This is news.

Along with the I-35W river bridge collapse, there have been three other major bridge and overpass collapses this year in the U.S.

The 35W bridge was 40 years old when it collapsed Aug. 1. The day before, an overpass in Oroville, California collapsed and crushed a delivery truck and severely injuring a construction worker who fell. In April, a section of freeway that directed traffic off the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed. A gasoline tanker had tipped over and caught fire right before the bridge collapsed.

As Minnesota and the rest of the world takes in the recent events, stories of other bridges collapsing resurface. Fox 12 in Oregon covered the story and listed the number of bridge collapses from 1980-2007. While the 35W bridge collapse is tragic, it is certainly not a new story for the world as many of them have collapsed during the past couple decades.

In dealing with the issue, the Oregon site questioned whether or not Portland would be ready if a bridge collapsed there.

A New York site covered a bridge collapse years ago that killed 10 people near Amsterdam, New York.

A similar story was also written on a website called The Age about a Montreal overpass that collapsed in 2006.

Over the past couple hours, news agencies have covered the most recent bridge collapse, those it affected as well as other similar situations that have occurred in other areas throughout the world. The coverage is all very similar, talking about the tragic situations but finding a news story that reports a solution proves rather difficult.

Posted by Andrea Wagenknecht at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just after 6 p.m. Aug. 1, the I-35W bridge crossing the Mississippi River collapsed sending the bridge and cars down in to the river and along the shoreline.

It has been determined there are four confirmed deaths at this time and as many as 80 people injured. There are also still 20-30 people missing at this time.

Rescue efforts continued until late evening Thursday, trying to recover those who had not been able to climb out on their own. Efforts on Thursday are now recovery efforts as those involved say they do not expect to find anyone alive.

Structural engineers as well as government officials have been called out to begin investigating the collapse. At this time, the Department of Homeland Security has concluded it was not terrorism but a structural issue. This comes after a 2002 report from the University of Minnesota that reported problems with the bridge. A 2005 report given by the Minnesota Department of Transportation did not report the same issues.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, Governor Tim Pawlenty and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak gave a press conference along with other local, state and federal government officials discussing the event and what steps will be taken from here on out.

The coverage for this event was widespread and very complete as it was on almost every news website and channel available. There were reports on news websites in Australia, England and throughout the U.S. Even sources that most Americans would consider unlikely, such as Al Jazeera, covered the story as it was updated.

The BBC also covered the story, pulling pictures from the Associated Press and updating their story every time new information was available. The story was also covered by CNN, the Star Tribune, the New York Times. Each story reported essentially the same information although some report more deaths then others. This is most likely due to proximity. Australia has a smaller chance of reporting the correct number of deaths because they most likely do not have a reporter right at the scene.

Posted by Andrea Wagenknecht at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two separate bank robberies in Eau Claire, Wis. and Burnsville, Minn. are being investigated by the FBI after both credit unions reported being robbed by an unidentified white man.

According to the Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune, a man robbed a credit union in Burnsville around 11:30 a.m. Monday. In another incident, a man robbed a credit union in Eau Claire around 2 p.m. later that same day.

The stories report that around 11:30 Monday, a man approached a teller at the U.S. Federal Credit Union and demanded money. He was later seen running away towards an apartment complex. Later that day, around 2 p.m., a man approached a teller at Royal Credit Union in Eau Claire, produced a pistol and demanded money.

The FBI is investigating both incidents and is currently looking for information.

In the Pioneer Press, only the Burnsville robbery was covered. The information in this story was concise and direct but there was not enough information. This could have been due to time constraints or simply availability of information to the reporter.

The Star Tribune included a lot more information about both robberies as well as a surveillance photo from both banks. This story was more interesting, more detailed and much more well written compared to the story in the Pioneer Press.

Posted by Andrea Wagenknecht at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dominic Jones, star Gopher cornerback, was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct Monday after a cell phone video of the alleged incident was discovered. The video, which was uncovered by investigators after it had been deleted, showed Jones having sex with an 18-year-old woman who was physically helpless. According to the criminal complaint, the victim had a blood-alcohol content of about 0.30 percent. At that level, the ability to walk or stand is completely lost.

The charges come after the arrests of three other teammates in April who were released days later. Alex Daniels, 20, Keith Massey, 20, and E.J. Jones, 19, were arrested in April in connection with the case. They were released but still remain suspects at this time.

The complaint states that the victim and a female friend arrived at the apartment of former player Robert McField at University Village, where McField challenged the victim to a drinking contest. Daniels, Jones and Massey took turns having sex with the woman in a bedroom. She later passed out on a couch.

When McField arrived back at his apartment he saw Jones having sex with the woman while Daniels recorded the act on a cell phone. The video showed her to be unresponsive.

This investigation has been in the news since the arrest of the three men months ago. This particular story was covered by the Star Tribune and the Minnesota Daily. Both stories gave the background on the case as well as discussing the most recent developments. They also included input from the head coach, the athletic director, attorneys and other officials involved in the investigation of the case. The coverage was complete and could be understood by anyone, even someone who had not followed the story from the beginning. In the story by the Minnesota Daily, links were also included to previous stories dealing with the same investigation which can be helpful if someone wants to read about specific details along the way.

