The question of what developments need to be made in Oshkosh and whether residents can afford them was a major topic during the mayoral debate that took place Wednesday evening in UW-Oshkosh's Reeve Memorial Union.
During the debate, mayoral candidate William Castle, who in the past has served in the position for two years, stressed the need to cooperate with developers in order for Oshkosh to obtain new bridges, roads, parks and a new fitness center.
“I’m a firm believer that the city has to step up to the plate when there are serious developers that want to make something happen," Castle said. And maybe the best thing the city can do is get out the way and let the developers in."
Castle believes that building in Oshkosh is "pretty exciting" and the "vision is constantly evolving."
Castle's opponent Paul Esslinger, a five-year city council member, took a different view on the development of the city.
Instead of concentrating on the construction of new facilities like Castle, Esslinger's idea is to "get control over spending and focus on needs vs. wants." He spoke mostly about road repair.
The people of Oshkosh are "traveling on roads that shake the fillings out of your teeth," Esslinger said. "I think we’ve put luxury items ahead of infrastructure needs. Let's focus on the things that need to be done first."
While Esslinger said that Oshkosh's "spending priorities are a little mixed up," Castle stated that he believed in the current spending "balancing act."
"We know how to keep our house in order," Castle said.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Candidates Differ On Goals and Importance of Downtown Restoration
Common Council candidates have conflicting views on what should be done with the {need number} mile long stretch of Main Street known as downtown Oshkosh.
Downtown Oshkosh has been the site of restorative efforts for the past {need number} years. The candidates were all asked to talk about what they thought of the downtown restoration efforts at an open debate last Wednesday. “I am extremely optimistic about the progress they’ve made downtown,” said candidate Bryan Bain.
Another of the candidates, Shirley Mattox, was quick to point out the city’s beautiful “magic corner”, which lies between Algoma Boulevard and High Street. Mattox wants the city to focus on the successes of the downtown restoration efforts, such as the art gallery, the Webster Block and the Oshkosh Grand Opera House.
Prior to it’s restoration in {need date} the Opera House stood empty and about ready to collapse. Since there was no use in keeping it up, the Common Council, at the time, decided to have it torn down. The building was saved when….{needs rest of the story}
UW- Oshkosh alumna and Common Council candidate Meredith Scheuermann said that the downtown has been assessed to be worth $10 million dollars and 20 new businesses had started up there last year. Scheuermann said “It’s important to continue to have a safe downtown.”
Candidate Cheryl Hentz was not as optimistic about the efforts in downtown, saying that many businesses had also left downtown and that no body was asking “why?”. Candidate Brian Poeschl, who has pushed his street repairs platform as the biggest issue effecting Oshkosh today, also said he would want to see business boom downtown, but also felt work needed to be done on main street itself.
“Downtown will rise or fall on its own merit,” said candidate Joe Jungwirth, who wants to see downtown be more family friendly. Jungwirth also wants to expand restoration efforts to a {needs number} mile stretch of Oregon Street.
There is also debate on what to do with downtown once it is restored. Some of the candidates want to see businesses in the storefronts while others think that the buildings should also be used for housing. Bain said that he would like to see a co-op grocery store for the people who live in proximity to Main Street.
Some of the candidates feel that development efforts should be redirected to other areas of the city. Poeschl said that he wants to “beautify the gateways to the city.” Other candidates felt that the waterfront was more important than the downtown and that projects, such as the 5 Rivers Resort, and river walk. “The water is our gem,” said Mattox, who also quickly pointed out that Oshkosh has 22 miles of waterfront to work with.
Despite their differences in opinion on the importance and goals of downtown restoration, all of the candidates felt that something should be done with that section of Main Street. “Downtown will be an issue at every candidate forum for the next 20 years,” said Jungwirth.
“Oshkosh can only grow to the North, South and West, we have a big body of water to the East,” said Mattox. Many of the candidates agreed that we need to work with what we have and according to Poeschl, what we still have are many empty buildings.
Downtown Oshkosh has been the site of restorative efforts for the past {need number} years. The candidates were all asked to talk about what they thought of the downtown restoration efforts at an open debate last Wednesday. “I am extremely optimistic about the progress they’ve made downtown,” said candidate Bryan Bain.
Another of the candidates, Shirley Mattox, was quick to point out the city’s beautiful “magic corner”, which lies between Algoma Boulevard and High Street. Mattox wants the city to focus on the successes of the downtown restoration efforts, such as the art gallery, the Webster Block and the Oshkosh Grand Opera House.
Prior to it’s restoration in {need date} the Opera House stood empty and about ready to collapse. Since there was no use in keeping it up, the Common Council, at the time, decided to have it torn down. The building was saved when….{needs rest of the story}
UW- Oshkosh alumna and Common Council candidate Meredith Scheuermann said that the downtown has been assessed to be worth $10 million dollars and 20 new businesses had started up there last year. Scheuermann said “It’s important to continue to have a safe downtown.”
Candidate Cheryl Hentz was not as optimistic about the efforts in downtown, saying that many businesses had also left downtown and that no body was asking “why?”. Candidate Brian Poeschl, who has pushed his street repairs platform as the biggest issue effecting Oshkosh today, also said he would want to see business boom downtown, but also felt work needed to be done on main street itself.
“Downtown will rise or fall on its own merit,” said candidate Joe Jungwirth, who wants to see downtown be more family friendly. Jungwirth also wants to expand restoration efforts to a {needs number} mile stretch of Oregon Street.
There is also debate on what to do with downtown once it is restored. Some of the candidates want to see businesses in the storefronts while others think that the buildings should also be used for housing. Bain said that he would like to see a co-op grocery store for the people who live in proximity to Main Street.
Some of the candidates feel that development efforts should be redirected to other areas of the city. Poeschl said that he wants to “beautify the gateways to the city.” Other candidates felt that the waterfront was more important than the downtown and that projects, such as the 5 Rivers Resort, and river walk. “The water is our gem,” said Mattox, who also quickly pointed out that Oshkosh has 22 miles of waterfront to work with.
Despite their differences in opinion on the importance and goals of downtown restoration, all of the candidates felt that something should be done with that section of Main Street. “Downtown will be an issue at every candidate forum for the next 20 years,” said Jungwirth.
“Oshkosh can only grow to the North, South and West, we have a big body of water to the East,” said Mattox. Many of the candidates agreed that we need to work with what we have and according to Poeschl, what we still have are many empty buildings.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Street Proposal point of interest
I plan of focusing my interest on Poeschl's proposal to fix the roads, changing it from concrete to asphalt.
Major Point of Interest
I am going to to my article on the the revitalization of downtown Oshkosh. I am going give the opinions of what the council members think we should do in the next few years with the downtown area. Obviously the downtown area is older and many renovations wil need to be made, in addition to new develpment. I will argue the conflicting interests of each candidate on behalf of how we should allocate our city's budget to help revitalize the downtown area. Bain and Maddox are ust two of the candidates in favor of putting millions into the area for outside vistors and a real downtown "mystique". They want to allocate more money to lure more business owners to the downtown area and help build a larger tax base, which is a major problem with the city. More jobs and a more after 5:00 downtown area. However, in support of the revitalization of the downtown area, Poeshel and Hentz believe our downtown area is not a major priority to the city. They would like to see less money spend on the downtown area and more on other areas, such as roads and public works officals.
conflicts of interest
I believe that the most important conflicting interest of the two candidates running for mayor is whether or not to develop the city . While William Castle wants to cooperate with serious developers to make Oshkosh more attractive, Paul Esslinger wants "to get a handle on debt and spending" by putting the "needs" of the city (roads, police and fire protection) ahead of the "wants." He does not put a lot of importance on being "progressive."
After reading a few statements written by both candidates, it seems to me that Castle is more concerned with how outsiders view Oshkosh than with how the actual residents feel and whether or not they can afford new developments.
After reading a few statements written by both candidates, it seems to me that Castle is more concerned with how outsiders view Oshkosh than with how the actual residents feel and whether or not they can afford new developments.
Future Developement-conflicting interests
I plan on writing my story on the future development in Oshkosh. As of now, my story will encapsulate the future developements of the roads, riverfront and downtown area. If this does not work out for me, I will limit my scope and focus on one area of development. William Castle supports the current pace of the city's development, but Paul Esslinger says the current pace is inadequate and there are other areas that need more attention. Castle wants to continue the growth of Oshkosh, especially on the west side of the city. He states that he wants to connect Highway 21 to Highway 26, but goes on to say that he does not want to build new roads that will have to be ripped up in a couple of years for sewer and water lines. Esslinger feels that Oshkosh is currently focusing too much on "luxury" items and not paying attention to what is really needed here. He thinks the current pace of road repairs is not adequate because the city is focusing on these luxury items. Esslinger stated that progress equals debt, and the city needs to rid themselves of this debt before further development is instituted.
Mayor Conflict of Interest
This will be the first elected mayor in 50 years. The two candidates running for mayor have two very different visions on how the job of mayor should evolve. Paul Esslinger would like to turn the mayor position into a full time job. While Bill Castle supports a part time mayor making under $3,000 a year, and he questioned Esslinger on how much he thinks the mayor position should make. I want to find out if Castle is opposed to mayor veto power. I want to see if each candidate’s thinks that the mayor position should be able to hold other city officials accountable for their jobs for example City Manager, Community Development.
I think this is the most important issue because it will set the precident for the future of the mayor position.
I think this is the most important issue because it will set the precident for the future of the mayor position.
Conflicting Interests
I think that two competing issues in the mayor election are the candidates ideas on whether to spend tax money making Oshkosh look nice or giving Oshkosh things that it needs, like better roads and a safer community. I think those issues are both important because both candidates want different things for the community. One candidate focuses more on what the community needs and the other on what they would like the community be some day.
Story issues
What are the key issues argued in the debate?
What brought the most point-counterpoint reaction?
I assume issues dealing with riverfront development,funding for these developments, are going to be a big issue that is argued.
Also-what are the two candidates opinions on the importance of this issue.
Should this gain prevelance or are other issues more important.
Esslinger already stated that he thinks that fixing roads,dealing with already existing problems should be something of more importance. Castle is more supportive of development in the city.
Focus on that.
How many people attended?
Peoples reactions to the debate?
Reactions from supporters of both sides.
History of two candidates.
What has Esslinger done?
What has Castle done?
What brought the most point-counterpoint reaction?
I assume issues dealing with riverfront development,funding for these developments, are going to be a big issue that is argued.
Also-what are the two candidates opinions on the importance of this issue.
Should this gain prevelance or are other issues more important.
Esslinger already stated that he thinks that fixing roads,dealing with already existing problems should be something of more importance. Castle is more supportive of development in the city.
Focus on that.
How many people attended?
Peoples reactions to the debate?
Reactions from supporters of both sides.
History of two candidates.
What has Esslinger done?
What has Castle done?
Conflicts of interest
I think I will write about the differences in how the candidates veiw the use of TIFs. Castle views them as "the greatest tool the city has had for development" and hasn't voted no on any, he said. He believes they will help future development of the city. Esslinger believes TIF districts are good, but should be used more specifically - for large projects. This seems to be a conflict of interest about the amount of TIFs, what they should be used on, why they are being used, etc. This will probably lead into the development issue as a whole and how Castle believes more in expanding, beautifying and bringing in businesses through TIFs and such, where Esslinger seems to be more reluctant. I need to do some more research into the nature of TIFs and research into perhaps where the TIF districts are, and who is reaping the benefits.
Aquatic Center - conflicting views
I believe that the issue of whether or not to construct an aquatic center in Oshkosh will be a key issue raised in the debates. The common council candidates offer conflicting views on this subject, thus the issue will likely spark debate.
I am interested to focus on the aquatic center issue as I have read that four of the six candidates support the construction while the other two, Bain and Mattox, are vehmently against it. I think that the competing interests in this proposal surround the idea of whether an aquatic center will be supported by taxpayers and if Oshkosh and the economy will be improved as a result of the proposed center.
I am interested to focus on the aquatic center issue as I have read that four of the six candidates support the construction while the other two, Bain and Mattox, are vehmently against it. I think that the competing interests in this proposal surround the idea of whether an aquatic center will be supported by taxpayers and if Oshkosh and the economy will be improved as a result of the proposed center.
City Restoration
The downtown was, at one point, a site of commerace and architecture. If you look up at the tops of the older buildings you get to take a peak into what buildings were like when the city was built. Now days almost every store that is constructed is only one floor, making it easier for the owners to keep tabs on who is there and control the flow of people coming and going. The granite building front has been left behind for the rectangular Super Wal-Mart.
Now there is a movement by historians, architects and ecologists to restore the store fronts that are down town before they are lost. Contractors have been hired to turn the upstairs of the downtown stores into residential appartments.
Those who oppose this are the people who want to see the downtown revitalized, but modrenized at the same time. They want to cover up the old architecture of the store fronts and bring down some buildings to put new ones up.
The people who support restoration are Bain and Mattox, who have both definately said they want a more vibrant and restored downtown. Hentz and Scheurmann are both against the projects, citing more important concerns must be put forth and that we need to bring the city into the new. Jungsworth and Poeschl both seem to have no stand on the issue, and Poeschl actually seems to not have much of a platform at all. Jungsworth sees the downtown as being fine as is.
This is a key issue: should we repair the downtown and if so for what use? OR should we ignore the issue and put in new projects, concentrating on modern forum and such? There are competing views on the topic, so there is definately an issue here. Hopefully something will be broached at tonights debate.
Now there is a movement by historians, architects and ecologists to restore the store fronts that are down town before they are lost. Contractors have been hired to turn the upstairs of the downtown stores into residential appartments.
Those who oppose this are the people who want to see the downtown revitalized, but modrenized at the same time. They want to cover up the old architecture of the store fronts and bring down some buildings to put new ones up.
The people who support restoration are Bain and Mattox, who have both definately said they want a more vibrant and restored downtown. Hentz and Scheurmann are both against the projects, citing more important concerns must be put forth and that we need to bring the city into the new. Jungsworth and Poeschl both seem to have no stand on the issue, and Poeschl actually seems to not have much of a platform at all. Jungsworth sees the downtown as being fine as is.
This is a key issue: should we repair the downtown and if so for what use? OR should we ignore the issue and put in new projects, concentrating on modern forum and such? There are competing views on the topic, so there is definately an issue here. Hopefully something will be broached at tonights debate.
Issues on election day
Leadership style and idology are the two main issues in this election. Competing interests would be a progressive elite in Bill Castle versus a conservative "blue collared" candidate in Paul Esslinger.
Shiavo Case
1.
The controversy here is should Shiavo have her feeding tube removed or not. She is in a vegetative state so she has no decison here and the controversy is who is responsible for her life. Her husband says that she should die and had wishes to die instead of being in a vegetative state. Her parents say that she expresses emotion and even though she is severely disabled she is still somewhat conscious.
2. Her parents would like her to stay alive, most likely for religous reasons. Her husband says that she should die because she had wishes to not live if she was in such a state. But some say that her husband may have other motives since he has already has children with another woman.
3. Religon has become a factor in here. Apparently a memo has been circulating around Washington saying the Republicans need to support that she continues to live to protect the religous right.
4.Yes, the article explains the complexity of the case. Many situations dealing with courts can be very confusing and this case is no exception. Quoted from the article: " Congress enacted an unusual law allowing Federal courts to review the case--but a lwasuit under the law had so little chance of ultimate success that there is no need to preserve Shiavo's live." A lawsuit under a law, state courts and federal courts. This case is very complex especially with this particular legal battle. This article expains in breadth the case but I think one would need to do a little more research in order to full understand the Shiavo situation.
