January 2010 Archives

This is the lead that I analyzed; it is a from a Kare 11 local article about two twins adopted from Haiti.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn -- Two Haitian toddlers who survived the earthquake are home in Minnesota. The two-year-old twins were granted humanitarian parole earlier in the week.

The reporter included the who (two-year-old Haitian toddlers), the what (survived the earthquake, now granted parole), the where (now in Minnesota), and the when (earlier this week), in his two sentence lead.

While each part of the lead was detailed, I did not think it was very clear. Kare 11 is a local news station, and the local tie-in (which is what makes it interesting for their readers) was unclear. From reading this lead, I did not understand that in was a Minnesotan woman who was adopting the twins.

The lead was hard news lead, but not as straightforward and clear as it could have been.

In a dinosaur excavation southeast of Beijing, scientists have discovered a 980-foot-long ravine filled with dinosaur fossils dating back only 65 million years ago to the late Cretaceous period, the time period shortly before they became extinct.

The bones that have been discovered are blackened and contorted, supporting evidence that the dinosaurs died out during a natural disaster such as fires or explosions.

From the Washington Post, James M. Clark, paleontologist at George Washington University said, "This find is very important for understanding the very end of the age of dinosaurs."

The majority of the bones have been unearthed in the Shandong province of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences said they have unearthed 7600 bones since March, reported BBC News.

In an effort to stop women from veiling their faces when wearing clothing such as the burqa, a parliamentary panel in Paris has proposed a partial ban that would be effective in most public places throughout the country.

If passed, the ban would give public officials support when asking women to remove their veils.

The partial ban was recommended when the 32-member commission could not agree on a full ban of the burqa. The group was divided on the issue, as a full ban could be deemed unconstitutional, reported the Associated Press.

According to CNN, of the 3.5 million Muslim population in France, there are estimated to be about 2,000 women who wear the full veil.

Haitian twins granted humanitarian parole arrived at Twin Cites International Airport with their adoptive mother, Betsy Sathers, on Monday.

Sathers and the twins, Ross and Alyse, landed safely, and Sathers's expectant family waited to greet them at the gates. From Kare 11 News, Sathers said "I can't even explain the last 12 days of waiting after the earthquake."

The Star Tribune reports that the twins, Ross and Alyse, along with hundreds of other orphans from Haiti, have been granted Humanitarian Parole, expediting the adoption process for expectant parents. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has agreed to allow the orphans into the country though the final paperwork has yet to be finished.

Sathers, who lives in Blaine, Minn., has been in the adoption process for almost two years and received a call that the twins had arrived in safely in Florida on Friday night.

From Kare 11,"Your life is just starting," Sathers whispered to her new children. "Welcome to Minnesota, I'm so glad to have you home."

Prince, a native Minnesotan , recently recorded a song for the Vikings, "Purple and Gold."

Prince has been a long time Vikings fan, and according to the Associated Press, he has attended two of their games this season. RTT News reports that the Prince was inspired to create the song by the Vikings 34-3 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

Sunday the Vikings take on the New Orleans Saints for a chance in the Super Bowl game.

Rifle sight manufacturer, Trijicon Inc., has agreed to stop imprinting Bible verse references on their products used by the US military; the company will also be providing kits that will remove the inscriptions.

CNN reported that the inscriptions, placed near the serial number of the product, were most commonly "2COR4:6" and "JN8:12" referring to the passages 2 Corinthians 4:6 and John 8:12 of the Bible.

From NBC, a senior defense official reported that "the late founder of Trijicon was a devout Christian" and "the company had long imprinted its equipment with references to Biblical passages."

The US military was very concerned about the inscriptions and the Muslim Public Affairs Council has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to remove the weapons from combat, stating "such inscriptions not only run afoul of the Constitution and U.S. military rules, but they also feed into the violent extremists' narrative that the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are a 'crusade against Islam.' "