NMalec

MIT dean of admissions Marilee Jones resigned after it was discovered that she had lied on her resume. She was outspoken for her actions to make parents and students less stressed with school.

I think the lead in the Houston chronicle begins well, but the second sentence makes it boring, I think the second sentence can be taken out entirely, and it will still read well, and sound better.
"To stressed-out parents and students, MIT admissions dean Marilee Jones was a rare voice of reason in the high-pressure world of college admissions. With colleges demanding kids who play sports, run student government and take the heaviest course load they can, Jones shouted back the opposite: daydream, stay healthy, and don't worry so much about building a resume just to impress an elite college. Yet it turns out that Jones was susceptible to pressure herself."
I like that the New York Times gets a lot of feedback from the students. The Chronicle didn't really do this. The Chronicle focused more on how MIT fired her to keep integrity, but the Times focused more on how they fired her to keep integrity, but that she was still a good employee and nice person to know. I think the NY Times might have given a broader picture of her in this case.

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A Russian helicopter was shot down, killing 18 people. Reasons for crash vary from fighting with separtist rebles, to technical failiures.

The Guardian is a much longer article than the BBC one. So, of course it gives more detail. For instance, it gives other explanations for the crash. The information it chose to put in the article seems appropriate. It begins by mentioning the crash and then saying that the reason why it crashed is not confirmed, and it ends with some background of fighting with the rebels. The Guardian basically has the same information over a longer paper, but we still come back with a better understanding for the reasons of fighting.
Both papers also use a quote from an official who was not authorized to speak with the media. I thought this quote turned out pretty good and useful even though the name couldn't be given primarily because of the timeliness of the issue.

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The power line grid is being updated for the 21st century. A bill passed in 2005 gives the federal government say over state and local regions to build new power lines. This is now being used to build lines in the southwest and northeast areas of America.

The LA Time's article fails to explain what the big picture is. I think this relates to the movie we watched in class about hyper localism. The whole story takes place in California, despite the fact that other areas are affected.
After I read the Houston Chronicle, I really felt a lot better about my understanding of what is going on. They gave the history of why this grid is being updated by citing passed events like the 2003 black-out in Ohio, New York and Canada. They also ended by saying that these new grids may not be the last additions.
I think it is alright for the LA Times to focus on the local issues, but they should at least give us a better idea of the big picture, by giving us background and such.

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A tax bill that would only affect 1% of Minnesotans was passed Friday. The bill will provide relief for low-income people, but Republicans mention that the tax is superfluous, citing that the state has a surplus too.

I like the Pioneer Press's lede. It is quick and to the point. The main issues surrounding the bill are all packed into that sentence. "Despite Gov. Tim Pawlenty's threat of a veto, the Democratic-controlled Minnesota House today passed a tax bill that would increase income taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent of Minnesotans to reduce property taxes for 90 percent of the state's homeowners."
The Star Tribune has an interesting lede, but I feel like I'm not the audience for it.
"Now comes the real heavy-lifting on the state budget. With the Legislature's 2007 session about three weeks from its required end, the House on Friday muscled through a bill that would raise income taxes on the affluent to ease property taxes for most Minnesota homeowners."
It sounds like they are making a pun, which I just don't get and which actually confuses me a bit.
The Pioneer Press also does a better job of stating an argument from one side and then stating the other side. It is very well organized and keeps the two defferent opinions separated and clearly distinct throughout.

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The St. Paul mayor's car was hit by a drunk driver with a BAC of .26. No one was hurt in the crash, and only minor damage was caused to the car.

This is a simple story, but both the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune take a slightly different angle on it. Both are facsinating in their own unique way. The Star Tribune tells us what happened. At the end they give a brief description of the accident, adding that the driver crashed into the car going about 12mph. This gives us a good picture of what happened.
But, the Pioneer Press goes beyond what happened and shows us a snippet of the scene. They described how the drunk driver could not understand who she hit even though police kept telling her. This is a nice anecdote that really brings the story alive.

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While bored a lady was searching the internet for information on her interest group when she found her name on a government website with her Social Security number on it.

