March 2011 Archives

by Bailey Haack

I looked at the obituary for Dorothy Young from the New York Times. Young was Harry Houdini's stage assistant from 1925 till his death in 1926.

The sources used in the obituary include Dick Brookz, curator of the Harry Houdini Museum, an interview from a 1999 documentary from PBS, and Young's granddaughter Barbara Price.

The story does not use a standard news lead to start. It sets a scene and tells a story before getting to the point of the story. It works because it adds interest and pulls the reader interest in.

The obit is much different than a resume in that it is more interesting to read and has more background information. It is not simply a list of her accomplishments, but rather an interesting timeline of the bigger moments of her life.

by Bailey Haack

Due to a rise in the number of measles cases in the area, a panel of health experts and opinion leaders held a Somali community forum Saturday to convince skeptics that the measles vaccine is important and safe.

The Minnesota Department of Health has reported 11 cases of measles this year, and five of them were in the Somali community, according to a KSTP news report.

KSTP said many parents in the Somali community are wary of the vaccine because they're scared it could be connected to autism.

Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed told families at the panel that they are putting lives in danger if they don't vaccinate, according to the Star Tribune.

Mohamed said those parents who resist the vaccine are "unfortunately misinformed," and that it has been investigated and there is no connection between the vaccine and autism, said the Star Tribune.

The Somali community has seen growing rates of autism rates in the past several years, said the Star Tribune, and vaccine rates have dropped as a result.

by Bailey Haack

Serotonin, a chemical in the brain, has been shown by new research to play a role in the sexual preference of mice, with a lack of the chemical causing males to lose their preference for female partners.

Researchers said that "this is the first time," according to BBC News, "that a neurotransmitter has been shown to play a role in sexual preference in mammals."

A series of experiments was conducted to reach these results, said BBC. The research team bred mice whose brains were not receptive to serotonin, which caused the mice to show no overall preference for males or females.

A different set of mice were bred without the tryptonphan hydroxylase 2 gene, which is necessary to create serotonin.

These mice showed similar results said BBC, and when a male was introduced alone in a cage with a modified male, the modified males were more likely to demonstrate sexual behaviors.

The behaviors were reversed when the researchers restored serotonin to the modified mice, according to a FOX News article.

The article said that researchers haven't looked at how these experiments would work with female mice, and said that researchers cautioned that "the behavior of the mice cannot be extrapolated and applied to humans."

by Bailey Haack

Two separate shootings within an hour in South Minneapolis left two men each with non-life threatening gunshot wounds to the leg.

The first incident happened around noon, Sgt. Bill Palmer of the Minneapolis Police told the Pioneer Press. A man was shot once in the leg and was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center.

He was not cooperative with the police, said the Pioneer Press, and the shooter has not been located.

The second incident was around 1 p.m. at 34th Avenue S. and E. 57th St. at the Crosstown Gas and Convenience store.

The shooter and the victim were both in the store arguing, said Cal Abdul, the store owner. The Star Tribune reported that they went outside before one man shot the other in the leg and then fled the scene on foot.

Abdul has owned the store for 18 years and hasn't had another shooting before. He told the Star Tribune that both men have been polite and nice to him before.

by Bailey Haack

Countries around the world turned off lights at major landmarks on Saturday to support Earth Hour 2011, part of a global campaign that highlights climate change.

The World Wildlife Fund, an environmental group, began Earth Hour in 2007 in Australia, according to BBC News. Around 2.2 million homes and businesses around Sydney went dark for an hour in support of the cause.

This year, WWF said that 2,800 towns and cities in over 80 countries participated in the event. According to a Reuters article, the London Luton Airport turned off its lights, even switching off the lighted logo on the front of the terminal building.

Scotland was a big supporter of the event this year, shutting down landmark lights at Eilean Donan Castle, Inverness Castle, and Stirling Castle, among other places, according to BBC.

WWF hopes that the public support of the event will help to convince governments around the world to start taking action against climate change, said BBC.

by Bailey Haack

A nurse who attended a sweat lodge ceremony and a former events coordinator for self-help guru James Ray's company both testified this week about the ceremony in Arizona in 2009 that left three participants dead and others sick.

Ray is being accused of manslaughter after three participants died during his retreat in October 2009, according to a CNN report. The theme of the weeklong "Spiritual Warrior" retreat was death.

Linda Adresano, a registered nurse, testified Friday, saying that the last words she thought were "it's a good day to die." According to the Seattle Times, Adresano said she has participated in over a dozen other similar ceremonies.