The controversy here is should Shiavo have her feeding tube removed or not. She is in a vegetative state so she has no decison here and the controversy is who is responsible for her life. Her husband says that she should die and had wishes to die instead of being in a vegetative state. Her parents say that she expresses emotion and even though she is severely disabled she is still somewhat conscious.
2. Her parents would like her to stay alive, most likely for religous reasons. Her husband says that she should die because she had wishes to not live if she was in such a state. But some say that her husband may have other motives since he has already has children with another woman.
3. Religon has become a factor in here. Apparently a memo has been circulating around Washington saying the Republicans need to support that she continues to live to protect the religous right.
4.Yes, the article explains the complexity of the case. Many situations dealing with courts can be very confusing and this case is no exception. Quoted from the article: " Congress enacted an unusual law allowing Federal courts to review the case--but a lwasuit under the law had so little chance of ultimate success that there is no need to preserve Shiavo's live." A lawsuit under a law, state courts and federal courts. This case is very complex especially with this particular legal battle. This article expains in breadth the case but I think one would need to do a little more research in order to full understand the Shiavo situation.
Shiavo Case
1. How would you describe the central controversy here?
The central controversy in the Terri Schiavo case is whether the husband has the right to pull the plug on his wife. In this case the plug meaning the feeding tube. Terri’s parents are fighting to keep the feeding tube in for the slim possibility that she might recover. The case has brought about catholic supporters to the parents in Terri’s right to live.
2. Webster’s describes politics as being about “competing interests.” In the Schiavo case what are the competing interests for the individuals involved?
The first interest is in the right to live as seen by Catholic supporters. The other side of the coin shows the interests of a persons right to die, while in a vegetative state.
3. What are the competing interests for the political factions involved?
In an important case such as this political parties are quick to jump on the band wagon to put forth their two cents, whether anybody cares for it or not. The republicans seem to support the parents and the possibility that science and medicine will help Terri while Democrat applaud her husband’s decision to respect his wife’s wishes in the termination of life.
4. Political issues are often complex. Did the article you read bring out complexities of the case?
I felt that there is always certain terms and complexities that were not enough explained, but that is why they are complex. The whole story may never be uncovered or told unbiased. Although I felt that there was a lot to cover. The updates to this story as well had some of the same problems.
5. Was the level of complexity too much, too little or about right for this issue?
I think that the level of complexity could have been toned down just a little bit.
6. Explain your answer to question No. 5
As previously stated, there was a lot of material to cover is a few articles. Political and legal matter kind of confused me as a reader. Maybe it was how it was presented, maybe it was the material.
7. What was the best part of the story, i.e. something you should try to do in your own reporting?
I liked the use of quotes in the article. The writing was mostly clear, with the exceptions of some legal and political terms.
8. What was a weakness of the story, i.e. something you should try to avoid in your own reporting.
While I liked the use of quotes, I thought they might have been too frequent, and parts of the article relied to heavily on them.
The central controversy in the Terri Schiavo case is whether the husband has the right to pull the plug on his wife. In this case the plug meaning the feeding tube. Terri’s parents are fighting to keep the feeding tube in for the slim possibility that she might recover. The case has brought about catholic supporters to the parents in Terri’s right to live.
2. Webster’s describes politics as being about “competing interests.” In the Schiavo case what are the competing interests for the individuals involved?
The first interest is in the right to live as seen by Catholic supporters. The other side of the coin shows the interests of a persons right to die, while in a vegetative state.
3. What are the competing interests for the political factions involved?
In an important case such as this political parties are quick to jump on the band wagon to put forth their two cents, whether anybody cares for it or not. The republicans seem to support the parents and the possibility that science and medicine will help Terri while Democrat applaud her husband’s decision to respect his wife’s wishes in the termination of life.
4. Political issues are often complex. Did the article you read bring out complexities of the case?
I felt that there is always certain terms and complexities that were not enough explained, but that is why they are complex. The whole story may never be uncovered or told unbiased. Although I felt that there was a lot to cover. The updates to this story as well had some of the same problems.
5. Was the level of complexity too much, too little or about right for this issue?
I think that the level of complexity could have been toned down just a little bit.
6. Explain your answer to question No. 5
As previously stated, there was a lot of material to cover is a few articles. Political and legal matter kind of confused me as a reader. Maybe it was how it was presented, maybe it was the material.
7. What was the best part of the story, i.e. something you should try to do in your own reporting?
I liked the use of quotes in the article. The writing was mostly clear, with the exceptions of some legal and political terms.
8. What was a weakness of the story, i.e. something you should try to avoid in your own reporting.
While I liked the use of quotes, I thought they might have been too frequent, and parts of the article relied to heavily on them.
Schiavo Case
- How would you describe the central controversy here?
Schiavo’s parents want to keep her feeding tube in, while her husband wants it removed. The case also has brought out the religious right for life to defend Schiavo. - Webster’s describes politics as being about “competing interests.” In the Schiavo case what are the competing interests for the individuals involved?
The two competing interests are those who want Schiavo’s tube removed and those who want it to stay installed. The right for life movements have taken this case has something they wanted to fight for.
3. What are the competing interests for the political factions involved?
I think that conservative republicans are using this case for political gain amongst the religious right. However, since democrats also supported the congressional intervention. I don’t think it was successful, also polls indicate that most Americans thought that the political intervention in the case was for the political gain.
4. Political issues are often complex. Did the article you read bring out complexities of the case?
At this point in the case the politics involved have died down. The judges have refused to reinsert her feeding tube. The family plans on appealing the decision to the Supreme Court. One of the possibly political ramifications is the expected possibility of President Bush appointing a Supreme Court justice.
5. Was the level of complexity too much, too little or about right for this issue?
No.
6. Explain your answer to question No. 5.
I think that since the case is nearly over, or at least that’s the impression I’m under, that it isn’t going to change. The political ramification is that Bush should have the opportunity to nominate a Supreme Court judge.
7. What was the best part of the story, i.e. something you should try to do in your own reporting?
It seemed complete and brought the reader up to date on the case without recapping what has already happened.
8. What was a weakness of the story, i.e. something you should try to avoid in your own reporting.
I think the article could have touched on the likely hood of whether or not the Supreme Court would here the case.
Shaivo V Schindler
1- The central controversy is who has the decision on whether or not this woman is fed and therefore kept alive.
2- Michael Shaivo is one interest involved, he wants the feeding tube removed so he can move on with his life and maybe remarry. The Schindlers are another interest; they want their daughter kept alive for the full duration of her life.
3- For the right to life people, this is a great issue, because it strikes at the heart that life (in any form) is precious and deserves to be guarded. They may see this as being sub-applicable to the abortion issue. The other political interest comes from the people who support assisted suicide, since this is a similar instance to those cases.
4- This particular article was able to dumb it down enough for me. Only joking, this article made it simple enough that we could understand what is going on now. It also brought up what has happened in the past to reinforce that this is not just an anomaly.
5- About right…
6- With a little critical thinking, anyone can wrap their minds around this issue and see the end games for the different interests.
7- The best part of the story was the amount of information that it got across in such a little amount of time. We went from what happened this morning to what happened years ago.
8- There was one part of the story that struck me as somewhat odd…it said that the Schindlers were surprised by the federal court ruling. Though they would most likely be surprised, I hardly think that it’s newsworthy without some sort of supporting facts. They may have been surprised because every time they appeal the ruling of the other court they have been able to get that ruling overturned. This time they did not, so that could be call for surprise, but the article doesn’t explain that.
2- Michael Shaivo is one interest involved, he wants the feeding tube removed so he can move on with his life and maybe remarry. The Schindlers are another interest; they want their daughter kept alive for the full duration of her life.
3- For the right to life people, this is a great issue, because it strikes at the heart that life (in any form) is precious and deserves to be guarded. They may see this as being sub-applicable to the abortion issue. The other political interest comes from the people who support assisted suicide, since this is a similar instance to those cases.
4- This particular article was able to dumb it down enough for me. Only joking, this article made it simple enough that we could understand what is going on now. It also brought up what has happened in the past to reinforce that this is not just an anomaly.
5- About right…
6- With a little critical thinking, anyone can wrap their minds around this issue and see the end games for the different interests.
7- The best part of the story was the amount of information that it got across in such a little amount of time. We went from what happened this morning to what happened years ago.
8- There was one part of the story that struck me as somewhat odd…it said that the Schindlers were surprised by the federal court ruling. Though they would most likely be surprised, I hardly think that it’s newsworthy without some sort of supporting facts. They may have been surprised because every time they appeal the ruling of the other court they have been able to get that ruling overturned. This time they did not, so that could be call for surprise, but the article doesn’t explain that.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Schiavo case
1. The central controversy surrounding the case of Terri Schiavo, a women who has been in a “vegetable” state for the past fifteen years, is whether or not the feeding tube, that is keeping her alive be removed from her. As of right now, the tube is out, but the case has entered the Federal Court of Appeals. The issue is that is presented is whether the parents who want the tube in their daughter to remain in her to keep her alive. Michael, Schiavo’s husband, who insists his wif told him she would never want to be kept alive artificially.
2. The competing interests in this case are between the Schindlers, Schiavo’s parents, and her husband Michael Schiavo. A third party in this article is the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The case in this article is that Schiavo’s is “fading quickly” and her parents begged the circuit court to have the feeding tube inserted until its reached the federal court of appeals. The federal judge rejected the emergency request. Micahel Schiavo wants the feeding tube removed because he said his wife would have wanted it that way.
3. The Republican Party argues that Schiavo condition is showing improvement and technical advances could improve her state. The Democratic Party argues that this is a great example for Republicans to gain political points with the nation and express their pro-life ideology. Democrats consider Michael Schiavo brave for respecting his wife’s wishes.
4. The article I read was not very complex but only updated and strengthened what I already knew about the case. The article gave the reader the most recent court hearings, bills and memos.
5. The political complexity of this article is very well written and just right.
6. The reporter took a complicated case and made it very easy for the reader to understand. There were a few sidebars that gave background information on the case and other previous court rulings.
7. The best part of the article was the highlighted sidebars. For the people who read the paper one word after another without soaking in, it highlights very important points in the article that could be overlooked in long article. The sidebars clarify why the article is important to read and what is the latest information in the case. I like the end of the article because it gave questions and answers questions the readers may have considering such a complicated case. It was very unique and could be helpful in my reporting to make confusing issues less complicated.
8. I liked the article and it is the writing style that I would strive to reach. I probably would have put why Schiavo was hospitalized earlier in the article and how long she has been keep alive by a feeding tube. I think it is important for people to realize how long this woman has been on life support.
2. The competing interests in this case are between the Schindlers, Schiavo’s parents, and her husband Michael Schiavo. A third party in this article is the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The case in this article is that Schiavo’s is “fading quickly” and her parents begged the circuit court to have the feeding tube inserted until its reached the federal court of appeals. The federal judge rejected the emergency request. Micahel Schiavo wants the feeding tube removed because he said his wife would have wanted it that way.
3. The Republican Party argues that Schiavo condition is showing improvement and technical advances could improve her state. The Democratic Party argues that this is a great example for Republicans to gain political points with the nation and express their pro-life ideology. Democrats consider Michael Schiavo brave for respecting his wife’s wishes.
4. The article I read was not very complex but only updated and strengthened what I already knew about the case. The article gave the reader the most recent court hearings, bills and memos.
5. The political complexity of this article is very well written and just right.
6. The reporter took a complicated case and made it very easy for the reader to understand. There were a few sidebars that gave background information on the case and other previous court rulings.
7. The best part of the article was the highlighted sidebars. For the people who read the paper one word after another without soaking in, it highlights very important points in the article that could be overlooked in long article. The sidebars clarify why the article is important to read and what is the latest information in the case. I like the end of the article because it gave questions and answers questions the readers may have considering such a complicated case. It was very unique and could be helpful in my reporting to make confusing issues less complicated.
8. I liked the article and it is the writing style that I would strive to reach. I probably would have put why Schiavo was hospitalized earlier in the article and how long she has been keep alive by a feeding tube. I think it is important for people to realize how long this woman has been on life support.
terri schiavo
I looked at the Chicago Tribune for my article.
1. How would you describe the central controversy here?
The Central Controversy is on who should be able to decide on whether the tube should be in or out of her. A judge, the parents, legislation and so on and so forth.
2. Webster’s describes politics as being about “competing interests.” In the Schiavo case what are the competing interests for the individuals involved?
The parents want to keep her alive, because their christian and believe in the right to live. While her husband believes that she wanted to die if she was in a circumstance like this.
3. What are the competing interests for the political factions involved?
The state legislation already made a ruling and the federal government won't touch it. The Bush Administration wants it to be one way, but they can't take away the power of the state's decision, it would make them look like they were unimportant in decisionmaking.
4. Political issues are often complex. Did the article you read bring out complexities of the case?
It brought out some of the political issues, not necessarily too complex. They brought up issues on, the federal judge not granting the parents' wishes, and an injunction was needed if it was to be brought to the federal courts. It talked about people rallying in front of the hospital. It also talked about the president wishing the court would have made a different decision.
5. Was the level of complexity too much, too little or about right for this issue?
I thought there could have been more complexity in the article. They could have talked about what republicans thought, democrats thought.
6. Explain your answer to question No. 5.
They could have talked about what republicans thought (if they all thought the same way or different), and what the democrats thought. They also could have explained why the federal government really can't interfere.
7. What was the best part of the story, i.e. something you should try to do in your own reporting?
I like how they got a quote from what the mother said in the court house and got the different opinion about where people stood on the judge's decision. They also made it easy for people to understand what was going on, in case they never heard of the case before.
8. What was a weakness of the story, i.e. something you should try to avoid in your own reporting.
I didn't like how they didn't contact a lot of their sources for quotes, instead they got it off Good Morning America or reports. Contacting them would have made the article better. They could have gotten a lot more information.
1. How would you describe the central controversy here?
The Central Controversy is on who should be able to decide on whether the tube should be in or out of her. A judge, the parents, legislation and so on and so forth.
2. Webster’s describes politics as being about “competing interests.” In the Schiavo case what are the competing interests for the individuals involved?
The parents want to keep her alive, because their christian and believe in the right to live. While her husband believes that she wanted to die if she was in a circumstance like this.
3. What are the competing interests for the political factions involved?
The state legislation already made a ruling and the federal government won't touch it. The Bush Administration wants it to be one way, but they can't take away the power of the state's decision, it would make them look like they were unimportant in decisionmaking.
4. Political issues are often complex. Did the article you read bring out complexities of the case?
It brought out some of the political issues, not necessarily too complex. They brought up issues on, the federal judge not granting the parents' wishes, and an injunction was needed if it was to be brought to the federal courts. It talked about people rallying in front of the hospital. It also talked about the president wishing the court would have made a different decision.
5. Was the level of complexity too much, too little or about right for this issue?
I thought there could have been more complexity in the article. They could have talked about what republicans thought, democrats thought.
6. Explain your answer to question No. 5.
They could have talked about what republicans thought (if they all thought the same way or different), and what the democrats thought. They also could have explained why the federal government really can't interfere.
7. What was the best part of the story, i.e. something you should try to do in your own reporting?
I like how they got a quote from what the mother said in the court house and got the different opinion about where people stood on the judge's decision. They also made it easy for people to understand what was going on, in case they never heard of the case before.
