CJones

The Academy Awards are here and the Oscars are ready. The Academy of Picture Arts and Sciences have bylaws for determining one of the most anticipated awards, best picture. For one, it must be 40-mintues in length. Covert goes into detail about each of the nominees for best picture, and even ponders the question if Little Miss Sunshine will pull out the win.

The challenge of writing this article would be discovering the research and determining what is news worthy.

Chris Hewitt of the Pioneer Press, wrote a more subjective story about the upcoming Academy Awards. Hewitt found the story in not who will be winning the awards, but who will be 'blowing' it. In a different light, Hewitt compiles a list of who will will the awards and who should have won the awards.

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Jalal Talabani, 73, was unconscious when he was rushed by ambulance to a hospital in his home town of Sulaimaniyah. His office said he had fallen ill because of continuing hard work. Talabani has a history of fainting from exhaustion. After stabalizing, Talabani was flown to knew by Jordon for a check-up.

The challenge in this story is that it is so fresh, that it is hard to report a complete story with minimal details. The article was posted just a few hours ago.

CNN was quick to pick up on the story also. While CNN conquered Talabani fell ill because of continuing hard work, it was also reported that he had a heart attack from a senior U.S. military official. Talabani's son denied that his father had a heart attack.

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Life Time Fitness CEO, Bahram Akradi pleaded guilty to misdemeanor after attacking a 17-year-old in the Minnetonka High School parking lot. Scott D. Harrison, the victim, drove his car into the parking lot and was cut off by Akradi. Harrison honked and Akradi got out of his car and punched Harrison's car leaving a dent. Akradi then tried to pull Harrison out of the car, but just ripped his shirt. In exchange for his plea, a felony damage to property charge was dropped. Akradi agreed to donate $5,000 of athletic equipment to Minneapolis' public school's and attend an anger managment class. Akradi said he was not sorry for what he did and would do it again.

The challenge in this story is correctly explaining the evidence to the reader. A lot of different sides were presented in the article and allegations were made. It is important that the correct information is conveyed to the reader.

John Welbes reported on the same story for the Pioneer Press. There was a large difference in their stories. Welbes version of the incident in the Minnetonka High School parking lot varied from the Star Tribunes. Welbes said that Harrison drove his car towards Akradi's like he was going to hit it. Akradi then got out of his car, smashed his hand against Harrison's car and opened Harrison's door and grabbed Harrison by his collar.

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The Minnesota State Patrol issued an alert to school districts Friday asking them to not use any buses that have undergone a specific brake-system change. First Student supplies more than 1,000 buses to Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts. The cause of the inspection comes after a school bus crash in Ham Lake on Dec. 8 that had modifications to the buses brakes.

The challenge in this story is not scaring the parents of students who may be riding one of the buses called for inspection. It is important to report the news in full, however, scaring readers is not one of the reporters duties. There are ways of presenting the information without concerning readers.

Dave Orrick of the Pioneer Press also wrote about the brake problem. Orrick reports that the part under investigation is the Hydro-Max booster, made by Bosch, which makes the brake pedal easier to push. Orrick went into more detail about the Ham Lake crash detailing that 18 McKinely Elementary School students were hospitalized while Tammy Weber, 38, was critically injured and remains in a coma.

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The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal made by the tobacco industry to take away the 75-cent-per-pack fee on cigarettes. The fee, which the tobacco industry says is unconstitutional because of the agreement signed with Minnesota in 1998 is here to stay. The fee will provide nearly $223 million this year and also leaves Gov. Tim Pawlenty sitting pretty because he now does not have a large hole in his health care budget. Some are just happy about keeping the price high on cigarettes. Aaron Doeppers, director of the Midwest region for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids believes keeping the price high is the only way to reduce smokers in Minnesota.

The challenge for this story would be not to offend either side. The article sounded bias against the tobacco industry, which a reporter must keep in mind not everyone is.

The Pioneer Press wrote an article about the same story. Most of the same issues were covered, however, the Pioneer Press did not go as in depth. Instead, they focused more on the 1998 agreement Minnesota and the tobacoo industry had. In the agreement, the tobacco industry pays Minnesota $2 billion for health care issues caused by tobacco.