Melinda Martin, formerly an events coordinator for Ray's company, testified on Wednesday. She told the court that she gave CPR to one of the three participants who died in the ceremony, according to CNN.

She testified that one of her colleagues told her at the event that the frantic behavior of some participants was normal, according to CNN.

Participants of the sweat lodge ceremony said that, while they weren't prevented from leaving, they were told to wait until the breaks between the 10 to 15 minute rounds. According to CNN, the participants paid up to $10,000 to "seek new areas of consciousness."

by Bailey Haack

The Radisson Hotel located at the University of Minnesota campus will be replaced in a $6 million renovation that includes new ownership.

The land that the hotel is located on will still be owned by the University, but the hotel will be taken over by a California based affiliate of Platinum Equity, according to the Star Tribune.

The Minnesota Daily said the renovations will be finished by spring of 2014, around the same completion date as the Central Corridor light rail line.

The University Board of Regents approved a new 50-year lease Thursday that will charge the new hotel nearly three times what the Radisson is paying now, said the Daily.

This deal will generate an expected $36 million for the University over the life of the lease, with an extra $1.4 million transfer fee paid to the University right away, according to the Daily.

by Bailey Haack

The Transportation Security Administration ordered re-testing on Friday of all 247 full-body scanners in use after a review of maintenance records showed radiation levels were higher than expected, and calculation errors were found in the records.

The TSA said that the record errors are simply math mistakes, according to USA Today. They said that even the highest numbers of radiation reported would still be less than what a person absorbs in a day through natural background radiation.

Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security secretary, told a Senate committee that the machines are "more than safe."

According to a CNN News report, she said that the amount of radiation emitted is about the same as a person would receive in two minutes in an airplane.

Sen. Susan Collins said that there were problems in more than a quarter of the TSA reports. According to CNN, she said they included "gross errors about radiation emissions."

The TSA announced that, in addition to retesting the machines, they will require their maintenance contractors to retrain the employees who are involved with conducting and overseeing the radiation measurement process, according to USA Today.

The tests on the machines will be finished by the end of the month. USA Today said the results will be released as they are completed.

by Bailey Haack

Seven children died Tuesday night when their rural Penn. farmhouse caught fire, while both parents were away from the house.

The fire began around 10 p.m., and the children, ages 11, 9, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, and 7 months were all either asleep or watching television. MSNBC reported that the 3-year-old girl survived because she smelled smoke and went to tell her mother.

The children's mother, Janell Clouse was out in a barn milking cows, according to authorities, and their father was napping in a delivery truck during a break from work, said the New York Times.

By the time the Mrs. Clouse reached the house, there were flames shooting out of the first floor entry, and she was unable to get in, according to the Times. The police told the Times that Mrs. Clouse ran to two neighbor's houses before she was able to find a phone to call 911.

The cause and origin of the fire have not yet been determined, but fire marshals are investigating, according to MSNBC.

by Bailey Haack

Republican lawmakers introduced a law to both the House and Senate that would ban abortions of fetuses older than 20 weeks, saying this is when the fetus begins to be able to feel pain.

The proposed "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" is modeled after a similar law in Nebraska, according to the Pioneer Press. The current Minnesota law bans abortions after the stage when the fetus would be considered viable outside the mother's body.

In 2009, 12,386 abortions were performed in Minnesota, said the Star Tribune, and of these, only 189 (about 1.5 percent) were performed after the 20 week mark, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

The main source of the belief that fetuses can feel pain is research from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, who concluded decades ago that fetuses at 20 weeks can feel pain, said the Pioneer Press.

Other researchers, including Dr. Mark Rosen of the University of California- San Francisco, believe that this is unlikely. Rosen says that in order to feel pain, the brain would need to be developed much more than it would be in a fetus only 20 weeks old, according to the Pioneer Press.

by Bailey Haack

French police recovered about 18 million euros ($25 million) in stolen jewelry from a rain sewer at a house in a Paris suburb.

The jewelry, stolen from the luxury Harry Winston boutique in 2008, had been put in a plastic container and set into cement inside a sewer in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb, according to a CNN News report.

The robbery was committed by four armed thieves who stole almost 80 million euros (about $111 million) in merchandise from the shop. It was one of the most serious robberies in decades, according to BBC News.

Police detained and questioned 25 people in 2009 in connection with the heist, and eventually charged nine people, including the suspected ringleader, said BBC.

A large amount of the stolen goods had already been found at the Seine-Saint-Denis house, according to BBC, but authorities did not say whether all the stolen goods are now recovered.