8. What was a weakness of the story, i.e. something you should try to avoid in your own reporting.
I didn't like how they didn't contact a lot of their sources for quotes, instead they got it off Good Morning America or reports. Contacting them would have made the article better. They could have gotten a lot more information.
Schiavo Blog
1. Plainly, the central controversy is should Teri Schiavo’s feeding tube be put back in. Yet it’s much more than that. The question of the constitutionality of the Schiavo Law congress passed is important. Schiavo’s parents’ religious concerns for her “soul” also come into question and if she was represented well in the initial case.
2. Competing are Teri’s parents and her husband Michael. Many others are also involved – such as their Franciscan monk spiritual advisor, the Bush Bros., republicans searching for respect by the Christian right, etc. Against that crowd is Michael Schiavo, the court system’s precedence, common sense, etc.
3. Many of those in the Republican Party urge that Teri Schaivo has the right to live, because life is sacred.
Her parents say that Schaivo’s Catholicity should be enough to put the tube back, as the Pope said people should not deny themselves water (even though she’s not denying it to herself, but whatever). So the Catholic Church is involved I guess.
4. The article was quite in-depth and provided enough information to understand the complexities. Some of the specific details were farther down the article, but it all came together eventually.
5. Enough, but further examination could be needed.
6. Not mentioned in the article is if starving her is humane. Surely the topic of euthanasia is relevant here. She can still feel pain I imagine, even if she cannot comprehend it in a meaningful way. But is just pulling the tube ethical? What about a quick lethal injection? What about the legality of such an action – what issues should be brought into the light as this story progresses? The Right to Die movement? More research on vegetable states and brain activity? Perhaps better suited in an opinion, science, or feature article, these things should definitely be discussed more.
7. I liked how it had many quotes from the differing sides of the case. I need to try and get more quotes.
8. The structure was a little confusing. The beginning of the story could have been explained in a better manner. The first two paragraphs felt vaguely confusing without reading further. Also there was no explanation as to why the Federal case was now in Atlanta and not Florida.
2. Competing are Teri’s parents and her husband Michael. Many others are also involved – such as their Franciscan monk spiritual advisor, the Bush Bros., republicans searching for respect by the Christian right, etc. Against that crowd is Michael Schiavo, the court system’s precedence, common sense, etc.
3. Many of those in the Republican Party urge that Teri Schaivo has the right to live, because life is sacred.
Her parents say that Schaivo’s Catholicity should be enough to put the tube back, as the Pope said people should not deny themselves water (even though she’s not denying it to herself, but whatever). So the Catholic Church is involved I guess.
4. The article was quite in-depth and provided enough information to understand the complexities. Some of the specific details were farther down the article, but it all came together eventually.
5. Enough, but further examination could be needed.
6. Not mentioned in the article is if starving her is humane. Surely the topic of euthanasia is relevant here. She can still feel pain I imagine, even if she cannot comprehend it in a meaningful way. But is just pulling the tube ethical? What about a quick lethal injection? What about the legality of such an action – what issues should be brought into the light as this story progresses? The Right to Die movement? More research on vegetable states and brain activity? Perhaps better suited in an opinion, science, or feature article, these things should definitely be discussed more.
7. I liked how it had many quotes from the differing sides of the case. I need to try and get more quotes.
8. The structure was a little confusing. The beginning of the story could have been explained in a better manner. The first two paragraphs felt vaguely confusing without reading further. Also there was no explanation as to why the Federal case was now in Atlanta and not Florida.
Terry Schiavo Blog
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BRAIN_DAMAGED_WOMAN?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
1. The central controversary is that Schiavo's parents are fighting to keep Terry on life support via a feeding tube while here husband wants it removed so she can die in peace.
2. The competing interest is really for what Terry would have wanted and the fact that her parents and her husband do not agree on what that would be. Her parents feel she would have wanetd to "live" wheras her husband said she told him she would not.
3. Well for republicans you have the conservative view that gov't should not be involved in a state matter. However, the Bush camp won the election on morals and beliefs so to ignore this case would hurt a man who has many right to life supporters.
4. The article was very informative. However it was more of an update with a refresher at the end. It really didn't get into the legal aspects in detail. Still, thier is a graphic on the situation and purpose of the feeding tube that appears in the text version not online.
5. About Right
6. I think that the article informed you on what was going on currently and gave you a history, though brief in the B matter.
7. I think the article had great quotes from people you want to here from such as family members of Schiavo.
8. I think a weakness in this article is in its lack of reponse from the husbands side. However, I think that the news in the story makes it more of a story about the people fighting to "save" Terry Schiavo instead of the people trying to help her "rest in peace". Overall, pretty good.
1. The central controversary is that Schiavo's parents are fighting to keep Terry on life support via a feeding tube while here husband wants it removed so she can die in peace.
2. The competing interest is really for what Terry would have wanted and the fact that her parents and her husband do not agree on what that would be. Her parents feel she would have wanetd to "live" wheras her husband said she told him she would not.
3. Well for republicans you have the conservative view that gov't should not be involved in a state matter. However, the Bush camp won the election on morals and beliefs so to ignore this case would hurt a man who has many right to life supporters.
4. The article was very informative. However it was more of an update with a refresher at the end. It really didn't get into the legal aspects in detail. Still, thier is a graphic on the situation and purpose of the feeding tube that appears in the text version not online.
5. About Right
6. I think that the article informed you on what was going on currently and gave you a history, though brief in the B matter.
7. I think the article had great quotes from people you want to here from such as family members of Schiavo.
8. I think a weakness in this article is in its lack of reponse from the husbands side. However, I think that the news in the story makes it more of a story about the people fighting to "save" Terry Schiavo instead of the people trying to help her "rest in peace". Overall, pretty good.
Political Article Idea
I plan to address the vast differences in leadership styles between the two mayoral candidates. I will look at thier comments, actions as well as the ideals that they fit under.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Terri Schiavo article questions
Link: http://nytimes.com/2005/03/21/politics/21cnd-debate.html?hp&ex=1111467600&en=d959f74eb94c300f&ei=5094&partner=homepage
1.) The central controversy in the Schiavo case is whether she should continue to live with the help of a feeding tube or if the feeding tube should be removed.
2.) The individuals involved in the conflict over the feeding tube are Schiavo’s husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Mr. Schiavo wants the tube removed. He said his wife told him she would not have wanted to be kept alive. The Schindlers say their daughter would have wanted to be kept alive.
3.) In Washington, Republicans and Democrats have been in a heated debate over this issue. Democrats are accusing Republicans of intruding in the medical decisions related to Schiavo. The Republican-led Senate approved the bill to intervene in the case Sunday, but the bill had resistance from some House Democrats. They say Congress has “overstepped its authority by inserting itself into what was a family matter best left to state authorities.”
4.) I believe the article showed the complexity in the Schiavo case.
5.) The article’s complexity was just right for this issue, I thought.
6.) An issue such as life or death is going to be complex. The Schiavo case is completely complex, not only on the political side but also on the human interest side. The article I read mostly delved into what went on this weekend in the House and Senate.
7.) This article explained both sides (Republican vs. Democrat) very well and in-depth. After reading it I understand what happened this weekend and what the conflicting interests are.
8.) The article lacked the human interest side of this story. I understand that a lot of things occurred in Washington this weekend, but we have to remember that behind this story there really is a girl whose life is on the line. Also the article failed to mention further legislation that could encompass every situation like the Schiavo case.
1.) The central controversy in the Schiavo case is whether she should continue to live with the help of a feeding tube or if the feeding tube should be removed.
2.) The individuals involved in the conflict over the feeding tube are Schiavo’s husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Mr. Schiavo wants the tube removed. He said his wife told him she would not have wanted to be kept alive. The Schindlers say their daughter would have wanted to be kept alive.
3.) In Washington, Republicans and Democrats have been in a heated debate over this issue. Democrats are accusing Republicans of intruding in the medical decisions related to Schiavo. The Republican-led Senate approved the bill to intervene in the case Sunday, but the bill had resistance from some House Democrats. They say Congress has “overstepped its authority by inserting itself into what was a family matter best left to state authorities.”
4.) I believe the article showed the complexity in the Schiavo case.
5.) The article’s complexity was just right for this issue, I thought.
6.) An issue such as life or death is going to be complex. The Schiavo case is completely complex, not only on the political side but also on the human interest side. The article I read mostly delved into what went on this weekend in the House and Senate.
7.) This article explained both sides (Republican vs. Democrat) very well and in-depth. After reading it I understand what happened this weekend and what the conflicting interests are.
8.) The article lacked the human interest side of this story. I understand that a lot of things occurred in Washington this weekend, but we have to remember that behind this story there really is a girl whose life is on the line. Also the article failed to mention further legislation that could encompass every situation like the Schiavo case.
Terri Schiavo Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/21/politics/21cnd-debate.html?hp&ex=1111467600&en=d959f74eb94c300f&ei=5094&partner=homepage
1. The central issue to this case is whether or not Terri Schiavo, a severely brain damaged woman, should remain alive with the help of a feeding tube or be permitted to die. This is "a case that has ignited emotional national debate over the right-to-die issue."
2. I believe the competing interests are those of Terri's parents versus those of her husband. Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, are fighting to get the tube reinserted and "say that their daughter would have wanted to be kept alive." Her husband, Michael, says that Terri would not have wanted to live this way and is asking that the feeding tube be permanently removed.
3. The competing interests in politics are those of the Republican party and Democratic party. The Republicans want Schiavo to be kept alive and have even talked about calling her as a federal witness. The Democrats, on the other hand, believe Schiavo should have the right to die and believe that her husband and legal guardian should make this decision. According to this article, the majority of Republicans support the idea of transferring jurisdiction into a federal court. This is surprising because Republicans usually support "states' rights and the holiness of matrimony."
4. This article did a good job of touching on the complexities of this case. I do not know if there is a right answer to this kind of issue, but the story described both sides in a way that gave enough information for readers to make build their own understanding and view. Although the arguments have been going on for years, I think the article described the background and recent developments as clearly as possible.
5. I believe it was about right. The article flowed nicely and the reporter used legal and political terms that the average reader could comprehend.
6. The article was long enough so that I could walk away and have a good idea of what was going on in the case but was short enough so that I did not feel overwhelmed with information. It mostly focused on the recent developments of the case which is what readers, including myself, are most interested in.
7. I thought that the quotes were the best part of the story. Without hearing from Michael Schiavo and President Bush, the story would be less interesting as well as less credible. I also believe that it is important to provide some background information. Since this case has been going on for the last seven years, it was important for the reporter to supply what has already taken place as well as the recent news. I also liked the photographs the article contained.
8. The weakness of this story was that some of the sentences and paragraphs got a little long. Although the content was not hard to follow, I would have changed the structure so that the article did not look so intimidating and lengthy to readers.
1. The central issue to this case is whether or not Terri Schiavo, a severely brain damaged woman, should remain alive with the help of a feeding tube or be permitted to die. This is "a case that has ignited emotional national debate over the right-to-die issue."
2. I believe the competing interests are those of Terri's parents versus those of her husband. Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, are fighting to get the tube reinserted and "say that their daughter would have wanted to be kept alive." Her husband, Michael, says that Terri would not have wanted to live this way and is asking that the feeding tube be permanently removed.
3. The competing interests in politics are those of the Republican party and Democratic party. The Republicans want Schiavo to be kept alive and have even talked about calling her as a federal witness. The Democrats, on the other hand, believe Schiavo should have the right to die and believe that her husband and legal guardian should make this decision. According to this article, the majority of Republicans support the idea of transferring jurisdiction into a federal court. This is surprising because Republicans usually support "states' rights and the holiness of matrimony."
4. This article did a good job of touching on the complexities of this case. I do not know if there is a right answer to this kind of issue, but the story described both sides in a way that gave enough information for readers to make build their own understanding and view. Although the arguments have been going on for years, I think the article described the background and recent developments as clearly as possible.
5. I believe it was about right. The article flowed nicely and the reporter used legal and political terms that the average reader could comprehend.
6. The article was long enough so that I could walk away and have a good idea of what was going on in the case but was short enough so that I did not feel overwhelmed with information. It mostly focused on the recent developments of the case which is what readers, including myself, are most interested in.
7. I thought that the quotes were the best part of the story. Without hearing from Michael Schiavo and President Bush, the story would be less interesting as well as less credible. I also believe that it is important to provide some background information. Since this case has been going on for the last seven years, it was important for the reporter to supply what has already taken place as well as the recent news. I also liked the photographs the article contained.
8. The weakness of this story was that some of the sentences and paragraphs got a little long. Although the content was not hard to follow, I would have changed the structure so that the article did not look so intimidating and lengthy to readers.
Terri Schaivo article/?'s
Danielle Buechel
1. The central controversy in the Terri Schiavo case is whether or not the feeding tube that is essentially keeping her alive should be removed permanantly. This is clearly a case of ethics and responsibility and the key issue revolves around whether Terri will ever improve or recover and if keeping her alive is in the best interest of Terri or her family.
2. In the Schaivo case, the woman's parents claim to want what's best for their daughter and claim that she does in fact maintain a quality life. Terri's husband argues that his wife expressed her wishes not to be kept alive by prolonged measures.
3. Members of the Republican party have argued that there is medical evidence stating that Terri's condition was not hopeless and that medical breakthroughs could eventually improve her quality of life. The Democractic party members have argued against the Republican view saying that the situation has become a matter for "political gain" for Republicans. Democrats have also praised Terri's husband for trying to respect her wishes not to be kept alive under such circumstances.
4. The article I read delved into the complexities of the Terri Schaivo case and discussed the various memos and bills that have been proposed, passed and vetoed.
5. The level of complexity was "just right" in that the description of the events leading up to the case and the various court rulings and procedures were described in detail but without the complicated jargon that sometimes confuses readers.
6. I was especially impressed with the author's explanation of the case and the path is has taken through the court system. The article was easy to understand and described in great detail the process of passing legislation and bills.
7. The best part of the story was the comparison and contrast of the various view points and interests of the parties involved including Terri's parents and husband as well as the Republican, Democratic, Congressional and Presidential views. This article was very diverse in representing interests and the author used many great quotes to emphasize various points within the story; this is definately an aspect that I can use in my own reporting.
8. Overall there was very little about the article that I didn't like; although I feel that the flow of the story could have been improved upon. I will work harder in my own reporting to make sure that quotes and information flow and work together to create a more evenly spread and easier to read article.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-schiavo21mar21,1,3707116.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true
1. The central controversy in the Terri Schiavo case is whether or not the feeding tube that is essentially keeping her alive should be removed permanantly. This is clearly a case of ethics and responsibility and the key issue revolves around whether Terri will ever improve or recover and if keeping her alive is in the best interest of Terri or her family.
2. In the Schaivo case, the woman's parents claim to want what's best for their daughter and claim that she does in fact maintain a quality life. Terri's husband argues that his wife expressed her wishes not to be kept alive by prolonged measures.
3. Members of the Republican party have argued that there is medical evidence stating that Terri's condition was not hopeless and that medical breakthroughs could eventually improve her quality of life. The Democractic party members have argued against the Republican view saying that the situation has become a matter for "political gain" for Republicans. Democrats have also praised Terri's husband for trying to respect her wishes not to be kept alive under such circumstances.
4. The article I read delved into the complexities of the Terri Schaivo case and discussed the various memos and bills that have been proposed, passed and vetoed.
5. The level of complexity was "just right" in that the description of the events leading up to the case and the various court rulings and procedures were described in detail but without the complicated jargon that sometimes confuses readers.