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Despite the outcome, the Democrats in the Senate made it clear they are against the escalation in Iraq. Republicans blocked the possibility of opening the debate on the nonbinding measure. Democrats are now more fueled than ever to criticize the Republicans for supporting an unpopular war among the nation. Norm Coleman argued to be some what in the middle. He opposes sending more troops to Baghadad and thinks sending troops to Anbar Province would be a better decision.

The challenge in this story is finding the newsworthy items. A lot of material was presented and the reporter needed to decide what was newsworthy for Minnesotan readers. Murray went for finding how Coleman and Amy Klobuchar felt about the issues, both Minnesota representatives.

Carl Hulse and Jeff Zeleny reported for The New York Times about the Senate vote. Most of the information was the same, except Coleman and Klobuchar were not mentioned in the Times article. Instead they focused on the Republicans who switched the vote with the Democrats.

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T. Denny Sanford donated $400 million to a South Dakota medical organization, Sioux Valley Hospitals & Health, which promtly changed its name to Sanford Health. A native of St. Paul, Sanford offered the University of Minnesota $35 million to build a new football stadium in 2003 and the U of M turned Sanford down after reading the fine print which included he would only pay after the construction was complete and if the stadium was to his liking. Sanford's more recent charitable donation of $400 milllion is considered one of the largest in history.

This story needs to have more than just who Sanford is donating to. There needs to be some substance behind why he is doing this and exactly who he is aiming to donate to.

Cara Hetland reported on the story for Minnesota Public Radio and compiled a much less detailed story. Hetland differed from the Star Tribune in that she said that the $400 million given to the health organization will be given $50 million over the next eight years. Both the articles name some of the many other donations Sanford has given in the past.

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Despite the humid weather and nagging bugs, couples around Minnesota, and the nation for that matter, are looking to July 7 for their wedding date. Some consider the date to be the luckiest in the century. Lois Fritz, co-owner of the Wedding Shoppe in St. Paul says she has almost 80 weddings scheduled for that date. That is twice her usual number. Photographers, florits, and bakers alike are all experiencing a flood of soon-to-bes wanting their services on July 7. Las Vegas, notorias for aloping couples, is getting ready for a shock-wave of nuptials. "This will probably be the busiest day in the Las Vegas wedding industry," said Greg Smith, owner of the Little Church.

The challenge in this story would be actually discovering the story. Finding the news in the fact that a lot of couples see 07/07/07 to be a great wedding date is a challenge in itself, however, many news outlets found the story compelling.

Patrick T. Reardon of the Chicago Tribune reported on the story as well. Reardon reports a more widespread story. "Evenings at wedding halls have been booked for two or three years," said Terra Hubble, as 23-year-old getting married on July 7. Readon also looks at an unlucky wedding date, Friday the 13. Surprisingly, many couples aren't avoiding the date.

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The three head-on crashes happened last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday on hwy. 52, I-35W, and hwy. 61. The three head-on collisions are "definitely a little out of the normal, " Kent Barnard, spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation said. All three crashes were caused because a car crossed the median. MnDOT said the causes of the crashes were because of inattentive driving, speeding, and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. To prevent more cross-median crashes, MnDOT has been putting up cable-like barriers to prevent crashes where they have happened frequently.

A challenging part of writing this article was reporting the names and places of each accident correctly. Three different accidents will very specific details to each leaves little room for mistakes.

Dave Orrick of the Pioneer Press, wrote a brief about the crashes. The most obvious difference between the two articles is that the Star Tribune found the story to be worthy of a 7-paragraph story, while the Pioneer Press mearly reported it as a brief. Orrick only reported on the crash that occured on Saturday and that it involved alcohol. Perhaps the Pioneer Press would have created a larger article if they have the information that the Star Tribune had.

