Assignment: Hard News Leads
1. A survey was released yesterday by the Child Abuse Prevention Center in Baltimore shows that three to four children die every day in the United States from child abuse or neglect.
2. MILWAUKEE – Nearly 150 anti-abortion protesters were arrested yesterday on disorderly conduct charges after blocking the entrances to an abortion clinic, according to police.
3. A delivery driver from The Great Wall of China Restaurant was robbed at gunpoint yesterday at 718 S.W. Western Ave.
4. A manageable late night fire was extinguished by firefighters last night but not before doing $45,000 in damages to a two-bedroom home in the 2300 block of Main Street.
5. Murders in Maryland increased 53 percent in the first quarter of 2010 according to a crime report released yesterday by the Maryland State Bureau of Investigation.
6. Damages to the Earth’s ozone layer, which absorbs the Sun’s harmful cancer-causing ultraviolet rays, are increasing, according to a report released yesterday from the United Nations Environment Program.
7. SANTA ANA, Calif. - A local woman was charged with attempted murder yesterday after dousing her disabled husband with rubbing alcohol and attempting to set him on fire, according to police.
8. The dropping prices of broadband Internet has led the number of users to surpass that of dial-up users.
9. PRINCETON, N.J. - Princeton University has limited the number of high grades that can be given per class in order to crackdown on grade inflation.
10. As many as 47 million adults may be putting themselves at risk for injury, health and behavior problems because they aren’t meeting their minimum sleep requirements, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
Assignment: Quick Editing
PANORA, Iowa – A small town welcomed home one of its soldiers Friday. Instead of jubilant well-wishers, there were 525 mourners who packed United Methodist Church.
To the rest of the country, Army Spec. Michael Mills was one of 191 Americans killed in the war. Though to Panora residents he was one of 28 people killed Feb. 25 when an Iraqi suicide bomb exploded.
To the 1,100 people here, Mike Mills was the 23-year-old hometown boy who carried on a family tradition by joining the Army.
His funeral Friday provided a somber contrast to the joyous reunions held for returning troops throughout the country.
After the ceremony, not a parade, but a stream of cars that stretched down Main Street from the church to the West Cemetery.
There were flags at half-staff and red, white and blue ribbons tied to flower sprays that surrounded the altar. And there were tears – of grief, not joy.
Assignment: Blogging a Scene
The fifth floor of the UMC is a quiet place. It might as well be a nap room. As close as one can get to being in a cupola on CU’s campus, the fifth floor of the UMC is a pretty unique place. Natural light illuminates the room, bouncing off of a trophy along the north wall and carpet that’s meant not to show dirt, lining the floor.
Sure, you can find a quiet spot in Norlin Library among a million other stressed out college students, florescent lights, and humming computers but up here it’s pretty relaxing. Green and blue couches line the room, two tables in the middle make themselves available for those who don’t come up here to nap.
The quiet is implied through dirty looks given to students on the phone and the rare laptop user who types too loudly. The silence makes the clicking of laptop keys sound like horses running the Kentucky Derby, their horseshoed feet clicking against the ground.
There aren’t many words spoken up here. The only sounds permeate from laptop keyboards, as well as cars and buses that pass on Broadway, just west of the building. These sounds come and go, gently rousing the occasional student out of his midday nap.
“Are you gonna leave now?” a male student whispers to a female student. She, wearing a black knit cap, says no, and pulls out her blue and grey Dell laptop to continue her work. He leaves. It’s quieter now.
Other than this, no words are spoken.
The sun setting behind the Flatirons reflects off of the four black and white photographs, each wrapped in black frames with white padding, that line the east wall. It fees like a hotel lounge without the implied stress of business men coming and going, powered by coffee and caffeine.
A sign on the east wall says that the maximum occupancy of this room is 87 people. 87 people would ruin this room undoubtedly. A sole security camera monitors this perfect room, a room away from the college bustle, a room a step closer to serenity.
Dean/Rove debate budget ideas
- A preview on students going to the debate, will they approach it with an open mind or a pre-formed political bias
- Origins of the program - who brought Howard Dean and Karl Rove to CU? Why?
- Reactions to the event from student-run political groups
- Did the event sell out? Is there a market at CU for more political lectures/debates?
- Did they comment on Obama and his policies? What did they have to say about the way Obama is running the country? Student reactions?
News - Study: Righties Live Longer Than Lefties
Right-handed people live an average of nine years longer than left-handed people according to a recent study comparing death and accident rates conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study, which was concluded last year, examined the death certificates of 987 people in two Southern California counties. Diane Halpern, a psychology professor at Cal State San Bernardino, and Stanley Coren, a researcher at the University of British Columbia, wanted to know why there are fewer left-handed people among the elderly population.
“The results are striking in their magnitude,” Halpern said. Halpern is right-handed.
According to the data, left-handed people were four times more likely to die from injuries sustained while driving and six times more likely to die from accounts of all kinds.
In addition, the study found that right-handed females tended to outlive their left-handed counterparts by six years. Right-handed males tended to outlive their left-handed counterparts by 11 years.
Why are left-handed people more susceptible to death? Halpern believes engineering is the culprit.
“Almost all engineering is gear to the right hand and right foot,” Halpern said.
“There are many more car and other accidents among let-handers because of their environment.”
The study, however, should be interpreted cautiously. Halpern noted that it is not a predictor of the lifespan of any individual. Females studied lived to around the age of 78 and 72 and males lived to ages 73 and 62.
Researchers initially believed that the difference in numbers could be attributed to the early 20th century in which most left-handed individuals were forced to switch in order to accommodate themselves to a right-handed world. Disproving their original hypothesis, Halpern and Coren found that the number of left-handed people alive paled in comparison to the number of living right-handed people.
“It’s important that mothers of left-handed children not be alarmed and not try to change which hand a child uses,” Halpern said.
“There are many, many old left-handed people.”