6. I was especially impressed with the author's explanation of the case and the path is has taken through the court system. The article was easy to understand and described in great detail the process of passing legislation and bills.
7. The best part of the story was the comparison and contrast of the various view points and interests of the parties involved including Terri's parents and husband as well as the Republican, Democratic, Congressional and Presidential views. This article was very diverse in representing interests and the author used many great quotes to emphasize various points within the story; this is definately an aspect that I can use in my own reporting.
8. Overall there was very little about the article that I didn't like; although I feel that the flow of the story could have been improved upon. I will work harder in my own reporting to make sure that quotes and information flow and work together to create a more evenly spread and easier to read article.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-schiavo21mar21,1,3707116.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true
Zimmerman Lead
Michael Zimmerman, Dean of the College of Letter and Science sent a letter last Friday to Vice Chancellor Lane Earns concerning the College’s 2005-2006 budget situation, describing it as "a crisis."
Zimmerman Lead
The proposed budget for the College of Letters and Science for 2005-2006 academic year is described as a “crisis” situation which contains many issues such as fewer upper-level classes and less money for educational equipment.
Zimmerman
Michael Zimmerman Dean of the College of Letters and Science described the College’s budgetary situation as a “crisis,” in a letter to the Provost and Vice Chancellor. He wrote that the College will have to cut 52 three-credit courses, which will result in students having difficulty to graduate in a timely fashion.
mayor issue
I think that an important issue is the renovatin of the downtown area vs. working on street repairs.
Zimmerman lead
The budget cuts for UW-Oshkosh creates a crisis resulting in fewer classes, difficulty in graduating on time and fewer faculty positions.
zimmerman
Michael Zimmerman, College of Letters and Sciences Dean described next years budget as in "crisis" in a memo sent to the provost last Friday.
Across the College, we are planning not to fill academic staff lines equivalent to 52 three-credit courses.
Across the College, we are planning not to fill academic staff lines equivalent to 52 three-credit courses.
Election 2005
I believe that one of the most important issues in the 2005 election is the future development in Oshkosh. This encompasses the areas along the river as well as downtown. The pace of projects currently underhand also is a matter of debate. The issue of future development is important because it affects the citizens in Oshkosh. It would concern taxpayers, motorists and business owners.
Lead for Zimmerman
The UW-Oshkosh College of Letters and Science is facing a 17 percent decrease in its operating budget, something Dean Zimmerman describes as a "crisis."
Election Issues and Zimmerman Leads- Johnson
The primary issues in the common council race seem to be planning for the city's future, street repairs and shifting to a more municipal form of governence. The smoking ban is also talked about as well as the 5 Rivers Resort.
As far as leads go I was able to devise two of them, one is more punchy:
1) State budget cuts are starting to be felt higher up as the College of Letters and Sciences at the UW- Oshksoh has started to cut more upper-level courses to help preserve "gateway courses".
or
2) In response to budget cuts the College of Letters and Sciences at the UW- Oshkosh is trimming down the number of upper-level courses in order to save seats in "gateway courses".
There we go, enjoy 'em!
As far as leads go I was able to devise two of them, one is more punchy:
1) State budget cuts are starting to be felt higher up as the College of Letters and Sciences at the UW- Oshksoh has started to cut more upper-level courses to help preserve "gateway courses".
or
2) In response to budget cuts the College of Letters and Sciences at the UW- Oshkosh is trimming down the number of upper-level courses in order to save seats in "gateway courses".
There we go, enjoy 'em!
lead for zimmerman memo
Budget cuts to the UW-Oshkosh College of Letters and Science will cause departments and programs to struggle and may keep students from graduating on time, according to a memo written by Dean Micheal Zimmerman.
Oshkosh elections
I feel that one of the most important issue to cover is salary and fringe benefit control/restrictions. Another key issue is road construction. And finally, the future vision of Oshkosh through development in contruction and other things.
Zimmerman Lead
Students at UW-Oshkosh could face the prospect of spending even more time at the university due to “dramatically fewer course offerings” as a result of budget cuts according to a memo released by Michael Zimmerman, dean of the College of Letters and Science.
lead for zimmerman memo
Danielle Buechel
State budget cuts will result in fewer course options for UW-Oshkosh students and may make it more difficult for students to graduate in a timely manner UW-O Chancellor Richard Wells said, calling the 2005-2006 budget unstable and in crisis.
State budget cuts will result in fewer course options for UW-Oshkosh students and may make it more difficult for students to graduate in a timely manner UW-O Chancellor Richard Wells said, calling the 2005-2006 budget unstable and in crisis.
budget lead
Extensive budget cuts to the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh's College of Letters and Science are also set to bring about academic staff being cut and reductions in upper-level course offerings, according to a memo Friday from Michael Zimmerman, the college's dean.
Zimmerman Lead
Michael Zimmerman, long-time ecologist and current Dean of the College of Letters and Science at UW-Oshkosh, states that a crisis has occurred as some upper level courses have been dropped in return for keeping most prerequisites.
ideas for oshkosh
I have identified two ideas that I believe will be essential in determining the elections of the Common Council candidates. Downtown revival and redevelopment will likely be key issues and in connection with them, questions will be raised about the candidate's views on using tax dollars for this developing. Another key issue will likely involve the building of an aquatic center (and the proposed economic impact on the city if it is built) in Oshkosh and whether private or public fundings should be used.
Mayor Issue
I want to find out what the two candidates feel the future role of the Mayor should be in the city. Since Paul Esslinger feels it should be a full time position I think it is important to find out how much he thinks the mayors salary should be. Also if the position was full time would we need a city manager.
Important Issue
The most important issue I am concerned with and I believe the Ciy of Oshkosh should be concerned with is the revitalization of the downtown area.
Important issue for Oshkosh
I feel like the main issue for citizens of Oshkosh to think about during the election of the mayor and city council is the lack of adequate infrastruction near campus. Road repairs, adequate housing and so on.
mayor issue
I think I'll go with either the issue of the TIFs or some other development-type issue. It seems to be a main dividing issue between them and probably of interest to tax payers. How the mayoral position will evolve in the future feels important too, but not as deciding a factor.
the issues
After taking a look at the issues, I can see that there are many complex ideas that voters must consider before making a decision on April 5. I believe one of the most important issues is the development going on around Oshkosh and how it is being paid for. While Castle seems to be in favor of the construction going on around town, Esslinger believes that luxury items must be put on hold until the needs of Oshkosh (especially roads) are met.
zimmerman memo
From Michael Zimmerman
Sent Friday, March 18, 2005 3:01 pm
To cols@lists.uwosh.edu
Subject [Cols] budget proposal 2005-2006
Colleagues,
Below I will append a copy of the memo I just sent to Vice Chancellor and Provost Earns transmitting the College's budget proposal for next year. Because of formatting difficulties, I've not appended the tables. If you would like to see them, please let me know - or contact your chair or a member of the Faculty Committee.
If you have any questions, I will be happy to attempt to answer them. As you will see from the memo, the situation looks very grim.
Michael
Office of the Dean
College of Letters and Science
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901
To: Lane Earns Date: 18 March 2005
Vice Chancellor and Provost
From: Michael Zimmerman Re: 2005-2006 Budget
Dean
As requested, I am taking this opportunity to provide you with the College of Letters and ScienceÃs proposed budget for academic year 2005-2006. As has been the case for many years, the budget and, more importantly, the principles underlying it, are congruent with the academic priorities set forth by the University in its abridged select mission statement as well as in the document outlining the UniversityÃs vision, six sets of core values and five strategic plans.
As you requested, and as has been the CollegeÃs practice for the past 12 years, our proposed budget has received the benefit of broad consultation. In addition to extensive input from the CollegeÃs two associate deans, all chairs and program directors had an opportunity to review their staffing profiles and gateway commitments and to propose adjustments. Three informational sessions were held with the CollegeÃs Faculty Committee to discuss both specific budgetary principles and specific budgetary items. Additionally, the budget has been a topic for discussion at two L&S Council meetings. Finally, I made a presentation on the budget and took questions from the floor at the CollegeÃs first ever faculty and academic staff meeting.
Simply put, and without using any hyperbolic language, the CollegeÃs budgetary situation can be described as a crisis. The budget we are proposing, as directed, includes a four percent ($777,320) base budget reduction and a one-half of one percent ($97,165) giveback to your office. Additionally, again as directed, the College has increased the amount of money projected to be spent on summer school. Indeed, we have committed 213 percent ($113,000) of last yearÃs summer school expenditures to course offerings this year. The College has also been asked to pay for salary equity adjustments for academic staff, promotion raises for both faculty and academic staff, and the cost of any classified staff reclassification raises; items that previously had been covered centrally. Finally, there will no longer be a central pool of money to be used for faculty computer replacements. These changes have not occurred in a vacuum. As you know, the Governor took approximately 30 percent of our auxiliary budgets last year, leaving us significantly reduced flexibility, and the on-campus formula for the distribution of overhead funds from grants has reduced the CollegeÃs share from 50
percent to 40 percent.
Despite all of these cuts, the College has again committed to deliver the same number of seats in critical gateway courses that we did for the last two years. Indeed, two years ago, the College increased the number of gateway seats offered after negotiations with then Vice Chancellor and Provost Keith Miller. At that time the CollegeÃs base budget was increased to cover the cost of these additional sections. Table 1 provides a full listing of the gateway courses we are guaranteeing. Maintaining these seats in the face of continuing budget cuts is beginning to pose a huge burden on the CollegeÃs departments and programs. Because the CollegeÃs supplies and expense budget isnÃt large enough to cover all of the cuts weÃre facing, some ad hoc academic staff lines must be cut. Since we are continuing to preserve gateway seats, the cuts must come from the upper level offerings of departments and programs. (Most of our gateway courses are already larger than is pedagogically sound and typically at room capacity so simply increasing class size is not an option.) These cuts mean that students will have dramatically fewer course options from which to choose. In some cases, it is possible that students will find it more difficult to graduate in a timely fashion. Across the College, we are planning not to fill academic staff lines equivalent to 52 three-credit courses.
I hasten to add a couple of words about gateway courses. Although the College is promising to offer the same number of seats we have offered each year for the past 12 years, plus the additional seats we promised as of the 2003-2004 academic year, these seats are not likely to be sufficient, depending upon enrollment and retention. Then Provost and Vice Chancellor Miller agreed that the College of Letters and Science budget was designed to provide seats for up to 1,650 incoming first year students and 650 transfer students. Unfortunately, from the perspective of seats in classes, the University has been admitting significantly more students than this. In fact, approximately 15 percent additional students enrolled in each of the past two fall semesters, and your office provided additional funding to help cover the cost of the sections needed for these additional students. If this additional funding is not forthcoming, the College will not be able to increase the number of seats provided beyond what is promised in Table 1. Additionally, because of the large number of admitted students, increasing pressure is being placed on many 200-level courses, particularly in Biology and English. Unless some budgetary relief is provided, a significant student backlog is likely to begin to appear.
As grim as this is, this was the good news. Consider the fact that even after cutting the academic staff lines mentioned above, the CollegeÃs proposed personnel budget for next year ($18,048,197) comprises approximately 97 percent of our budget. The remaining three percent of our budget ($607,471) must cover the operating costs for all departments and programs, faculty and staff recruitment, permanent property, faculty travel and computer replacements. YouÃll immediately get a sense of the magnitude of
the problem when you realize that the current operating budgets of departments and programs total $735,161 or approximately 121 percent of what the College has available. In an attempt to make the best of an utterly miserable situation, the College has cut the operating budgets of departments and programs for next year by 20 percent. Table 2 shows the distribution of these cuts. These cuts are going to make it very difficult for departments and programs to function, especially when you remember that the College has not received any additions to our supply and expense budget lines for well over a decade, perhaps over two decades. After reducing department and program budgets by 20 percent, the College has a total of $19,243 remaining. Last year,the College had $391,054 available, meaning that we have experienced a budget reduction of approximately 95 percent. Some of these funds have to be used to support the operation of the DeanÃs Office. As Table 3 shows, the DeanÃs Office will experience a 25 percent budget reduction, leaving just $4,342 for all other College expenses. Prior commitments to faculty members hired this year for next will consume all of those funds. The bottom line is that the College:
* Will not be able to institute any tenure track searches this coming year;
* Will not be able to replace or repair aging or broken computers;
* Will not be able to purchase new permanent property; and
* Will not be able to repair or replace aging or broken permanent property.
The dire consequences associated with most of these actions are self-explanatory. What might not be quite so obvious, however, is the situation with tenure track faculty lines in the College. Due to budgetary constraints, the College has been able to initiate only approximately one-third of the faculty searches we would normally begin. When looked at collectively, the College currently has approximately 30 faculty positions that will be vacant next year. This represents approximately 11 percent of the faculty. Additionally, it is likely that by this time next year an additional 8 to 10 positions will become vacant bringing us to a vacancy rate approaching 15 percent. This is not a stable situation.
While the College has not budgeted any money for faculty and staff travel to professional conferences, I believe that doing so is essential. The College will, therefore, use two sources of funding to continue to provide $1,000 per full-time faculty or staff member: College auxiliary funds and salary savings. Salary savings will also be used to cover the $97,165 we owe to you.
In addition to making the cuts outlined above, the College is also in the process of attempting to save money. The College currently has 1.75 FTE of program assistant positions vacant and discussions exploring ways to keep those positions vacant while
minimizing the impact on the instructional mission of the College are underway. Additionally, I have reduced the size of the program assistant staff in the DeanÃs Office by 0.25 FTE, or by approximately 14 percent, effective immediately. I have also removed a full FTE that had been devoted to fundraising.
The budget I have proposed is not stable over the long term. From the present year to next year, we will have gone from having 94 percent of the College budget spent on salaries to having 97 percent spent on salaries ñ while dramatically reducing the percentage of faculty positions actually filled by faculty members. This cannibalization of supply lines cannot continue. Imagine the impact on teaching and research if we fail to replace any equipment in the College.
The College of Letters and Science is also responsible for two ancillary operations: the Cooperative Academic Partnership Program (CAPP) and the University Honors Program. Their budgets, along with explanatory text, are attached. Given that CAPP makes no use of GPR funding, I have not asked the Program to reduce its budget. To do so would be foolish because CAPP actually makes money for the University. Any cuts in the CAPP budget would likely translate fairly directly into reduced offerings and thus smaller profits. The Honors situation is dramatically different. The budget submitted reflects a 4.5 percent reduction and it is obvious that the cuts proposed will directly impact the quality of the program. Additionally, if the 0.5 FTE of secretarial assistance that has been provided in addition to the ProgramÃs base this year were to be removed, the Program would no longer be able to function as it currently does; a fairly rigid cap on enrollment would have to be put in place. I do hope resolution of this issue can be reached relatively soon. If a cap were needed to be imposed, the impact of such a drastic action would be somewhat ameliorated if it were done sooner rather than later.
I do hope that my narrative and its accompanying staffing checkbooks are clear and complete. As always, if you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them.
cc: Chancellor Richard Wells
Faculty Committee
Chairs, Program Directors
Associate Deans
COLS Electronic Bulletin Board
Lori Worm
Rose Ziebert
Michael Zimmerman
Office of the Dean
College of Letters and Science
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901
(920) 424-1210
mz@uwosh.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Cols mailing list
Cols@lists.uwosh.edu
http://lists.uwosh.edu/mailman/listinfo/cols
Sent Friday, March 18, 2005 3:01 pm
To cols@lists.uwosh.edu
Subject [Cols] budget proposal 2005-2006
Colleagues,
Below I will append a copy of the memo I just sent to Vice Chancellor and Provost Earns transmitting the College's budget proposal for next year. Because of formatting difficulties, I've not appended the tables. If you would like to see them, please let me know - or contact your chair or a member of the Faculty Committee.