Posted by Andrea Wagenknecht at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

South Dakota carried out its first execution in 60 years Wednesday night. Elijah Page, 25, was executed by lethal injection for torturing and killing a 19-year-old acquaintance. There was little protest to the execution as the case finally came to a close.

Page along with two others tortured and then killed Chester Poage in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Page and two others had stolen electronics from Poage's home and then killed him to cover up the theft. By the time Poage's body was found, Page was in Texas and Briley Piper, another defendant, was in Alaska.

Page and Piper both pleaded guilty and were sentenced in 2001. The third man was sentenced to life in prison. Currently, Piper remains on death row along with two other men.

As Page was executed Wednesday, a small group of protestors and a small group of supporters stood outside the penitentiary. Inside, the execution went smoothly as Page was injected and died over a period of about 10 minutes.

The story was covered by the Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio. While there were some grammatical errors in the public radio article, both covered the story with the same amount of dignity. The stories did not attack the protestors or supports of the death penalty as has been seen in other execution articles in the past. Instead, it stated the facts and included quotations but did not give opinions or sound biased in any way. The coverage of this particular execution was well done and as complete as it should be.

Posted by Andrea Wagenknecht at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A 6-year-old girl from Edina, Minnesota was still hospitalized in serious condition Wednesday after the suction from a swimming pool drain pulled out several feet of her intestine.

Abigal Taylor was injured Friday at the Minneapolis Golf Club in St. Louis Park when her some of her intestine was pulled out by the suction from an uncovered pool drain. The protective cover had come off and Abigail was able to pull herself from the drain without calling for help, said Abigail's parents, Scott and Kathryn Taylor. When it was realized that she had been injured, she was taken to Children's Hospital for surgery.

Doctors had to remove the part of Abigail's intestine that remained and it is likely she will have to be fed intravenously from now on.

Since 1990, there have been three incidents similar to Abigail's and 13 other peole, mostly children, have died because of underwater drains.

Abigail's injury comes as Congress is looking at new pool safety regulations. The new regulation would require pools to have multiple drains with less suction instead of only one drain. Owners of pools could also install sensors that would turn off the suction if the drain became blocked.

The bill can be viewed here.

Currently, doctors are deciding what further course to take with Abigail to treat the injury.

The story was very well covered in the Star Tribune. The story was very complete, with input coming from different sources to help the reader understand what happened to Abigail as well as what is happening on a larger scale to further prevent this type of problem. The only lacking information was about the removal of comments from a website by the parents. That update was covered in the Pioneer Press.

The Pioneer Press also covered the story online, although their story was very compact and lacked detail. The story in the Sunday edition of the paper had written a better story which makes me think the shorter story was posted online to save space and prevent redundancy.

Posted by Andrea Wagenknecht at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday to consider whether Medtronic Inc. and other manufacturers of medical devices are shielded from product liability lawsuits by federal regulations.

The justices agreed to hear an appeal from a man who had a Medtronic-made catheter burst during an angioplasty, causing him permanent injury. Charles Riegel says he had to undergo emergency bypass surgery after the catheter burst and caused an immediate blockage during the procedure.

In this and other similar cases, lower courts have ruled that companies like Medtronic are shielded from such lawsuits. Courts have previously said that companies like Medtronic cannot change products once on the market without Food and Drug Administration's approval.

The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York noted that it is "almost impossible" for a device to stick to both FDA standards as well as jury verdicts.

The Fridley-based company defends itself in this case, stating that the catheter was inflated beyond restrictions by the physician. The catheter in question is no longer made by the company.

The coverage by the Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune was very similar although both went about the story in a slightly different manner. The Pioneer Press put a larger focus on the person involved in the appeal while the Star Tribune's story seemed a bit less personal and a little more professional.

Posted by Andrea Wagenknecht at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Minnesota Vikings continued their attempts to secure a new stadium when they signed an intent to purchase agreement Wednesday, buying the land from Avista Capital Partners, the new owners of the Star Tribune. Avista Capital Partners sold land surrounding the current location of the Star Tribune to the Minnesota Vikings for an amount that has yet to be confirmed. Although sources put the amount at close to $45 million dollars, neither side would confirm it.

Zygi Wilf, owner of the Vikings, purchased the land near the Metrodome and added it to the $5 million purchase he made last month. Wilf wants to bulid a $1.6 billion retractable roof stadium to replace the Metrodome after the Vikings lease is up in 2011.

The story, covered by both the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press, has been in the news over the last few years when the Vikings first tried to secure a similar deal in Anoka County. The deal fell through and county officials blamed the Vikings, saying they refused to stop looking at the site in Minneapolis.

The coverage on both sides is fairly complete on this issue although there does seem to be a difference in attitude between the two stories. While the Star Tribune quotes those who made more positive remarks, the Pioneer Press quoted people from both sides of the story. The Pioneer Press story, therefore, sounds less biased about the deal.

Neither story answers all questions, leaving the price tag hanging with quotations from those simply referred to as "sources" who were close to the deal. This raises quite a few questions about the story and the motives behind the sources who reported the information.

Posted by Andrea Wagenknecht at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)