I think the AP article in the Houston Chronicle could have told the readers who found the number and how it happened sooner. This is what the Washington Post did. It kept the story a little more interesting by peppering the incident where she found the numbers throughout the story. The Chorinicle had more detailed information though. Especially, when they said that the credit monitoring the government was offering the people who were affected by this would cost tax payers $4 million. They also explained that this incident will probably help pass a federal law that would notify potential victims of disclosed or personal information. But the Post also had a lot of detail they just mostly focused on the debate around the incident, like a watchdog group calling the government on trying to suppress news about this (there's nothing to back this up though). And also with the government saying they would take full responsibility for this. These things were not mentioned in the chronicle.

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A Canadian citizen gets life in China for being involved in what the Chinese have called terrorist organizations. He is a member of the Uigher muslim group that has been opppressed by the Chinese government.

This may be another case of proximity. The Toronto Star spent much of the article with his wife talking about how his family was taking the injustice towards her husband, while The Boston Globe just reports the situation very matter of factly.
The Toronto Star talked to all the necassary people, for example Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson and foreign minister of Canada, but they never really explained why he got life. In The Boston Globe AP mentioned in one quick sentence what happened:
"Huseyin Celil was sentenced for the two crimes of "separating China" and "organizing, leading and participating in terrorist groups, organizations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said without elaborating." They didn't elaborate, so nobody really knows. This was a very good sentence and I think the Toronto Star should have added something like this so everyone would know that still nobody knows what happened exactly.

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Hilary Clinton spoke in Marshalltown Iowa, Saturday, and told everyone what she would do if she was elected.

Central Iowa's Times-Republican gave a general overview of what Clinton said she would do if she were in office. The headline focused on withdrawing troops from the Iraq war, but the rest of the article talked about healthcare and immigration. Although immigration and the Bush administration were mentioned in the Washington Post much of the article was about Clinton using her husband to better the image of America. Actually they spent nearly half the article talking about this subject. I think the difference was who the news was created by and going to. The central Iowa paper was near where her speech was. It included general information about the event, actually the article was put under their local news section. But the Washington Post is not treating this speech as an event, but is looking more for new information. Actually the Times Republican did not mention Bill Clinton at all. I think this came out of how the two papers viewed this event based on their readership.

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Donte L. Jacobs pleads guilty to his role in robbing and murdering a South Carolina student in Uptown while the student, Micheal Zebuhr was out visiting his mom and sister.

The Star Tribune didn't really give me exactly what I wanted to know. I wanted to know why he was shot, did Zebuhr try to get the purse back, or was it just out of nowhere or what. Not much is said about the robbery or crime. Maybe it is because its been a year and the story now is that Jacobs plead guilty, but I still would like some chronological narrative of what happened in the middle. The North Carolina paper, the Charlotte Observer gives a little more detail, but they also don't say that much, so maybe that is just the way this type of news story should be told, but I still want to know a little more about the event itself.

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eight buildings at the University of Minnesota were evacuated on Wednesday, because of a bomb threat sent that was found by a student in a bathroom.

The way the Star Tribune presents, Joe Plocher, the student who found the bomb threat's quote is probably more accurate than the Pioneer Press's. They give some background to what Plocher said and choose a quote that represents what he was really saying. In the Pioneer Press it is unclear if he just why he didn't think the note was dangerous, so I think he kind of looks stupid there. I also like how the Star Tribune goes into more detail about other bomb threats from around the country. It even mentions actions taken at high schools from surrounding areas to prevent copycats after the Virginia massacre. Star Tribune also talks to more students that were effected and gives more detail about the slow e-mail system and who was on seen i.e. the FBI and so on.

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Wolfowitz says he will not resign from his position despite a pay scandal that he was involved in. Many of his colleagues have asked him to resign, he gave a woman that he was once romantically involved with a promotion.

The article in the United Press International does not tell us why Wolfowitz has "rebuffed calls for his resignation" until the very end of the story. This type of information shoulc have been in the lead, because otherwise nobody knows what he is rebutting. The article in Forbes puts the entire story in the lead: "Embattled World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz said he intends to carry on doing his job despite mounting pressure on him to resign in the wake of a pay scandal involving his girlfriend." The only problem is that Forbes says that the scandal involved his girlfriend, maybe they have more information than the United Press International, but the UPI only says that it was "a colleague with whom he once had been romantically involved." The difference is important, so maybe this will show up on some paper's correction list tomorrow.