If you have any questions, I will be happy to attempt to answer them. As you will see from the memo, the situation looks very grim.
Michael
Office of the Dean
College of Letters and Science
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901
To: Lane Earns Date: 18 March 2005
Vice Chancellor and Provost
From: Michael Zimmerman Re: 2005-2006 Budget
Dean
As requested, I am taking this opportunity to provide you with the College of Letters and ScienceÃs proposed budget for academic year 2005-2006. As has been the case for many years, the budget and, more importantly, the principles underlying it, are congruent with the academic priorities set forth by the University in its abridged select mission statement as well as in the document outlining the UniversityÃs vision, six sets of core values and five strategic plans.
As you requested, and as has been the CollegeÃs practice for the past 12 years, our proposed budget has received the benefit of broad consultation. In addition to extensive input from the CollegeÃs two associate deans, all chairs and program directors had an opportunity to review their staffing profiles and gateway commitments and to propose adjustments. Three informational sessions were held with the CollegeÃs Faculty Committee to discuss both specific budgetary principles and specific budgetary items. Additionally, the budget has been a topic for discussion at two L&S Council meetings. Finally, I made a presentation on the budget and took questions from the floor at the CollegeÃs first ever faculty and academic staff meeting.
Simply put, and without using any hyperbolic language, the CollegeÃs budgetary situation can be described as a crisis. The budget we are proposing, as directed, includes a four percent ($777,320) base budget reduction and a one-half of one percent ($97,165) giveback to your office. Additionally, again as directed, the College has increased the amount of money projected to be spent on summer school. Indeed, we have committed 213 percent ($113,000) of last yearÃs summer school expenditures to course offerings this year. The College has also been asked to pay for salary equity adjustments for academic staff, promotion raises for both faculty and academic staff, and the cost of any classified staff reclassification raises; items that previously had been covered centrally. Finally, there will no longer be a central pool of money to be used for faculty computer replacements. These changes have not occurred in a vacuum. As you know, the Governor took approximately 30 percent of our auxiliary budgets last year, leaving us significantly reduced flexibility, and the on-campus formula for the distribution of overhead funds from grants has reduced the CollegeÃs share from 50
percent to 40 percent.
Despite all of these cuts, the College has again committed to deliver the same number of seats in critical gateway courses that we did for the last two years. Indeed, two years ago, the College increased the number of gateway seats offered after negotiations with then Vice Chancellor and Provost Keith Miller. At that time the CollegeÃs base budget was increased to cover the cost of these additional sections. Table 1 provides a full listing of the gateway courses we are guaranteeing. Maintaining these seats in the face of continuing budget cuts is beginning to pose a huge burden on the CollegeÃs departments and programs. Because the CollegeÃs supplies and expense budget isnÃt large enough to cover all of the cuts weÃre facing, some ad hoc academic staff lines must be cut. Since we are continuing to preserve gateway seats, the cuts must come from the upper level offerings of departments and programs. (Most of our gateway courses are already larger than is pedagogically sound and typically at room capacity so simply increasing class size is not an option.) These cuts mean that students will have dramatically fewer course options from which to choose. In some cases, it is possible that students will find it more difficult to graduate in a timely fashion. Across the College, we are planning not to fill academic staff lines equivalent to 52 three-credit courses.
I hasten to add a couple of words about gateway courses. Although the College is promising to offer the same number of seats we have offered each year for the past 12 years, plus the additional seats we promised as of the 2003-2004 academic year, these seats are not likely to be sufficient, depending upon enrollment and retention. Then Provost and Vice Chancellor Miller agreed that the College of Letters and Science budget was designed to provide seats for up to 1,650 incoming first year students and 650 transfer students. Unfortunately, from the perspective of seats in classes, the University has been admitting significantly more students than this. In fact, approximately 15 percent additional students enrolled in each of the past two fall semesters, and your office provided additional funding to help cover the cost of the sections needed for these additional students. If this additional funding is not forthcoming, the College will not be able to increase the number of seats provided beyond what is promised in Table 1. Additionally, because of the large number of admitted students, increasing pressure is being placed on many 200-level courses, particularly in Biology and English. Unless some budgetary relief is provided, a significant student backlog is likely to begin to appear.
As grim as this is, this was the good news. Consider the fact that even after cutting the academic staff lines mentioned above, the CollegeÃs proposed personnel budget for next year ($18,048,197) comprises approximately 97 percent of our budget. The remaining three percent of our budget ($607,471) must cover the operating costs for all departments and programs, faculty and staff recruitment, permanent property, faculty travel and computer replacements. YouÃll immediately get a sense of the magnitude of
the problem when you realize that the current operating budgets of departments and programs total $735,161 or approximately 121 percent of what the College has available. In an attempt to make the best of an utterly miserable situation, the College has cut the operating budgets of departments and programs for next year by 20 percent. Table 2 shows the distribution of these cuts. These cuts are going to make it very difficult for departments and programs to function, especially when you remember that the College has not received any additions to our supply and expense budget lines for well over a decade, perhaps over two decades. After reducing department and program budgets by 20 percent, the College has a total of $19,243 remaining. Last year,the College had $391,054 available, meaning that we have experienced a budget reduction of approximately 95 percent. Some of these funds have to be used to support the operation of the DeanÃs Office. As Table 3 shows, the DeanÃs Office will experience a 25 percent budget reduction, leaving just $4,342 for all other College expenses. Prior commitments to faculty members hired this year for next will consume all of those funds. The bottom line is that the College:
* Will not be able to institute any tenure track searches this coming year;
* Will not be able to replace or repair aging or broken computers;
* Will not be able to purchase new permanent property; and
* Will not be able to repair or replace aging or broken permanent property.
The dire consequences associated with most of these actions are self-explanatory. What might not be quite so obvious, however, is the situation with tenure track faculty lines in the College. Due to budgetary constraints, the College has been able to initiate only approximately one-third of the faculty searches we would normally begin. When looked at collectively, the College currently has approximately 30 faculty positions that will be vacant next year. This represents approximately 11 percent of the faculty. Additionally, it is likely that by this time next year an additional 8 to 10 positions will become vacant bringing us to a vacancy rate approaching 15 percent. This is not a stable situation.
While the College has not budgeted any money for faculty and staff travel to professional conferences, I believe that doing so is essential. The College will, therefore, use two sources of funding to continue to provide $1,000 per full-time faculty or staff member: College auxiliary funds and salary savings. Salary savings will also be used to cover the $97,165 we owe to you.
In addition to making the cuts outlined above, the College is also in the process of attempting to save money. The College currently has 1.75 FTE of program assistant positions vacant and discussions exploring ways to keep those positions vacant while
minimizing the impact on the instructional mission of the College are underway. Additionally, I have reduced the size of the program assistant staff in the DeanÃs Office by 0.25 FTE, or by approximately 14 percent, effective immediately. I have also removed a full FTE that had been devoted to fundraising.
The budget I have proposed is not stable over the long term. From the present year to next year, we will have gone from having 94 percent of the College budget spent on salaries to having 97 percent spent on salaries ñ while dramatically reducing the percentage of faculty positions actually filled by faculty members. This cannibalization of supply lines cannot continue. Imagine the impact on teaching and research if we fail to replace any equipment in the College.
The College of Letters and Science is also responsible for two ancillary operations: the Cooperative Academic Partnership Program (CAPP) and the University Honors Program. Their budgets, along with explanatory text, are attached. Given that CAPP makes no use of GPR funding, I have not asked the Program to reduce its budget. To do so would be foolish because CAPP actually makes money for the University. Any cuts in the CAPP budget would likely translate fairly directly into reduced offerings and thus smaller profits. The Honors situation is dramatically different. The budget submitted reflects a 4.5 percent reduction and it is obvious that the cuts proposed will directly impact the quality of the program. Additionally, if the 0.5 FTE of secretarial assistance that has been provided in addition to the ProgramÃs base this year were to be removed, the Program would no longer be able to function as it currently does; a fairly rigid cap on enrollment would have to be put in place. I do hope resolution of this issue can be reached relatively soon. If a cap were needed to be imposed, the impact of such a drastic action would be somewhat ameliorated if it were done sooner rather than later.
I do hope that my narrative and its accompanying staffing checkbooks are clear and complete. As always, if you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them.
cc: Chancellor Richard Wells
Faculty Committee
Chairs, Program Directors
Associate Deans
COLS Electronic Bulletin Board
Lori Worm
Rose Ziebert
Michael Zimmerman
Office of the Dean
College of Letters and Science
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901
(920) 424-1210
mz@uwosh.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Cols mailing list
Cols@lists.uwosh.edu
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Government & politics assignment
Reporting Assignment No. 4
Due: March 30
Government/politics
For this assignment, you will cover some event or issue that relates to local politics. Fortunately with an election coming up on April 5, you won’t have any trouble finding something to write about.
In most newsrooms political reporters are the top dogs, with the highest salaries, most prestige and choicest assignments. The best political reporters have a knack for taking complicated topics and rendering them in ways that allow ordinary citizens to understand them and come to some conclusion about them.
The key to being good at this is to know something yourself about the issues at hand so that you can do the reporting that allows you to provide insights to your readers. To write a successful political story, you need to do a fair amount of research before the event that you are covering occurs.
It’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the conventions of the genre. To that end, you will closely read an article from a national publication on the political maneuvering surrounding the Terri Schiavo case and answer the following questions (to be posted in the class blog, where you should also post a link to the article you read):
1. How would you describe the central controversy here?
2. Webster’s describes politics as being about “competing interests.” In the Schiavo case what are the competing interests for the individuals involved?
3. What are the competing interests for the political factions involved?
4. Political issues are often complex. Did the article you read bring out complexities of the case?
5. Was the level of complexity too much, too little or about right for this issue?
6. Explain your answer to question No. 5.
7. What was the best part of the story, i.e. something you should try to do in your own reporting?
8. What was a weakness of the story, i.e. something you should try to avoid in your own reporting.
If at all possible, I would like everyone in the class to attend the campus forum that will be held Wednesday, March 23, in Reeve 202 and write an article about either the Council candidates or the mayoral candidates based on their performance in that forum.
If you cannot attend the forum, you should still write an article about the city elections.
In either case, your task will be to select what you think will be the deciding issue in the campaign, explain it to readers and contrast the candidates’ positions.
The point of emphasis for this assignment will be your ability to illuminate complexity, that is to present a complicated issue in enough detail for your readers to come to conclusion about it while not overwhelming or confusing your reader.
As a first step you will need to educate yourself about the issues in the campaign.
A rough draft is due March 28. We will meet in small groups March 30 to review your articles.
Due: March 30
Government/politics
For this assignment, you will cover some event or issue that relates to local politics. Fortunately with an election coming up on April 5, you won’t have any trouble finding something to write about.
In most newsrooms political reporters are the top dogs, with the highest salaries, most prestige and choicest assignments. The best political reporters have a knack for taking complicated topics and rendering them in ways that allow ordinary citizens to understand them and come to some conclusion about them.
The key to being good at this is to know something yourself about the issues at hand so that you can do the reporting that allows you to provide insights to your readers. To write a successful political story, you need to do a fair amount of research before the event that you are covering occurs.
It’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the conventions of the genre. To that end, you will closely read an article from a national publication on the political maneuvering surrounding the Terri Schiavo case and answer the following questions (to be posted in the class blog, where you should also post a link to the article you read):
1. How would you describe the central controversy here?
2. Webster’s describes politics as being about “competing interests.” In the Schiavo case what are the competing interests for the individuals involved?
3. What are the competing interests for the political factions involved?
4. Political issues are often complex. Did the article you read bring out complexities of the case?
5. Was the level of complexity too much, too little or about right for this issue?
6. Explain your answer to question No. 5.
7. What was the best part of the story, i.e. something you should try to do in your own reporting?
8. What was a weakness of the story, i.e. something you should try to avoid in your own reporting.
If at all possible, I would like everyone in the class to attend the campus forum that will be held Wednesday, March 23, in Reeve 202 and write an article about either the Council candidates or the mayoral candidates based on their performance in that forum.
If you cannot attend the forum, you should still write an article about the city elections.
In either case, your task will be to select what you think will be the deciding issue in the campaign, explain it to readers and contrast the candidates’ positions.
The point of emphasis for this assignment will be your ability to illuminate complexity, that is to present a complicated issue in enough detail for your readers to come to conclusion about it while not overwhelming or confusing your reader.
As a first step you will need to educate yourself about the issues in the campaign.
A rough draft is due March 28. We will meet in small groups March 30 to review your articles.
Friday, March 11, 2005
final court story
A 20-year-old UW-Oshkosh student is being charged with operating a shotgun while intoxicated, intentionally pointing a shotgun at a person and discharging a shotgun within 100 yards of a building.
Joshua D. Gitter faces a possibility of serving nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Oshkosh Police Officer Dennis Woerpel testified on Feb. 28 about the following events that occurred on the night of Feb. 24.
The charges came about after Gitter and his friends were drinking beers at a bonfire on New York Avenue. Gitter got into a heated conversation with Chad Wilcox.
Gitter began making insulting comments about carpenters.
After Gitter made the remark,” You’re nothing unless you’re a banker or a have lots of money,” to Wilcox, the two got into a physical alteration.
After Wilcox punched Gitter, Gitter went into the house, got a shotgun and shot it into the air.
Gitter than made threatening remarks, and told those at the bonfire to get out of his yard.
Wilcox then pointed the gun at Jon Strick, who was attending the bonfire. Jon hit the ground, and someone came up behind Gitter and took the shotgun away from him.
Brian Kosmosky, who was by Gitter when he got the gun, said that Gitter threatened to kill people and that he thought Gitter was going to shoot someone.
Officer Haberland reported to the scene, where Gitter was taken into police custody. Gitter failed the PBT test, which read a .124.
At Gitter’s initial appearance on Feb. 28, he was held on a $1,500 signature bond.
Gitter’s next court appearance is on April 12 at 11:00 a.m.
Joshua D. Gitter faces a possibility of serving nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Oshkosh Police Officer Dennis Woerpel testified on Feb. 28 about the following events that occurred on the night of Feb. 24.
The charges came about after Gitter and his friends were drinking beers at a bonfire on New York Avenue. Gitter got into a heated conversation with Chad Wilcox.
Gitter began making insulting comments about carpenters.
After Gitter made the remark,” You’re nothing unless you’re a banker or a have lots of money,” to Wilcox, the two got into a physical alteration.
After Wilcox punched Gitter, Gitter went into the house, got a shotgun and shot it into the air.
Gitter than made threatening remarks, and told those at the bonfire to get out of his yard.
Wilcox then pointed the gun at Jon Strick, who was attending the bonfire. Jon hit the ground, and someone came up behind Gitter and took the shotgun away from him.
Brian Kosmosky, who was by Gitter when he got the gun, said that Gitter threatened to kill people and that he thought Gitter was going to shoot someone.
Officer Haberland reported to the scene, where Gitter was taken into police custody. Gitter failed the PBT test, which read a .124.
At Gitter’s initial appearance on Feb. 28, he was held on a $1,500 signature bond.
Gitter’s next court appearance is on April 12 at 11:00 a.m.
final court story
A 20-year-old UW-Oshkosh student is being charged with operating a shotgun while intoxicated, intentionally pointing a shotgun at a person and discharging a shotgun within 100 yards of a building.