The latest discovery included 19 rings - one valued at 6 million euros ($8.3 million) - and three pairs of earrings, according to CNN.

by Bailey Haack

I looked at the NASA press conference that was held Friday after a satellite takeoff failed. The news report that went along with it was written by CBS News.

The reporter had to decide which quotes and information would be the most important and newsworthy.

They included the most important information first, which was paraphrased instead of using direct quotes. This makes it more interesting and easier to read.

The reporter added in more and more details down further in the story, but got the most important parts covered first. The added details simply put some color into the story, and add human interest.

The quotes from the people at the press conference also add human interest to the story, instead of simply reporting on the facts of what happened.

by Bailey Haack

Outspoken members of the GLBT community attended a recent Anoka-Hennepin school board meeting, demanding a change to the board's neutrality policy.

Almost two dozen speakers testified to the board, asking them to rescind the policies in place that limit discussion of GLBT issues in the classroom, as well as bullying policies.

One speaker said, "The neutrality policy silences and isolates students because they are gay. It's a censorship policy," reported the Coon Rapids Herald.

A written statement by Superintendent Dennis Carlson said, "Anoka-Hennepin supports gay-straight alliances and it will continue to provide training on preventing harassment and on how best to support GLBT students. We believe that no one in our schools should be harassed for any reason," according to the Herald.

One outspoken woman was removed from the meeting by security, and many tempers were flared, but according to the Minnesota Independent, the rest of the meeting was civil.

by Bailey Haack

The baby girl that was thrown into a snow bank during a domestic dispute between her parents remains hospitalized, but is in satisfactory condition.

The baby, only 18 days old, was wearing only a t-shirt and blanket in the 18-degree weather. By the time police arrived at the scene, her body temperature was only 95 degrees, according to the Pioneer Press.

"It was initially life-threatening," said Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. William Palmer. He told the Star Tribune that 95 degrees is generally considered low enough to trigger hypothermia.

The baby's mother, Ashlee Renee Couch, 21, was arrested on suspicion of child abuse. The father, Deontae Thurmond, was also arrested, on suspicion of domestic assault.

by Bailey Haack

A section of a light rail train in Minneapolis derailed late Wednesday night in the first incident of its kind since the light rail was built seven years ago.

No one was injured in the incident, according to the Star Tribune, but authorities are still trying to figure out what caused the derailment of the two-car train.

The train went off the tracks between Nicollet and Hennepin avenues on Wednesday night, shortly before midnight, according to Metro Transit spokesman John Siqveland.

He told the Star Tribune, "The train was crossing from one track to another at a switch when the lead car came off its track by a few inches. The second car did not derail."

Train service has resumed, according to a KSTP News report, which says that all the stops in the area are back open and running.

by Bailey Haack

Beginning in Baghdad, parts of Iraq are beginning the process of removing the tall concrete blast walls that were used to tighten security along roads and in neighborhoods around the city.

One such wall in Sadr City was built about three years ago to help prevent attacks on passing military vehicles, said the New York Times. The wall was three miles long, and surrounded businesses and homes, causing them to be abandoned.

Quassim Karim, 50, said that before the walls were built, he was selling between 200 and 300 tons of flour from his warehouse per month. He told the Washington Post that when the barriers went up, his sales dropped as low as 110 tons a month.

The walls, many of which were built by American troops, were disliked by many Iraqis.
Karim told the Post, "We're delighted with this. At least it will give us a feeling that the security crisis we have lived through is finished."

Another woman from Sadr city told the NY Times that she is very happy that the walls are being removed. "From the bottom of my heart; I hope they'll give orders to lift them all."

by Bailey Haack

A bill introduced Monday in the California legislation would ban the sale, possession, and distribution of shark fins, to the chagrin of some Chinese, who see it as an attack on their culture.

Democratic Assemblymen Paul Fong and Jared Huffman introduced the legislation on Monday, receiving support from multiple environmental groups, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Shark fins are used in a traditional Chinese soup, which is often served at important ceremonies such as marriages.

"People come to America to enjoy the freedom, including what's on the place," restaurant owner Kinson K. Wong, 58, said to the New York Times. He defends shark fins as a delicacy.

But, as Kate Slusark, spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Defense Council says, "Their collection involves discarding the rest of the shark's body at sea." She told the LA Times that only about 2-5 percent of the shark is actually used.

Up to 73 million sharks per year are being harvested for their fins, according to the NY Times.