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Computer and software companies, as well as airlines, are worried that the early daylight saving time will effect more than just resetting a clock. Computer and software companies are worried problems will arise with Windows and Outlook, however, the majority of the problem can be fixed by manually resetting a clock. Airlines have a greater concern. We are changing our clocks two weeks before European clocks and this presents a problem with connecting flights.

An interesting outlook in this article was not only the negative consequences from the early time change, but also the benefits. The article goes into detail about how the more sunlight at the end of the day can help people with seasonal affective disorder.

Brian Bergstein wrote an article that appeared in the Pioneer Press about the same issue, although, he failed to mention the consequences for the airline industry. Instead, Bergstein focused on computer issues and the problems with calendar times in programs. Reinan, of the Star Tribune, quoted Mats Heimdahl, director of the Software Engineering Center at the University of Minnesota as saying, "It's not the end of the world if you miss a meeting." Reinan's point was that if people are aware of the problem and extra cautious about dates and times, there should be no problem. On the other hand, Bergstein makes this issue to be much larger of an issue.

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Summary:
Some legislators, mostly DFLers, want to state to pay off the Xcel Center's $65 million debt and the RiverCentre convetion center's $43 million debt. This comes mostly because the Xcel Center will be holding the GOP convention and would consequently free up money to make some upgrades.
Challenge:
This article required a lot of research. A lot of background information about the cities finacial status was needed to cover this story.
Comparison:
TIm Nelson and Bill Salisbury of the Pioneer Press reported on the same story. Most of the same facts are presented in the two stories, however, the Pioneer Press seemed to be more focused on the finances of the situation. Rather than looking at why, the Pioneer Press was looking at taxes and the how.

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Summary:
NASA astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak has been charged with attempted murder and could face life in jail. Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman was the victim of her plot when Nowak stalked and assaulted Shipman for persuing a space shuttle pilot, William Oefelein.
Challenge:
The authorities were not releaseing much information at the time of print, so it was a challenge to give the reader enough information to understand the story.
Comparison:
Marc Kaufman of the Pioneer Press focused on what NASA is doing to up their screening process of potential astronauts. Kaufman's story also goes into more detail about Nowaks plan for assaulting Shipman.
Kaufman's story is set up well with like material together. He begins with what NASA is doing about the admission program and screening process. He then puts in chronological order the events Nowak went through to travel to and assault Shipman. He continues with the charges against Nowak and ends with a statement from NASA about how Nowak gave no indication for concern.

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Summary:
Classes were canceled at St. John the Baptist School due to a mercury leak. Mercury was said to have leaked in at least one science room, the hall, and the cafeteria. Students on the buses ready to go home were asked to return to the school and in some cases leave their shoe's and backpack's for mercury testing. Other students were asked to bring their clothes back to the school for testing. Short-term exposure to mercury rarely causes problems, however, if the mercury was a students shoe and was then transfered to their carpet at home, the exposure time is prolonged raising the risk of complications.
Challenge:
The challenge for this story would be not alarming parents. Causing panic among parents of the students at the school would not help, but it was vital to report in the case that someone in the school was not contacted about the spill and could have contaiminated clothes or objects.
Comparison:
Mary Bauer of the Pioneer Press also reported on the story. I found Bauer's story to be much more alarming. She talks about hazardous-waste removal firms cleaning the building, the large number of students required to surrender their shoes and backpacks, and she talks about the danger of airborne mercury, which that Star Tribune article fails to mention.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/living/education/16647949.htm

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Summary:
On the morning of February 7, nearly 300 hundred accidents occured between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Although no one was killed, the abundance of serious injuries had some legislators looking at MnDOT as to why this wasn't under more control.
Challenge:
The challenge in this story was getting a response from MnDOT as to why this occured. The most that was said about MnDOT was that the incidents could have been prevented if MnDOT was not underfunded. MnDOT spokeswoman then refutes the claim and says it was not due to underfunding and does not give another explaination.
Comparison:
John Brewer of the Pioneer Press wrote about the rush-hour disaster also. The main difference between the two stories is that Brewer's says most of the injuries were not serious and his story focused on the lengthy time delays rather than why MnDOT was or was not doing their job.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/16638500.htm

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