Joshua D. Gitter faces a possibility of serving nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Oshkosh Police Officer Dennis Woerpel testified on Feb. 28 about the following events that occurred on the night of Feb. 24.
The charges came about after Gitter and his friends were drinking beers at a bonfire on New York Avenue. Gitter got into a heated conversation with Chad Wilcox.
Gitter began making insulting comments about carpenters.
After Gitter made the remark,” You’re nothing unless you’re a banker or a have lots of money,” to Wilcox, the two got into a physical alteration.
After Wilcox punched Gitter, Gitter went into the house, got a shotgun and shot it into the air.
Gitter than made threatening remarks, and told those at the bonfire to get out of his yard.
Wilcox then pointed the gun at Jon Strick, who was attending the bonfire. Jon hit the ground, and someone came up behind Gitter and took the shotgun away from him.
Brian Kosmosky, who was by Gitter when he got the gun, said that Gitter threatened to kill people and that he thought Gitter was going to shoot someone.
Officer Haberland reported to the scene, where Gitter was taken into police custody. Gitter failed the PBT test, which read a .124.
At Gitter’s initial appearance on Feb. 28, he was held on a $1,500 signature bond.
Gitter’s next court appearance is on April 12 at 11:00 a.m.
Joshua D. Gitter faces a possibility of serving nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Oshkosh Police Officer Dennis Woerpel testified on Feb. 28 about the following events that occurred on the night of Feb. 24.
The charges came about after Gitter and his friends were drinking beers at a bonfire on New York Avenue. Gitter got into a heated conversation with Chad Wilcox.
Gitter began making insulting comments about carpenters.
After Gitter made the remark,” You’re nothing unless you’re a banker or a have lots of money,” to Wilcox, the two got into a physical alteration.
After Wilcox punched Gitter, Gitter went into the house, got a shotgun and shot it into the air.
Gitter than made threatening remarks, and told those at the bonfire to get out of his yard.
Wilcox then pointed the gun at Jon Strick, who was attending the bonfire. Jon hit the ground, and someone came up behind Gitter and took the shotgun away from him.
Brian Kosmosky, who was by Gitter when he got the gun, said that Gitter threatened to kill people and that he thought Gitter was going to shoot someone.
Officer Haberland reported to the scene, where Gitter was taken into police custody. Gitter failed the PBT test, which read a .124.
At Gitter’s initial appearance on Feb. 28, he was held on a $1,500 signature bond.
Gitter’s next court appearance is on April 12 at 11:00 a.m.
Final Court Story
Judge Scott C. Woldt has ordered a second evaluation for James W. Price today concerning his competency to proceed to trial. Price is currently being held in the Winnebago County Jail on charges of 1st degree intentional homicide for causing the death of John A. Stack with intent to kill.
At 9:30 a.m. today Price, 31, was brought into the fourth floor courtroom at the Winnebago County Courthouse, handcuffed and bearded. After examining the doctor’s report, Woldt stated that Price was not yet competent. The report further said that Price could become competent within a 12-month period.
According to reports Winnebago County 911 received a call on Jan. 30 from 812 Nicolet Blvd. in Menasha requesting an ambulance. Police arrived to find Stack, 39, who lived there with Robert Siger and David Mullen, sitting naked in a recliner in the living room covered in blood. Reports say there was blood on living room furniture, splattered on the wall, leading down a hallway, into the bathroom and heading out the back door.
Seiger told police that he and Mullen had come from a bar in Appleton to find the scene. Seiger said that all Stack could manage to say was he was “f***ed up.”
Mullen told officials that Stack said he had fallen in the shower. He also noted that they had a key to the apartment under a mat by the back door. Officer Mark Mauthe checked to find the key missing.
An emergency room doctor at Theda Clark Medical Center showed that the injuries were not caused by a fall, though. Stack had multiple skull fractures, two of which looked “consistent with being struck by the claw end of a hammer or crow bar” and a third longer wound which was on the back of his head.
Stack was pronounced dead at 6:00 p.m. on Feb. 2.
Inspector Dave Jagla spoke with witness Richard Schulz who said he was with Tobin Jagla when he received a call on the morning of Jan. 31 from Price. Tobin Jagla said that Price told him he had hit a male, whom Price said had raped his girlfriend, about 10 times in the head. Jagla told the inspector that Price indicated he had used an aluminum baseball bat.
Witness Valarie Schulz confirmed the rape to officials, saying Price’s girlfriend had told her she was sodomized by Stack in the parking lot of the R & R Bar in Menasha.
Schulz also said that she went with Jagla, Price’s girlfriend and Price on a drive earlier on which Price’s girlfriend had pointed out Stack’s house to her beau.
According to Schulz’s account, Price said “Stack will wish he was dead.”
During a search warrant on Feb. 3 at Price’s residence at 1004 Main St. #8 in Neenah, a baseball bat was found.
DNA samples and the clothes Price was wearing when he was placed in jail are also being held as evidence, among other things.
Price’s bond is set at $250,000.
Stack’s body was released to his family on Feb. 28 after being held in case of further autopsy examinations.
Price’s next court appearance will be April 1 at 8:30 a.m. Given Woldt’s tight schedule, the proceedings have been scheduled for a half hour in case Price is deemed competent in the upcoming test.
At 9:30 a.m. today Price, 31, was brought into the fourth floor courtroom at the Winnebago County Courthouse, handcuffed and bearded. After examining the doctor’s report, Woldt stated that Price was not yet competent. The report further said that Price could become competent within a 12-month period.
According to reports Winnebago County 911 received a call on Jan. 30 from 812 Nicolet Blvd. in Menasha requesting an ambulance. Police arrived to find Stack, 39, who lived there with Robert Siger and David Mullen, sitting naked in a recliner in the living room covered in blood. Reports say there was blood on living room furniture, splattered on the wall, leading down a hallway, into the bathroom and heading out the back door.
Seiger told police that he and Mullen had come from a bar in Appleton to find the scene. Seiger said that all Stack could manage to say was he was “f***ed up.”
Mullen told officials that Stack said he had fallen in the shower. He also noted that they had a key to the apartment under a mat by the back door. Officer Mark Mauthe checked to find the key missing.
An emergency room doctor at Theda Clark Medical Center showed that the injuries were not caused by a fall, though. Stack had multiple skull fractures, two of which looked “consistent with being struck by the claw end of a hammer or crow bar” and a third longer wound which was on the back of his head.
Stack was pronounced dead at 6:00 p.m. on Feb. 2.
Inspector Dave Jagla spoke with witness Richard Schulz who said he was with Tobin Jagla when he received a call on the morning of Jan. 31 from Price. Tobin Jagla said that Price told him he had hit a male, whom Price said had raped his girlfriend, about 10 times in the head. Jagla told the inspector that Price indicated he had used an aluminum baseball bat.
Witness Valarie Schulz confirmed the rape to officials, saying Price’s girlfriend had told her she was sodomized by Stack in the parking lot of the R & R Bar in Menasha.
Schulz also said that she went with Jagla, Price’s girlfriend and Price on a drive earlier on which Price’s girlfriend had pointed out Stack’s house to her beau.
According to Schulz’s account, Price said “Stack will wish he was dead.”
During a search warrant on Feb. 3 at Price’s residence at 1004 Main St. #8 in Neenah, a baseball bat was found.
DNA samples and the clothes Price was wearing when he was placed in jail are also being held as evidence, among other things.
Price’s bond is set at $250,000.
Stack’s body was released to his family on Feb. 28 after being held in case of further autopsy examinations.
Price’s next court appearance will be April 1 at 8:30 a.m. Given Woldt’s tight schedule, the proceedings have been scheduled for a half hour in case Price is deemed competent in the upcoming test.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Unproductive efforts
Okay so I called the person who was hit by a car
she never called back.
called the D.A. and
Surprise!
He didn't call me back either.
Called both back again and once again no response.
I think the problem here, is that these people won't take the time
out of their day to talk to me
because when I explain to them that I am a student doing a story
I think what their response is
"oh well now it's really not worth talking to this person".
Also, the guy who I committed the offenses had a hearing
in court today, the same time I had a meeting with a professor.
but hey,
at least I am trying
-Laura
she never called back.
called the D.A. and
Surprise!
He didn't call me back either.
Called both back again and once again no response.
I think the problem here, is that these people won't take the time
out of their day to talk to me
because when I explain to them that I am a student doing a story
I think what their response is
"oh well now it's really not worth talking to this person".
Also, the guy who I committed the offenses had a hearing
in court today, the same time I had a meeting with a professor.
but hey,
at least I am trying
-Laura
Court Story Final
A mother of three was evicted from a Pine Apartment property that she was forced to share with three sex offenders.
Heather Kallas, 27, and Jason Brunner, 25, signed a year lease with Pine Apartments in February 2004 only to find out later that sex offenders were moving in.
Sally Struensee, owner of Pine Apartments, said Kallas and Brunner were evicted for unpaid rent and unpaid utilities, but she declined to comment on the fact that sex offenders also resided in the house.
“I didn’t pay rent on purpose,” Kallas said in an interview Wednesday. “I wanted to get kicked out.”
According to Kallas, Pine Apartments leased the bottom portion of her house to three sex offenders. She has three young children, and she was extremely concerned for their safety as well as hers. She felt she had no other choice but to stop paying rent to get out of the lease.
Pine Apartments filed a small claims complaint against the pair in January 2005 with a list of fees. The total amount of money they claimed the defendants owed the agency was $3,247.
A mediation orientation was scheduled for Jan. 13 at the Winnebago County Courthouse. Mediation is used in order for the parties to try to come to a mutual agreement so they do not have to attend court.
According to the mediation agreement, both parties happened to work out an agreement that both found suitable. Kallas agreed to pay $1,700 in monthly payments to Pine Apartments until the fee was paid off. In return Pine Apartments agreed to release Brunner, Kallas’s brother, from this lawsuit.
Brunner had moved out prior to the eviction, Kallas said. She took full responsibility because she said she was the one who broke the lease.
Heather Kallas, 27, and Jason Brunner, 25, signed a year lease with Pine Apartments in February 2004 only to find out later that sex offenders were moving in.
Sally Struensee, owner of Pine Apartments, said Kallas and Brunner were evicted for unpaid rent and unpaid utilities, but she declined to comment on the fact that sex offenders also resided in the house.
“I didn’t pay rent on purpose,” Kallas said in an interview Wednesday. “I wanted to get kicked out.”
According to Kallas, Pine Apartments leased the bottom portion of her house to three sex offenders. She has three young children, and she was extremely concerned for their safety as well as hers. She felt she had no other choice but to stop paying rent to get out of the lease.
Pine Apartments filed a small claims complaint against the pair in January 2005 with a list of fees. The total amount of money they claimed the defendants owed the agency was $3,247.
A mediation orientation was scheduled for Jan. 13 at the Winnebago County Courthouse. Mediation is used in order for the parties to try to come to a mutual agreement so they do not have to attend court.
According to the mediation agreement, both parties happened to work out an agreement that both found suitable. Kallas agreed to pay $1,700 in monthly payments to Pine Apartments until the fee was paid off. In return Pine Apartments agreed to release Brunner, Kallas’s brother, from this lawsuit.
Brunner had moved out prior to the eviction, Kallas said. She took full responsibility because she said she was the one who broke the lease.
Court Story Final
Amongst other things, most students are almost guaranteed to leave college with two things-- a degree and lots of debt. However, the costs that college students are raking up these days are not what they used to be. A growing number of disputes between landlords and tenants are creating a much bigger hole in students’ wallets.
According to Oshkosh Student Association attorney Erik Forsgren, landlord related disputes are the most common problem at the university. Every year, between 150 and 200 people stop into Forgren's office on campus to discuss conflicts in their landlord- and tenant- relationships.
“There are probably dozens of other disputes between tenants and landlords, but we can only get so many people in here during the year,” Forsgren said.
Although cases like these rarely get adequate attention, many students have been directly affected.
In a court case closed October 6, 2004, Winnebago County Court Commissioner Karen Seifert found two UW-Oshkosh students liable for unpaid fees after a long and heated dispute with their landlord.
Sarah A. Sobczak and Nicole M. Dimond were ordered to pay a total of $3,272 after their landlord, Jeff Wicinsky, of Ultimate Properties sued them for the late payments of their missing roommate, Jennifer Shimon.
"I don't know where Jen is," Dimond said. "Sarah and I haven't been able to contact her in months. I wrote a letter to her dad, but he doesn't want to take responsibility for the situation either."
In an effort to reach an agreement, Dimond, Sobczak and Wicinsky met for mediation in September, but were unsuccessful in resolving their conflict.
Wicinsky said that he did not include Shimon in the suit because she repeatedly gave him false addresses.
"If you can't have her served, you can't sue her," he said.
What makes it possible for Wicinsky and other landlords to come out victorious in these types of cases is something called joint and several liability.
“With joint and several liability, the tenants are held coequally responsible for the entire rent payment,” Forsgren said. “It gives the landlord the option of suing anyone on the lease, and it will be anyone he can get his hands on.”
In this case, because Shimon is unaccounted for, Dimond and Sobczak must pay her part of the rent.
"Sarah and I just got screwed," Dimond said. "We're college students without any money and we can't afford to pay for someone else's debt. I have my own debt. This whole experience is just a huge slap in the face."
As for now, Dimond and Sobczak are doing nothing to pursue their case.
According to Forsgren, the most important thing for students to do before moving into a house or apartment is to get to know their roommates.
“One deadbeat can put everyone else in a real rough situation,” Forsgren said. “You have to be really careful when choosing who you are going to live with.”
According to Oshkosh Student Association attorney Erik Forsgren, landlord related disputes are the most common problem at the university. Every year, between 150 and 200 people stop into Forgren's office on campus to discuss conflicts in their landlord- and tenant- relationships.
“There are probably dozens of other disputes between tenants and landlords, but we can only get so many people in here during the year,” Forsgren said.
Although cases like these rarely get adequate attention, many students have been directly affected.
In a court case closed October 6, 2004, Winnebago County Court Commissioner Karen Seifert found two UW-Oshkosh students liable for unpaid fees after a long and heated dispute with their landlord.
Sarah A. Sobczak and Nicole M. Dimond were ordered to pay a total of $3,272 after their landlord, Jeff Wicinsky, of Ultimate Properties sued them for the late payments of their missing roommate, Jennifer Shimon.
"I don't know where Jen is," Dimond said. "Sarah and I haven't been able to contact her in months. I wrote a letter to her dad, but he doesn't want to take responsibility for the situation either."
In an effort to reach an agreement, Dimond, Sobczak and Wicinsky met for mediation in September, but were unsuccessful in resolving their conflict.
Wicinsky said that he did not include Shimon in the suit because she repeatedly gave him false addresses.
"If you can't have her served, you can't sue her," he said.
What makes it possible for Wicinsky and other landlords to come out victorious in these types of cases is something called joint and several liability.
“With joint and several liability, the tenants are held coequally responsible for the entire rent payment,” Forsgren said. “It gives the landlord the option of suing anyone on the lease, and it will be anyone he can get his hands on.”
In this case, because Shimon is unaccounted for, Dimond and Sobczak must pay her part of the rent.
"Sarah and I just got screwed," Dimond said. "We're college students without any money and we can't afford to pay for someone else's debt. I have my own debt. This whole experience is just a huge slap in the face."
As for now, Dimond and Sobczak are doing nothing to pursue their case.
According to Forsgren, the most important thing for students to do before moving into a house or apartment is to get to know their roommates.
