Amelia's Thoughts

19-year-old Micheal John Anderson was charged with second degree murder today in the murder of Katherine Ann Olson.

Anderson lives with his parents and denies killing Olson, saying he was merely present at the time of her murder. He said she was killed by one of his friends who,"thought it would be funny."

At Anderson's hearing today his bail was set at $1 million.

This murder has begun to raise larger questions about the safety of Craigslist and other online advertising sites. In the journalism world it has raised speculation that perhaps people will feel safer using newspaper ads once again where there is more of a degree of control and fact checking.

Others contend that online advertising has always been sketchy at times and that people just need to be cautious.

It is true that Craigslist is free and that it has virtually no degree of background checking at all. This means anyone-including an alleged killer like Anderson-can post an ad.

One important thing to remember that has been reiterated throughout the newsworld today is to be cautious and not to meet anyone online alone at his or her house. Go to a public place. Or when selling something youself, again meet in a public place rather than your home.

Posted by Amelia Cerling at 9:49 PM | Permalink

Everyone has heard about the recent wave of foreclosures in the state, and particularly in the twin cities metro area. A new article in the Star Tribune writes about the trickle down effect that foreclosures are having. The renters of these foreclosed homes are being caught up in the middle.

The article says that renters are experiencing a myriad of problems from having to leave right away, to low-income families having no where to go, to having the heat turned off. Some renters will be allowed to stay for several months after the property is foreclosed.

Other renters vent their frustrations saying they had planned on buying their rental property, but now have to find somewhere else to live.

The article also talks about how foreclosures are drastically increasing homelessness. Hard numbers are not yet available but its clear that they are having a heavy impact.

The Dorothy Day Center in Saint Paul which temporarily houses homeless families has seen a drastic increase in the number of homeless families needing help. They are attributing this increase in part to the large number of foreclosures in the area.

State officials are saying one important thing for renters to remember is to know their rights.

Unfortunately the problems stemming from foreclosed homes will likely not end soon.

Posted by Amelia Cerling at 10:35 PM | Permalink

A Wisconsin jury acquitted Daniel A. Kelly, 31, who was accused of killing an ex-Minnesota legislature's son. Kelly was charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the shooting death of Austin Bodahl, 23, and a recent resident of Madison, Wisconsin at the time of the shooting.

Apparently Kelly's attorney's argued that he shot in self defense, and that as a former soldier in Kosovo-had irrational fears about what would happen in a fight.

Bodahl was the son of former state rep. Larry Boddahl.

The Bodahl family was shocked as the statement was read. The Kelly family, unsurprisingly, looked jubilant at the decision.

Posted by Amelia Cerling at 6:44 PM | Permalink

Fires are roaring through southern California. The blazes have led to at least 1 death and 8 injuries.

Wildfires near Malibu have caused part of the Pacific Coast Highway to be shut down. At least 200 family homes in the Malibu area have been evacuated.

Firefighters say the flames could threaten thousands of homes and businesses.

They are still searching for the cause of the blazes.

Fires are notorious in the west and seem to happen a lot in the fall when foliage is dying and the winds quickly move the fires across heat baked lands.

Posted by Amelia Cerling at 11:45 PM | Permalink

Stephen Danforth's trial accusing him of child molestation of a 6-year-old took place 11 years ago in Minnesota. Danforth, who was convicted of first degree criminal sexual conduct is back in court because he says he never got to confront his accuser.

According to Danforth-and due to a series of intricate related court rulings-he says he never got the chance to cross examine his accuser.

His accuser who goes by the name of J.S. didn't even testify at court. Instead he was videotaped, as the court judged that he would not be able to competently testify in a live court.

Danforth's case has been tossed around in court multiple times, and has finally worked its way up into the U.S. Supreme court.

Analysts quoted in the article mentioned that often court rulings question the credibility and reliability of extremely young victims. This fact has proved unfortunate for many young pedophile victims, but victorious for those accused of the crimes.