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Chad admits to sending forces to Sudan, but they say it was to pursue rebels not attack Sudanese. The two countries have had a history of tension, but never admit to attacking eachother,

The BBC got the story right. The most important thing was that Chad admitted to going into Sudan, which seems to be a first, although they also say that they weren't planning to battle with Sudanese forces and were only pursuing rebles. The Herald Tribune. also mentions this, but not until the end of the article. The lead talks about the battle and how bloody it was calling it "apocalyptic." But, battles like this happen everyday, but that admittance doesn't.

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low temparatures bring disaster to harvesters in the Carolinas especially fruit producers.

The Charlotte Observer tries to give a lead that takes a twist by saying that last week things were nice and this week winds ruined plants, "Last week, apple trees were green, lush and in full bloom in Henderson County, North Carolina's leading apple producer.
Then Easter's record-setting cold blew in." But I think for this article the AP lead that focused on what happened was much more intriguing. This is because what we really wanted to hear was something fromt the farmers who experienced this and the AP's lead got to this immediately.
But I did like the Observers description and detail. They told us that the peaches that were hurt were only the size of a fingertip. They also gave us a broad overview of history, telling us that this weather has not been seen since the mid-80s. And they left us with some good news that strawberries weren't hurt and even gave us the reason for that (because they're close to the ground and can be covered by hay). Actulaly, they also told us when temparatures become dangerous for peaches, which also gave us some orientation towards the issue.

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Lisa Perry wants to sell are her belongings on Ebay. She was inspired by Buddhism and her friend who said that these things are holding her back.

I'm a little disappointed the Pioneer Press didn't go out and interview her personally, since she's so close, but the Star Tribune did. The article is a little window into a woman's spontaneous decision to seel everything. This makes it an entertaining story. I like the Star Tribune's idea to start out with her quote that '"This might be midlife, but it's not a crisis," the 45-year-old St. Paul woman said. "It's midlife excitement."' They lead into with a sentence that by itself might seem out of place: "Lisa Perry wants to make one thing clear about her decision to sell nearly everything she owns in one massive eBay auction." But the headline tells us that she is selling everything for over $2,000 on Ebay and the average reader's first reaction will be "what..everything?" and then expect an answer from the lifeless page. Luckily we have Lisa Perry's words on the page to give a responce.
The Pioneer Press writes a brief from the AP and and so it is in a very standard form.
There is something though in the STrib that is unclear in this part the paper writes that she might give the stuff to a buyer even if he doesn't pay $2,000, which is her reserve price, but it is already known that the price is at $2,325, which to me means that they might have used yesterdays interview though it was not relevent anymore.
As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, the top bid was $2,325.00, with two days to go. The winner has to pick everything up within three weeks.

You can have it all right now for $2,000. That's her reserve number, meaning she can back out of the deal if the top bid falls short of two-grand. But she's so ready to unload her stuff, she might lower the reserve.

"I'm at the point I just don't want it all anymore," she said.

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The CDC released a study that says that autism is increasing and the increase is probably not entirely due to better detection. In Minnesota the number is also rising.

This Star Tribune article tells us about the CDC national document and gives us information aobut possibilities why their is an increase of cases. To keep the news relevent he seemed to have went and did his own research in Minnesota. he found that the number of children with autism in schools has risen 1000%. He also found local people who deal with Autistic people, like parents and teachers. This brings us much closer to the topic than if it was a national case. I could not find other papers that reported on this specifically nationally, but that would have made it interesting to see the contrast.

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The Washington Post has many corrections on April 5th.