“One deadbeat can put everyone else in a real rough situation,” Forsgren said. “You have to be really careful when choosing who you are going to live with.”
Monday, March 07, 2005
my court story
oopp. forgot to post this. I am doing my court story on a Mr. Zenter who injured a UW-Oshksoh student while colliding with her vehicle driving under the influence of alcohol and fled the scene of the accident.
Court Story
I will likely do my court story on the disorderly conduct suit filed against Amanda N. Sobecki filed on March 4. She has nine other court listings with the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, assessment of these trials will likely be included in my story.
(Note: I've been playing phone tag with Ms. Sobecki this weekend - I may choose this assignment as one of my incomplete articles if I can't get in touch with her.)
(Note: I've been playing phone tag with Ms. Sobecki this weekend - I may choose this assignment as one of my incomplete articles if I can't get in touch with her.)
Enterprise Story Ideas
The first idea I had was to do a story on the LARPrs that practice on campus every once-in-a-while. The problem with this is that it seems more like a feature idea that anything else. My next idea is to take a look at the environmental impact that this winter has had on the campus. The last idea I came up with was to take a look at the renovation being done on Taylor Hall.
Sorry about the lateness of this post. I went through OPE this weekend so I didn't have a chance to go to the courts. I still do want to do it and should have something by tomorrow.
Sorry about the lateness of this post. I went through OPE this weekend so I didn't have a chance to go to the courts. I still do want to do it and should have something by tomorrow.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Court Story- very rough draft
Those of us who rent from landlords never believe that we will end up in court over unpaid rent or an eviction, but in reality it can happen to anyone. When a lease is signed, it is a contract that brings with it a degree of risk.
Heather Kallas, 27, and Jason Brunner, 25, learned this lesson the hard way. The two rented a property through Pine Apartments and was evicted from the premises.
Pine Apartments filed a small claims complaint against the pair in January 2005 for a list of reasons. The total amount of money they claimed the defendants owed the agency was $3,247 and ranged from unpaid or late bills to cleaning the property after they had left.
A mediation orientation was scheduled for Jan. 13 at the Winnebago County Courthouse. Mediation is used in order for the parties to try to come to a mutual agreement so they do not have to attend court.
According to the mediation agreement, both parties happened work out an agreement that both found suitable. Kallas agreed to pay $1,700 in monthly payments to Pine Apartments until the fee was paid off. In return Pine Apartments agreed to release Brunner from this law suit.
(I still need to speak with both parties to get more information that what I recieved off the filing papers from the court house.)
Heather Kallas, 27, and Jason Brunner, 25, learned this lesson the hard way. The two rented a property through Pine Apartments and was evicted from the premises.
Pine Apartments filed a small claims complaint against the pair in January 2005 for a list of reasons. The total amount of money they claimed the defendants owed the agency was $3,247 and ranged from unpaid or late bills to cleaning the property after they had left.
A mediation orientation was scheduled for Jan. 13 at the Winnebago County Courthouse. Mediation is used in order for the parties to try to come to a mutual agreement so they do not have to attend court.
According to the mediation agreement, both parties happened work out an agreement that both found suitable. Kallas agreed to pay $1,700 in monthly payments to Pine Apartments until the fee was paid off. In return Pine Apartments agreed to release Brunner from this law suit.
(I still need to speak with both parties to get more information that what I recieved off the filing papers from the court house.)
court story
I will be doing my court story on the State of Wisconsin vs. Jason K. Konkle. Konkle was charged with hit and run-property damage and failure to notify police of an accident. His fines totalled $720.00. I went to the Winnebago County court house on friday on looked over the files and docket sheet. I have roughly five pages of information on the case. Monday I am going to call Konkle or a person that witnessed the accident, so I can use a human source and get a quote. I am looking at other court cases, so I have better idea how to write mine.
court story draft
In a case closed October 6, 2004, a Winnebago County court commissioner found two UW-Oshkosh students (liable?/guilty?) after a long and heated dispute with their landlord.
Sarah A. Sobczak and Nicole M. Dimond were ordered to pay a total of $4,172.50 after their landlord, Jeff Wicinsky of Ultimate Properties, LLC, sued them for the unpaid rent fees of their roommate, Jennifer Shimon.
(talk to Sarah or Nicole)
In an effort to reach an agreement, the parties arranged to meet for mediation in September but were unsuccessful in resolving the conflict.
(talk to court commissioner)
Sobczak and Dimond have recently decided to bring their own case against Shimon, suing for her part of the rent plus damages. They plan on filing a case at the Winnebago Courthouse within the next few weeks.
Sarah A. Sobczak and Nicole M. Dimond were ordered to pay a total of $4,172.50 after their landlord, Jeff Wicinsky of Ultimate Properties, LLC, sued them for the unpaid rent fees of their roommate, Jennifer Shimon.
(talk to Sarah or Nicole)
In an effort to reach an agreement, the parties arranged to meet for mediation in September but were unsuccessful in resolving the conflict.
(talk to court commissioner)
Sobczak and Dimond have recently decided to bring their own case against Shimon, suing for her part of the rent plus damages. They plan on filing a case at the Winnebago Courthouse within the next few weeks.
Friday, March 04, 2005
update on my court case
I looked at the Docket sheet for the Gitter case on Thurs. At his initial appearnce they set his bond for $1,500 and I also got information on what occured that night. He can not be fined for more than $10,000 or serve more than 9 months for his three charges; operating a firearm under the influence; pointing a firearm at another; Discharge of a firearm within 100 yds of a building. His hearing is on the 9th so I will have more informatin than.
court case
I'm going to try and do my court story about James W. Price. He's charged with 1st degree intentional homocide. Further proceedings happen on the morning of the 11th, so I'll probably have the story in later that day. Going down to the courthouse now to see what I can get.
court story
I am doing my court story on the case of Ultimate Properties vs. Sarah Sobczak and Nicole Dimond.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
My court story as of right now
I am going to do my court story on State of Wisconsin vs. Jason L. Konkle. Konkle pleaded no contest to hit and run. I am going to see what I can get out of this one.
Court Story change
I decided to change the court story I am going to do. Originally I said I was going to do the traffic violations that Brent Feezor had recieved. After going to the court house I have decided to change to the eviction of Heather Kallas and Jason Brunner by Pine Apartments.
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Reflective Assignment Final
Robert Ireland
1. The first three articles I did had a lot of information. The obituary contained everything Michelle had told me about her life. It included how she saved the lives of five young children, which I thought made the article interesting. For the police story I thought I got good quotes from Ammerman and that the story was completely accurate. I was pleased with the way the Cowling piece turned out since I only saw about 15 minutes of his speech, I thought it was fair and accurate.
2. I think my leads can improve; they can be shorter and more appealing to readers. I also need to work on AP style I still make a lot of mistakes with style. I think the comments I receive on papers are the most helpful in identifying where improvement can be made.
3. Michelle R Sarazin was an English student, a bartender and a person many just knew as their friend and during her short life she saved the lives of five young children. During Michelle R Sarazin’s life she saved the lives of five young children, she was an English student, a bartender and a person many just knew as their friend.
4. I don’t think that there is any element of my writing that couldn’t use improvement. I think I could be coherent in my writing. I often find my writing to be choppy and hard to follow. If I were more coherent more people would read my work. I think I could be more precise. Occasionally poor word choices cause my writing to be interpreted differently than intended.
1. The first three articles I did had a lot of information. The obituary contained everything Michelle had told me about her life. It included how she saved the lives of five young children, which I thought made the article interesting. For the police story I thought I got good quotes from Ammerman and that the story was completely accurate. I was pleased with the way the Cowling piece turned out since I only saw about 15 minutes of his speech, I thought it was fair and accurate.
2. I think my leads can improve; they can be shorter and more appealing to readers. I also need to work on AP style I still make a lot of mistakes with style. I think the comments I receive on papers are the most helpful in identifying where improvement can be made.
3. Michelle R Sarazin was an English student, a bartender and a person many just knew as their friend and during her short life she saved the lives of five young children. During Michelle R Sarazin’s life she saved the lives of five young children, she was an English student, a bartender and a person many just knew as their friend.
4. I don’t think that there is any element of my writing that couldn’t use improvement. I think I could be coherent in my writing. I often find my writing to be choppy and hard to follow. If I were more coherent more people would read my work. I think I could be more precise. Occasionally poor word choices cause my writing to be interpreted differently than intended.
Reflective Writing Assignment
1) I think the most successful part of my Obituary is that I was able to let the reader know exactly how my grandma is. I think I painted a pretty good picture of what she is really like. I also felt that my quote fit in well with the story. The most successful part of my article on Mike Cowling was being able to finish a somewhat interesting and informative story on a deadline and put information in that an audience would have found interesting and may not have known about before.
2) I think that one area of my writing that could be improved is my grammar and punctuation. I think that I have improved with those two areas since writing for the Advance Titan, but I know there are areas in grammar that I can improve in still. That improvement will come with practice and explanations on when to use certain words and punctuation at what times. I think one area I can improve in reporting is being more aggressive. I tend to be intimidated by certain people when having to interview them, especially those of high stature. When I get intimidated I tend to not ask the questions that I wanted to, I lose my frame of mind.
3)
Original Lead:
Mike Cowling, assistant professor at UW-Oshkosh and an editor at the The New York Times, spoke of the new committees the Times put together after the Jason Blair incident.
Revised Lead:
During the Dean’s First Symposium on Feb. 16, an editor at The New York Times spoke about the new committees put together by the Times after the Jayson Blair incident.
I believe the second lead is better because it includes someone of high profile and not a professor that may not be familiar to other people. The second lead also tells where and when he spoke about the new committees. I also improved the spelling errors that were in the original lead.
4) I think that two of the characteristics that I could improve are being precise and being clear. Sometimes I feel that I know what I’m writing about so no matter what it seems precise and clear to me. But, if someone else was to read my story without prior knowledge as to what I’m writing about, would that know all the facts and be able to put it all together to coherently understand my story. I think that sometimes I need to explain things better or even gain better knowledge of the subject so I can make the story clear to my readers. I think I can improve those areas by making sure that I have all the information necessary and also to have someone else read my story, who does not have prior knowledge of the subject. I think also, like I said earlier, the more practice I get, the better I’ll get. I don’t think there is much I get in class and outside of class, the better I’ll get.
2) I think that one area of my writing that could be improved is my grammar and punctuation. I think that I have improved with those two areas since writing for the Advance Titan, but I know there are areas in grammar that I can improve in still. That improvement will come with practice and explanations on when to use certain words and punctuation at what times. I think one area I can improve in reporting is being more aggressive. I tend to be intimidated by certain people when having to interview them, especially those of high stature. When I get intimidated I tend to not ask the questions that I wanted to, I lose my frame of mind.
3)
Original Lead:
Mike Cowling, assistant professor at UW-Oshkosh and an editor at the The New York Times, spoke of the new committees the Times put together after the Jason Blair incident.
Revised Lead:
During the Dean’s First Symposium on Feb. 16, an editor at The New York Times spoke about the new committees put together by the Times after the Jayson Blair incident.
I believe the second lead is better because it includes someone of high profile and not a professor that may not be familiar to other people. The second lead also tells where and when he spoke about the new committees. I also improved the spelling errors that were in the original lead.
4) I think that two of the characteristics that I could improve are being precise and being clear. Sometimes I feel that I know what I’m writing about so no matter what it seems precise and clear to me. But, if someone else was to read my story without prior knowledge as to what I’m writing about, would that know all the facts and be able to put it all together to coherently understand my story. I think that sometimes I need to explain things better or even gain better knowledge of the subject so I can make the story clear to my readers. I think I can improve those areas by making sure that I have all the information necessary and also to have someone else read my story, who does not have prior knowledge of the subject. I think also, like I said earlier, the more practice I get, the better I’ll get. I don’t think there is much I get in class and outside of class, the better I’ll get.
Reflective Writing Assignment
Identify at least one aspect of each article and explain why you think it was successful.
1. I believe the most successful part of my obituary was the structure of the article. I believe it flowed very nicely and gave my readers a detailed and complete summary of my dad’s life. I included all of the important aspects of what makes my dad who he is. This piece is very important to me.
I think that the most successful part of my police beat was the way I incorporated the quotes from the alleged perpetrator. I think that his words make the story. He gave the article some personality.
My article on Mike Cowling is the one I am least proud of. Time was limited, and I felt some pressure. I would have to say the most successful part of this a story was the amount of information I gathered. I gave a thorough account of Cowling’s speech and concluded with his background information. Although this story was not bursting with excitement, I thought I did a good job of highlighting the important topics.
Identify two areas of your reporting/writing that represent improvement opportunities.
2. The two areas of my reporting/writing that need improvement are the putting together the lead and becoming more comfortable with asking for information from sources. I believe that my leads need to be more specific and really get at the newsworthy aspects of the story. I believe breaking the story down and identifying each element of newsworthiness (as we did in class) would help me improve my leads.
I think becoming comfortable with sources with come with time. I believe the only thing that will help me improve in this area is experience and practice. The instructor is doing just dandy thus far. The written comments on returned articles and individual meetings help a lot.
Rewrite and improve one lead that you have written so far. Explain why the second lead is better.
3. Old Version: In a speech describing his experiences at The New York Times, Professor Mike Cowling explained the downward direction the paper has been headed toward and several defenses it has built in efforts to stop it.
New version: A UW-Oshkosh professor who also edits parts of The New York Times website five nights a week spoke Wednesday about the newspaper’s recent troubles, including the Jayson Blair scandal.
I believe the second version is better because it specifies in more detail what Cowling talked about (Jayson Blair scandal.) It is also more of a delayed lead assuming that Cowling’s name will be mentioned in the next paragraph. The new version is also timely because it states that the event occurred Wednesday.
Identify two characteristics of good writing that represent improvement opportunities for you.
4. I believe that two characteristics identified in chapter 8 that I need to improve on are being precise and being clear. After reading the section on being precise, I realized how words that may appear to be synonyms are erroneously written in a place that they should not be. I believe that becoming more familiar with words, as well as making an effort to learn new words, will help with this problem.
Being clear has always been difficult for me. It is so easy for me to just write down exactly what comes to my mind instead of taking the time to find a simpler way to convey my ideas. Grammar and punctuation have always, and probably will always, be things that I need to pay special attention to while writing. I do not know if I will ever master these areas, but I believe that practice will enable me to recognize and use these tools in ways that will improve my writing.
1. I believe the most successful part of my obituary was the structure of the article. I believe it flowed very nicely and gave my readers a detailed and complete summary of my dad’s life. I included all of the important aspects of what makes my dad who he is. This piece is very important to me.
I think that the most successful part of my police beat was the way I incorporated the quotes from the alleged perpetrator. I think that his words make the story. He gave the article some personality.
My article on Mike Cowling is the one I am least proud of. Time was limited, and I felt some pressure. I would have to say the most successful part of this a story was the amount of information I gathered. I gave a thorough account of Cowling’s speech and concluded with his background information. Although this story was not bursting with excitement, I thought I did a good job of highlighting the important topics.
Identify two areas of your reporting/writing that represent improvement opportunities.
2. The two areas of my reporting/writing that need improvement are the putting together the lead and becoming more comfortable with asking for information from sources. I believe that my leads need to be more specific and really get at the newsworthy aspects of the story. I believe breaking the story down and identifying each element of newsworthiness (as we did in class) would help me improve my leads.
I think becoming comfortable with sources with come with time. I believe the only thing that will help me improve in this area is experience and practice. The instructor is doing just dandy thus far. The written comments on returned articles and individual meetings help a lot.
