Government Example--update

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061021/OSH0101/610210409/1128/OSHnews

1. With the possibility of changing the charge for garbage collection fees from $10 to $0 in the city of Oshkosh, it was feared that there would be severe cuts to firefighters and police forces. It looks as though the preliminary budget for next year would now call for a much smaller reduction of staff to one of each firefighters and police officers and 10 jobs at other various city positions.
2. There are a few players with this issue. THere is the people who want to pay for garbage collection and salvage some jobs within the city vs. the people who want free garbage collection. The second set of players is the people who make the cuts. Some would want to limit firefighters and police officers and another set of people would want a reduction in other types of jobs rather than the aforementioned pair.
3. I think the best part of the story was making something extremley boring, like the council meeting some importance to the community. I think the writer did a good job of conveying what the propsed cut to the garbage collection fee could do. I think the reporter also did a good job of showing there won't be as severe of cuts as was originally thought. I think overall, the reporter was successful at taking a small part of what was discussed at a meeting and shone some light on it. I should focus on doing the same and explaining the subject as clear as the reporter for the northwestern did.
4. I don't think there was a glaring weakness in the story, I think overall the reporter did a pretty good job. I think the reporter could have went into detail a bit more than they decided to do. I had to read the article a couple of times because I thought I missed some of the specifics about what the tax cut would do and how many jobs would be affected. The story was also a little dry, but that is to be expected. I can't think of a way to really liven it up, but if it would be possible that would always be a good idea for the story.
5. I think a good story to cover as my B story could be the choice of companies to handle the construction of easements of sidewalks and land at intersections of handicap ramps on Ohio Street. The story could explain which way the council decides to go and what their reasoning is. There are a few good numbers tha can be used to show how much money is being saved by choosing one company over the other for the construction.