It was wrongly stated that Demetris Green plead guilty to auto theft when she actually only plead guilty to a midemeanor of using an unauthorized vehicle. The implication is that she did not steal the car directly, but Louis Bill was found guilty for stealing the car. Another less serious correction details that Carl Rove spoke to the American University College Repulicans not to the campus Young Republicans.
Another article mentions that a Cherry Blossom Regatta that was announced in the article was canceled due to weather. A picture in another article misspelled the name of a 6-year-old named Keyanna Kelley
(-4 points OUCH!.) In an article about Wolf Trap they misstated the date of the first summer concert by two days.
This stories interesting. It says that it was accidentally stated that the 71 employees at the Philadelphia Inquirer took early retirement, but in actuallity they were laid off.

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The No Child Left Behind Act has been revised to include alternative testing for more disabled students.

The Boston Globe and the Washington Times both explain the same numbers, but that the number of disabled students who can now take the test is best expressed in the Watshington Times. They keep the numbers together, they say that 10% could take it before, another 20% can take it now and so 30% can take it in total. Even though the Globe says the same thing it doesn't give the solution to the then+now equation until three paragraphs later making it harder to put together.
I also like how the Washington times adds the controversy that some people were worried that if the testing wasn't adjusted for disabled students they would be blamed for the penalties that the school recieved for low funding. I thought it was a very important factor in the story.

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Countries met to discuss reports about global warming. Most of the countries approved the research that tells that humans are causing big changes in the environment and also gives predictions of the future consequences. Some coutries also tried to clean some of the language up in the report to keep their countrie's interests safe.

The New York Times focused more on the conference composed of 135 coutries to meet about this report. While the San Francisco Chronicle focused more on the report itself. I enjoy that the New York Times went more indepth into some issues like the countries that watered down the report for their interests. They captured the mood in the assembly by showing the protest that Dr. Rosenzweig staged after some countries wanted material taken out of the report. And by explaining the thundering applause that followed the protest made us feel more a part of this event.

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harmful chemicals have been found in 3 or 4 more landfills at high levels. 3M is being blamed for their presence because they are landifills they dump at.

I like how the Star Tribune gives a lot more specific detail, like how much ppb of perfluorochemicals (PFCs) are considered safe and how many ppb were found in the different landfills. They also tell us what animals have been found to have the traces of non-degratable pfc's in their blood stream. The Star Tribune, for some reason, failed to include the ONYX landfill in Buffalo as one of the landfills that was mentioned in the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Report, which is the report that got everyone interested in this in the first place. The history of the study is dealt with in the Pioneer Press. It helps put the story into perspective, since it was done two years, (which the Star Tribune labels as "new") while they were researching the amount of PFCs and unintentionally found that 3M has caused much of the high PFC levels.

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Par Ridder, former publisher at the Pioneer Press switched jobs to the Star Tribune last month. He is accused of having sensitive data from a laptop and of hiring employees from the Pioneer Press. Ridder denies all of this in a statement, but is not available to speak, even with the Pioneer Press.

The challenge in this article is obvious, the reporter must stay objective even though there are obvious personal feelings that could interfere with this. I think this is actually done well by both the Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune. They both talk about the suspiciousness of the hirings of Pioneer Press employees by the Star Tribune and the data that may have been in Ridder's laptop when he left. One thing though is the quotes they decide to end with are both from the publishers of their respective newspapers, so people are left with the side of the argument of that particular paper's publisher. I also think it's funny that the Star Tribune couldn't even get Ridder for comment. I think this kind of reporting shows how much the reporter cares about getting the people the truth and I think they have done a good job.

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Google sent out Press Releases to fool people this April into believing that they have new technology that brings internet to your home through plumbing connected to your toiliet.

The globeandmail has a very catchy line that is entertaining, but also leads right into the article. "Free internet is only a flush away."
Playfuls is a little less catchy and they tell you that it is an aprils fool day joke twice making the second one much less surprising than it should have been.

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Cesar Chavez Day is marked as a holiday for state employees of California, but not for the students. This caused students to protest to make this holiday include them. They also protested for immigration rights.

The Herald Tribune described this protest as more focused than the LA Times. The Herald Tribune said that the students wanted to pass a legalization program for 12 million undocumented immigrants. They also said that the students wanted the day to be a national holiday.
The LA Times made the students seem like they basically just wanted a day off. The idea of protesting for immigration wasn't even mentioned until the fifthparagraph. They also didn't mention that they wanted it to be a national holiday, but only a "broader holiday."

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