Rewrite and improve one lead that you have written so far. Explain why the second lead is better.
3. Old Version: In a speech describing his experiences at The New York Times, Professor Mike Cowling explained the downward direction the paper has been headed toward and several defenses it has built in efforts to stop it.
New version: A UW-Oshkosh professor who also edits parts of The New York Times website five nights a week spoke Wednesday about the newspaper’s recent troubles, including the Jayson Blair scandal.
I believe the second version is better because it specifies in more detail what Cowling talked about (Jayson Blair scandal.) It is also more of a delayed lead assuming that Cowling’s name will be mentioned in the next paragraph. The new version is also timely because it states that the event occurred Wednesday.
Identify two characteristics of good writing that represent improvement opportunities for you.
4. I believe that two characteristics identified in chapter 8 that I need to improve on are being precise and being clear. After reading the section on being precise, I realized how words that may appear to be synonyms are erroneously written in a place that they should not be. I believe that becoming more familiar with words, as well as making an effort to learn new words, will help with this problem.
Being clear has always been difficult for me. It is so easy for me to just write down exactly what comes to my mind instead of taking the time to find a simpler way to convey my ideas. Grammar and punctuation have always, and probably will always, be things that I need to pay special attention to while writing. I do not know if I will ever master these areas, but I believe that practice will enable me to recognize and use these tools in ways that will improve my writing.
Court Story
The article I read appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal online version on March 2, 2005. The article, written by Hope Yen for the AP, was in regards to a supreme court case regarding the ten commandments being displayed on a monumnet outside the Texas state capitol. Supreme Court justice Antoine Scalia informed people that government proclamations with the word God in them is permissable. As the article goes on howver you see the grey area in the case. The precedent for this decision is mixed at best. However, you see as it goes on why Scalia made the proclamation he did. Overall the article serves more as a outline of past cases and help inform people on the issue and past judgements.
reflective writing assignment
Robert Ireland
- The first three articles I have done have had a lot of information. The obituary contained everything Michelle had told me about her life, I thought I got good quotes in the police story and I was pleased with the way the Cowling piece turned out since I only saw about 15 minutes of his speech.
- I think my leads can improve; they can be shorter and more appealing to readers. I also need to work on AP style I still make a lot of mistakes with style. I think the comments I receive on papers or the most helpful in identifying where improvement can be made.
- Michelle R Sarazin was an English student, a bartender and a person many just knew as their friend and during her short life she saved the lives of five young children. During Michelle R Sarazin’s life she saved the lives of five young children, she was an English student, a bartender and a person many just knew as their friend.
Rumsfeld Sued in Torture Case
I reviewed the Rumsfeld case, he is allegedly being sued. The article itself is rather concise. You would think that a case of this magnitude would have significanty more coverage. I thought that ere should have been more information provided, say on the source of these allegations. Other than that I think it is relatively unbiased, as unbiased as it can get.
BTK Case
This article did a pretty good job capturing the feel of the court proceedings in this case. This is an obviously disturbed man and the story goes on to cover how he was arrested and what he did (in part becomes a crime story). The BTK seriel killer is now "safely" behind bars and cooperating with police. It's hard to imagine people needing to be told how this benifits the world around them any more blatently. The story was a good job of reporting on what had happened and what will happen in the case.
Enterprise Ideas
Some articles that I am thinking about writing for my enterprise story are:
1.An article about how it is to be a handicapped student at UW-Oshkosh. What are the struggles one must go through? How easy and accessible are buildings at UW-Oshkosh-should improvements be made? What is the perspective of a handicapped person and how does their disability affect their social life?
2. An article about drug usage on campus, focusing on harsher drugs like cocaine. How popular are these drugs in the area and why are students using them? Has the rate increased of decreased?
3. A feature story about student struggles with financial aid. How many people are struggling to live through college? What do students have to do to make ends meat. Elaborate on the financial aid equation that is set up by the UW system and how easy it is to manipulate and be screwed over by this equation.
1.An article about how it is to be a handicapped student at UW-Oshkosh. What are the struggles one must go through? How easy and accessible are buildings at UW-Oshkosh-should improvements be made? What is the perspective of a handicapped person and how does their disability affect their social life?
2. An article about drug usage on campus, focusing on harsher drugs like cocaine. How popular are these drugs in the area and why are students using them? Has the rate increased of decreased?
3. A feature story about student struggles with financial aid. How many people are struggling to live through college? What do students have to do to make ends meat. Elaborate on the financial aid equation that is set up by the UW system and how easy it is to manipulate and be screwed over by this equation.
Court Story
The story I reviewed was about the Michael Jackson court case. The story was published in the LA Times. The story is about how Michael Jackson may take the stand in a court hearing where he is accused of molesting a 13-year-old. The reporter did a good job relaying what happened int he court room. He talked about the lawyer's statements and relayed jury activities. What I didn't like is that Tom Mesereau Jr., who was quoted in the story was never directly labeled. I assume that he is the Jackson's lawyer, but I am not exactly sure. The story is written in a time format with the opening statements first in the story and the closing statements written last. This article was not the most interesting to me because and I assume it is because of the story's time format structure.
reflective writing assignment #1
1: What has been the most successful part of your finished articles? Identify at least one aspect of each article and explain why you think it was successful.
So far I have completed two articles.
For the obituary article, I think I was successful in doing a thorough interview of the person that I was writing about. I wrote about key and interesting points in the person's life and why they were important.
For the Cowling article, I think I was successful in writing the peice in a good structure. I kept the paragraphs fairly short and I used direct quotes from Cowling that he made during his presentation. I also think that my lead okay but maybe it could have been a little shorter.
2.Identify two areas of your reporting that represent improvement opportunities
I think my leads could always be improved. Also I need to improve my expertise on AP style and comma usage. For example, my obituary story had several AP style usage errors. I really need to look through my articles more thoroughly and make sure that my words coincide with AP style. For the Cowling article, I could have written the piece a little more interesting. Unless someone really wanted to know about the presentation, I don't think most people would read the whole article because it is kind of bland. I could have spiced up the article up a little more by detailing more interesting points about Cowling himself.
3. Pick one of the leads you have written so far. Based on the advice in Chapter 7, rewrite it and improve it. Show both versions. Explain how the second lead is better.
Original lead: Edie May, a woman whose life turned the act of selflessness into an art, one that she created and shared with the world, died Friday morning, after being struck by a vehicle near her home. She was 43.
New lead: Edie May, a woman whose life turned the act of selflessness into an art, died Friday morning, after being struck by a vehicle near her home. She was 43.
I think the second lead is better because it is more simplistic and to-the-point.
4. Chapter 8 identifies five characteristics of good writing. Identify two that represent improvement opportunities for you. What can you do in the process of writing future articles for this class to improve in those areas. Are these things what your instructor could do to help?
Correct grammar and punctuation- I often misuse commas and sometimes my grammar is a little off. For example, sometimes in my writing I jump around to several verb tenses. I also need to continue to practice and use AP style. Essentially I think better punctuation and such will only improve with practice and more writing.
Clarity is something very important in a news article and I think that this is something that nearly everybody should work on. Making an article clear, easy to read, and to-the-point is very important to a good story and this is something I need to work on. I have a tendency to structure my stories a little awkward and thus not making the point of my story not entirely clear.
So far I have completed two articles.
For the obituary article, I think I was successful in doing a thorough interview of the person that I was writing about. I wrote about key and interesting points in the person's life and why they were important.
For the Cowling article, I think I was successful in writing the peice in a good structure. I kept the paragraphs fairly short and I used direct quotes from Cowling that he made during his presentation. I also think that my lead okay but maybe it could have been a little shorter.
2.Identify two areas of your reporting that represent improvement opportunities
I think my leads could always be improved. Also I need to improve my expertise on AP style and comma usage. For example, my obituary story had several AP style usage errors. I really need to look through my articles more thoroughly and make sure that my words coincide with AP style. For the Cowling article, I could have written the piece a little more interesting. Unless someone really wanted to know about the presentation, I don't think most people would read the whole article because it is kind of bland. I could have spiced up the article up a little more by detailing more interesting points about Cowling himself.
3. Pick one of the leads you have written so far. Based on the advice in Chapter 7, rewrite it and improve it. Show both versions. Explain how the second lead is better.
Original lead: Edie May, a woman whose life turned the act of selflessness into an art, one that she created and shared with the world, died Friday morning, after being struck by a vehicle near her home. She was 43.
New lead: Edie May, a woman whose life turned the act of selflessness into an art, died Friday morning, after being struck by a vehicle near her home. She was 43.
I think the second lead is better because it is more simplistic and to-the-point.
4. Chapter 8 identifies five characteristics of good writing. Identify two that represent improvement opportunities for you. What can you do in the process of writing future articles for this class to improve in those areas. Are these things what your instructor could do to help?
Correct grammar and punctuation- I often misuse commas and sometimes my grammar is a little off. For example, sometimes in my writing I jump around to several verb tenses. I also need to continue to practice and use AP style. Essentially I think better punctuation and such will only improve with practice and more writing.
Clarity is something very important in a news article and I think that this is something that nearly everybody should work on. Making an article clear, easy to read, and to-the-point is very important to a good story and this is something I need to work on. I have a tendency to structure my stories a little awkward and thus not making the point of my story not entirely clear.
Court Story
The article that I found is a court case in Tampa Bay, Florida. Terri Schiavo, a women who has spent 15 years in a vegetable state, once told her husband, Michael, that she would never want to be kept alive artificially. Schiavo's parents have been fighting his efforts, but Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer Monday ruled that her feeding tube be removed March 18.
Schiavo's parents asked the judge Monday to allow the severely brain-damaged woman to divorce her husband, accusing him of adultery and not acting in his wife's best interests. Schiavo has three weeks left to live and her parents would like to see her divorced from her husband. The case is in the process of being appealed.
I like this article because I have never heard of a circumstance like this one before. Courts and families have battled over whether or not there is reason to take a person off life support, but not whether there is reason for divorce.
The structure of the story wasn't well organized. I didn't like the lead and thought the story in general was choppy and confusing. The reprter should have made the story shorter and more concise. There was alot of detail, but it seemed to bounce around in paragraphs.
Schiavo's parents asked the judge Monday to allow the severely brain-damaged woman to divorce her husband, accusing him of adultery and not acting in his wife's best interests. Schiavo has three weeks left to live and her parents would like to see her divorced from her husband. The case is in the process of being appealed.
I like this article because I have never heard of a circumstance like this one before. Courts and families have battled over whether or not there is reason to take a person off life support, but not whether there is reason for divorce.
The structure of the story wasn't well organized. I didn't like the lead and thought the story in general was choppy and confusing. The reprter should have made the story shorter and more concise. There was alot of detail, but it seemed to bounce around in paragraphs.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Court Example
This article was good in that it explained the history of the issue the supreme court case was taking up - namely the juvenile death penalty. The author quoted the justices often and said the consequenses of the decision (72 people in 12 states will be taken off death row). Going back to decisions in the 80's and the whole overview aspect of the article is nice for people who haven't been keeping up with this issue. What it fails to completely describe is the case that brought the matter to the supreme court this time around. I suppose this isn't too neccessary to the decision or previous decisions, but I'm still kind of curious.
Court Case Example
I did my court case example on Steven Zirko, who hired people to kill the mother of his children and her mother because she was a cockroach who needed to be exterminated. He obtained a $500,000 insurance policy on his wife and a $100,000 policy on her mother. He was also eligible for the death penalty.
I think that this article gave good details into the events of the killings and the events that lead up to it. It also gave details on the environment of teh courtroom, like those in attendance applauded once they heard Zirko was eligible for the death penalty.
I also think the article was very well written and easy to follow.
I think that this article gave good details into the events of the killings and the events that lead up to it. It also gave details on the environment of teh courtroom, like those in attendance applauded once they heard Zirko was eligible for the death penalty.
I also think the article was very well written and easy to follow.
Court Case Story
The article that I read was about a Waukesha man named Joshua Wade, 23, that was accused of befriending children, molesting some of them repeatedly in his apartment and secretly videotaping more than 30 of them in the bathroom. The court charged him with four counts of child enticements, four counts of repeated sexual assault of a child and a count of capturing an image of nudity.
Information was released last week to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about how Wade had been repeating some of his old ways. A juvenile proceeding sent Wade to a treatment center for indecently touching a 9-year-old girl when he was 15. While in treatment, according to police, he had admitted that they had not even known about 16 other victims of his.
At the age of 18, Wade was released from treatment as a registered sex offender but since he was a juvenile offender, the public never knew about any of it because of the secrecy of juvenile court cases. An Assembly committee approved something they're calling "Amie's Law," which was named after AmieLee Zyla, one of Wade's victims back in 1997 who came forward to testify against him.
I felt like this was a really good example of an interesting court case because it talked about something that no one ever reads about everyday. Juvenile sex offenders are not in everyday newspapers. It is definitely front page material.
Information was released last week to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about how Wade had been repeating some of his old ways. A juvenile proceeding sent Wade to a treatment center for indecently touching a 9-year-old girl when he was 15. While in treatment, according to police, he had admitted that they had not even known about 16 other victims of his.
At the age of 18, Wade was released from treatment as a registered sex offender but since he was a juvenile offender, the public never knew about any of it because of the secrecy of juvenile court cases. An Assembly committee approved something they're calling "Amie's Law," which was named after AmieLee Zyla, one of Wade's victims back in 1997 who came forward to testify against him.
I felt like this was a really good example of an interesting court case because it talked about something that no one ever reads about everyday. Juvenile sex offenders are not in everyday newspapers. It is definitely front page material.
Court Story- Brent G. Feezor
I think I am going to do my court story on Brent G. Feezor. On Feb. 28 there were three traffic violations filed against him. The citations were for operating while under the influence, operating with a PAC of .10 or more and keeping open intoxicants in the car. I am not positive I will be doing this one for sure, I will know when I go to the court house. If I do change, I will post a new blog.
Court Story example
Link: www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ford1mar01,1,7250264.story?ctrack=2&cset=true
In this court story example a judge dismissed charges against a man (Enoch Lonnie Ford) who was accused of violating court orders when he talked to the LA Times about his alleged sexual encounter with Paul Crouch, the owner and founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network.
I feel that this story was a good example of a court story. It had good details on the events that had occurred. This story is a follow-up of the court precedings that have been going on since 1998. It focused on the latest developments with Ford who allegedly spoke with the LA Times even though he was under a gag order. As with many articles, the most important and late breaking news events were situated at the beginning of the story, and the background facts about the ongoing case was placed towards the end.
I also felt that this story was well written because of the language that was used. Although the article used terms that are designed for a courtroom setting, they were not jargon that the average reader could not decipher. It flowed smoothly from start to finish and was not hard to understand.
In this court story example a judge dismissed charges against a man (Enoch Lonnie Ford) who was accused of violating court orders when he talked to the LA Times about his alleged sexual encounter with Paul Crouch, the owner and founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network.
I feel that this story was a good example of a court story. It had good details on the events that had occurred. This story is a follow-up of the court precedings that have been going on since 1998. It focused on the latest developments with Ford who allegedly spoke with the LA Times even though he was under a gag order. As with many articles, the most important and late breaking news events were situated at the beginning of the story, and the background facts about the ongoing case was placed towards the end.
I also felt that this story was well written because of the language that was used. Although the article used terms that are designed for a courtroom setting, they were not jargon that the average reader could not decipher. It flowed smoothly from start to finish and was not hard to understand.
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