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If pandemic hits Minnesota, who would be treated first?

The Star Tribune’s article about the possible influenza pandemic has a lead that is written like a feature article, even though it is a news story. It takes three paragraphs in order to establish a full lead, stating rhetorical questions to engage readers. It tells what the article is about (the preliminary report and the flu pandemic), who released the report, who will be affected by it, and where people will be affected. Though the lead is a little specific, the details are there in order to catch the interest of readers. Instead of merely reporting about the release of the report, the article focuses mainly on what a possible future will be if a pandemic does occur. The ethical issues that surround the distribution of limited medical supplies are a large part of the focus, and by mentioning that problem and including specific types of people in the lead the reporter is able to hint at what he or she will be writing about later. The newsworthiness of the release of the report is also not as high as bringing the issue of distribution to public knowledge, so including the issue in the lead in a way to interest readers is important.

Posted by vangx570 at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Los Angeles Times will cut 300 positions in an attempt to stay afloat in the struggling economy.

"Not a day goes by that we don't give our readers the latest news and analysis on the deepening troubles of the U.S. economy," Eddy Hartenstein, the paper's publisher, wrote in a staff memo. "The same challenges that face the companies we report about also are affecting us."

Editor Russ Stanton said 70 jobs will be lost from the editorial department, about 11 percent. The Los Angeles Times will also be cutting the number of daily sections from five to four starting on March 2.

Neither the Guardian nor the San Francisco Chronicle has information about what savings will be made from the cut.

The Guardian states the Tribune Company, who owns the Los Angeles Times as well as the Chicago Times and multiple television stations across the country, filed for bankruptcy at the end of last year.

Both the Guardian and the San Francisco Chronicle list other newspapers who have downsized, like The Dallas Morning News, who will cut 500 jobs, or about 14 percent of its workforce, and will take other measures to cope with the failing ad revenue.

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North Korea announced it was nullifying agreements for non-aggression with South Korea on Friday, increasing the tension between the two countries.

The majority of analysts featured in reports believe the intentions behind this move are to gain the attention of United States President Barack Obama as well as force South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to soften his stance against North Korea.

"The North probably believes that this type of thing is the most effective way of getting the upper hand with the US ahead of negotiations by raising tension," Korea University professor Yoo Ho-yeol told Reuters, as reported in the Guardian.

South Korean officials are still wary of the announcement, and urge the North to lower tensions with dialogue. The New York Times reports Lee predicts the dialogue between the two neighboring countries will resume “before long.�

“Of all the countries in the world, who cares the most sincerely about North Korea? The United States? Japan? China? Russia? North Korea must realize that it’s South Korea,� Lee said in a live round-table television discussion.

Lee Byung-chul, a senior fellow at the Institute for Peace and Cooperation, a policy advisory board in Seoul, believes otherwise. He predicts North Korea will strengthen ties with the U.S. while ignoring South Korea.

“It doesn’t appear that it will just end up as empty words from the North,� he told the New York Times.

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The Illinois Senate unanimously voted for Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich’s impeachment on Thursday based on charges of abuse of power.

A four-day trial led to the conviction. The senate’s unanimous vote impeached Blagojevich and banned him from ever holding public office in Illinois again. According to Yahoo! News, the case included criminal charges and allegations he broke the law when he hired “state workers, expanded a health care program without legislative approval and spent $2.6 million on flu vaccine that went to waste.�

Yahoo! News states federal prosecutors are also drawing up an indictment against him on corruption charges. Blagojevich was arrested on Dec. 9 by federal agents for trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacant seat in the Senate, among other things.

He was recorded on government wiretaps trying to barter the seat for campaign cash or for a plum job for himself or his wife.

The New York Times reports that about an hour after the conviction, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, 60, took the oath of office.

“My mission here in the next 700 days is to work as hard as I can for those who don’t have lobbyists in Springfield,� Quinn told reporters Thursday night.

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A former St. Paul police officer was charged by Minnesota prosecutors with stabbing an acquaintance he accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of marijuana from.

The Ramsey County District Court charged Norman Wesley Berry, 52, with second-degree assault and fifth-degree possession of marijuana.

According to the Pioneer Press, Berry confronted Courtney Allen Bivens, then 26, on Dec. 3 at the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center. Berry believed Bivens stole $3,200 worth of marijuana from his home on Nov. 28. When Bivens refused to get into Berry’s vehicle and punched Berry, Berry slashed his arm several times with a kitchen knife.

Bivens later identified Berry in a photo lineup and denied breaking into his home, but told police he knew Berry ran a marijuana-growing operation in his basement.

When police searched Berry’s home on Dec. 11, they found marijuana and remnants of the grow operation.

According to the Star Tribune, police believed he fled from St. Paul to Iowa to Stockton, Calif. A warrant was released for his arrest when he was charged, and police in Stockton arrested him on Wednesday. Berry is being held in the San Joaquin County Jail.

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State officials released a preliminary report on Friday regarding health care resource distribution if an influenza pandemic occurs.

The report, called "For the Good of Us All: Ethically Rationing Health Resources in Minnesota in a Severe Influenza Pandemic," states one in three Minnesotans might become sick if the pandemic does occur. 175,000 might be hospitalized and 32,000 might die. The pandemic could last up to two years, according to a panel of health officials and ethicists.

"Many people have a false sense of security because we haven't had a pandemic yet, after all the publicity about 'bird flu,' '' Minnesota Health Commissioner Sanne Magnan told the Star Tribune. "However, that same avian strain of influenza is still making people sick and causing deaths in Asia and Africa, and it could still cause a pandemic.''

The Star Tribune reports that Minnesota has enough medicine to treat 21 percent of the population in a first wave of the flu. The 2.4 million masks for public health workers will not last three weeks.

The Star Tribune also includes a list of possible priorities in the distribution of supplies, with those who are critical to preventing the flu and those who are at a high risk of contracting the flu at the top of the list and those who are moderately at risk at the bottom.

Officials will release the protocols for the rationing of what medical supplies Minnesota has collected later, but want to raise the ethical issues that surround the rationing.

The report brings up the issue of age discrimination. It notes that the antiviral medication will be less effective on the elderly and infants, and that providing these to their caretakers might better protect them from the flu. It also warns that steps should be taken so there is no discrimination based on economic status, illegal immigrants are not turned away, and the terminally ill are not treated unfairly.

The Pioneer Press reports around 12,900 people suffering from the flu could suffer from respiratory failure during the pandemic, but only 1,200 mechanical ventilators are available in the state. 85 percent of them are currently in use, some by terminally ill patients, and the pandemic might take these machines away from them.

The panel told the Star Tribune the top priorities of rationing should be, “Protect the population’s health, protect public safety and civil order, and treat people fairly.�

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