the resident reported that the nursing assistant kissed her on the mouth and touched her sexually in July. Two other residents said the employee had kissed them, with one saying he touched her stomach," states the Star Tribune.

The employee, whose name is not being released, is denying the allegations.

The story that I looked at for my analysis was on further information relating to the blog I wrote about on the suspicious packages found in Princeton High School on Wednesday. This article was about the two teenagers and one adult that have been arrested in connection to the packages.  I think that the reporter did an excellent job in the progession of information.  They start out with just the facts, not names, ages, or charges in the lead.  They then go into the next paragraph where they give the names and ages of the teenagers providing a little bit more information.  The next couple paragraphs go into the charges being presented, and the most important background information on what happened, so if  anyone who didn't read the previous article can figure out what is going on.  The end of this story trails off into more and more background information that if needed be, could be cut off. The form of this article was definitely an inverted pyramid and I think was the most successful way of organizing this article because it shouts out the most critical information first, and then those that haven't read the previous article can get caught up, or those that have can move onto another article.  Time management was key!

My article

A moderate earthquake occured in eastern Sierra, Cal.on Thursday.

The earthquake was followed by dozens of aftershocks.

Quake swarms have occurred before around California, notably in the Mammoth Lakes area and around the Salton Sea, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The magnitude of the quake was a 5.0 temblor struck at 3:01 a.m. with an epicenter about 18 miles southeast of the Owens Valley town of Lone Pine, reports the Star Tribune.

There have been no reports of damages or injuries yet.

This past week the number of schools in Minnesota reporting H1N1 flu outbreaks have double, again, the State Department of Health reported on Wednesday. Star Tribune.

The number of schools with reported H1N1 flu outbreaks has risen up to 134 in this past week, and has continued to double each week school this years school session has begun.

These outbreaks are defined as the absence of 5 percent of students with a flulike illness, or at least three students from the same elementary school classroom, according to the Pioneer Press.

The first vaccine will be arriving in two weeks, but it unfortunately is a nasal spray that the two groups at top priority, children under two and pregnant women, cannot use it.

It was be first dispearsed to those that have professions in health care. Start tribune

Princeton high school students are returning to class today, after a bomb scare that occurred on Wednesday 50 miles north of Minneapolis.

Schools were closed Wednesday after a suspicious package containing an incendiary device was found outside the high school, according to the Pioneer Press.

There were two more similar packages found on campus later on Wednesday.

"At this point I am guessing that we are dealing with a hoax, but we are still not 100 percent," Princeton Police Chief Brian Payne said late Wednesday. "If it is a hoax, whoever did this went to great lengths to make it look ominous."  Star Tribune

None of the packages exploded, and the officials gave the all-clear later Wednesday night for class to resume the next day. 

A Tsunami hit the South Pacific on Tuesday destroying towns and killing more than 150 people. 

"Everything the tsunami touched was just destroyed," says Newton, 66, a publisher who runs websites for the local government. "This thing hit with all its fury." USA Today

American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono, speaking from Hawaii, said Tuesday's quake ranked "right up there with some of the worst" disasters on the island." CNN

Authorities sent in help, but there was not much that anyonoe could do to prevent this Tsunami from destroying. 

A 16-year-old boy was beaten to death in Chicago in Roseland, Chicago on Thursday afternoon. 

Derrion Albert was on his way home from Fenger High School when he was caught in the middle of a fight between two gangs, and was beaten to death with fists, feet, and 2 by 4's, according the Chicago Tribune.

Three teenagers have been arrested and charged as adults with first-degree murder, and police are continuing to investigate, states the USA Today. 

The high school was shutdown Friday, and Friday afternoon, dozens of area teens gathered there to cry about the death of a schoolmate a nd voice concerns that they might be next.