Posted by Amelia Cerling at 11:29 PM | Permalink

The Minnesota statewide smoking band which went into effect Oct.1 is prompting many suburban business owners to consider building outside patio's for their smoking patrons.

Many cities are also thinking of creating new restrictions for business owners and their remodeling and addition efforts.

Both Woodbury and Lakeville city officials are currently considering adding new restrictions for bar and restaurant patios.

Among the new restrictions and requirements would be the requirement of barriers or fencing, limited hours if within 150 feet of a home, and proper emergency exits as well as adherence to the city's noise ordinance.

article originally found on Pioneer Press.com

Posted by Amelia Cerling at 10:29 PM | Permalink

Critics are saying that ConAgra Foods Inc. handled the recall of the Banquet chicken pot pies very badly.

The company discovered Tuesday that the pot pies were the cause of a Nationwide salmonella outbreak, and they issued a health alert.

However, it wasn't until Thursday evening that the company decided to recall all of the pot pies.

Surprisingly, the pot pies were linked to at least 174 cases of salmonella in 33 different states, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture still didn't have the authority to require the company to issue a recall.

Critics say the chance of ConAgra getting sued is likely. The critics said that if someone got sick off the potpies after ConAgra was aware of the outbreak-they would be able to sue the company.

Rep. Rosa DeLaura called the pot pie recall a "perfect example of a broken system."

This particular recall may be a catalyst for further change in the FDA. There has already been legislation introduced earlier this year that would give the FDA more power to recall food products.

Posted by Amelia Cerling at 9:32 PM | Permalink

Jammie Thomas of Brainerd is the first person to actually be taken to court by the music industry for illegal music downloading.
On Thursday a jury of 6 men and 6 women decided that Thomas was guilty of operating on the music file sharing network Kazaa, and that she illegally copied or distributed the 24 songs for which the record companies sought compensation.
Thomas was fined $9,250 per song to be paid to the record companies.
Thomas continues to maintain her innocence, and refused to comment as she left the courthouse Thursday.
This case has spurred a larger discussion on music downloading and how the record industry is changing. The Recording Industry Association of America however maintains that they will continue to vigilantly fight against music piracy.

Analysis

This court case has been followed all week. This is a pretty high profile story. I believe there were probably originally court documents used when the Recording industry sued Jammie Thomas. However the focus of the story was not on these official documents.

A lot of lawyers for both sides were interviewed for the story as well as quiet a few recording industry executives. There have also been quite a few follow up stories on this trial and stories looking at the bigger picture of music piracy and its effect on the recording industry.

Most of the stories I have read on this trial have been very well reported and both sides have been given some talk time. However most of the stories seem to have a lot of quotes and emphasis from the recording industry. The continually stress how illegal the actions of music piracy is and how much CD sales are falling, and on and on.

This story interests me because last year in my electronic media class I did a story on illegal music downloading and its effect on small music store owners. My case in point was CD warehouse in Dinkytown. I, like many of the reporters for this case interviewed students and asked them their thoughts on music dowloading. I found many of the same responses as the writer for this piece. Most students seem very apathetic to the idea that music downloading is illegal. The common response is that its easy, free, and most likely you will never get caught.

I think this quote from Julia Cheng of the Associated Press pretty much sums it up: "a person's chances of getting caught pirating are less than their chances of being struck by lightning."

Posted by Amelia Cerling at 11:00 PM | Permalink

A New York Woman is so angry at Apple for slashing prices so quickly after the iphone was released that she is suing the company for 1 million.

Dongmei Li of Queens, New York is claiming Apple violated price discrimination laws when it drastically cut its prices by a third.

According to Li's lawsuit the iphone price reduction injured her and other early buyers because the resale value is much lower than those who bought the iphone following the price cut.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the case, citying the company's policy to not discuss pending litigation.

This story originally appeared on CNN.com

You can view the iphone at http://www.apple.com/iphone/

Posted by Amelia Cerling at 7:30 PM | Permalink