Gotcha! Elephant Caught Cheating

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/03/14/134540633/gotcha-elephant-caught-cheating?live=1

I chose this particular story for my bizarre beat because I figured we all needed to hear a fun story instead of another depressing story on Japan...

This story is interesting AND adorable. Its is about testing the itellegence of elephants and their abilities towork together. The elephants in the study were smart enough to work as a team but one was even smart enough to cheat.

The lead for this story really works in my opinion. It is very playful, much like the story itself. There is no need to get down to the hard facts in the begining.

The news value this story contains is purely novelty. There is nothing really profound or impactful. Its just a fun novelty story.

As far as follow up on this story goes, I'm not sure. Maybe more on how fast the elephants picked up the skill or how far along in the study did the one elephant learn to cheat?

Steve Jobs Unveils iPad 2 at Apple Event

Apple CEO Steve Jobs briefly emerged from his medical leave and walked on stage to a standing ovation Wednesday to unveil the second generation of the popular iPad, which will go on sale March 11 in the U.S.

Jobs looked frail as he appeared in his signature black mock turtleneck, blue jeans and wire-rimmed glasses.

"We've been working on this product for a while, and I just didn't want to miss today," Jobs said. "Thank you for having me."

The next-generation tablet computer has a faster processor than the original iPad's. As expected, it comes with two cameras for taking photos and video chatting. The battery life will be the same as the original about 10 hours of usage and a month on standby.

The iPad 2 is also thinner — 8.8 millimeters instead of the current 13.4 millimeters.

"The new iPad 2 is actually thinner than your iPhone 4," Jobs said.

The original iPad, which burst onto the scene last April, was more popular than analysts imagined. Apple sold 15 million in nine months.

I chose this story because the iPad is a BIG deal when it comes to technology today. The news values are entertainment, and reference to important persons. This lead works perfectly. This story is about both Steve Jobs and the iPad and the lead is written to include both.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134199715/steve-jobs-appears-at-apple-event

The end of Space Age...

Today marks the final landing for the 27 year-old Discovery space shuttle. The near ceremonial event occurred at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Missions on the Discovery began in 1984, and total up 365 days worth of time spent amongst the Earth's atmosphere. The Discovery was the first of three shuttles to be retired this year, but among the trio it is the longest active. The final mission the Discovery performed involved transporting a storage room and supply to the International Space Station. NASA officials are to make a decision next month on where the retired shuttle will rest and be on display.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/09/134391936/space-shuttle-discovery-lands-for-last-time

Why teach for America Works

Why Teach For America Works
The organization, whose goal is to "eliminate inequality in schools," hasn't survived without controversy. Many complain about the short training period that new teachers receive -- just five weeks. TFA teachers sign a two-year commitment and receive the same salary and benefits as teachers with a master's in education. Some union teachers have filed lawsuits to curtail the program, saying they are being "squeezed out of jobs."

Teach for America works because the program hires strong teachers, according to Andrew Rotherham, New York Times educational columnist, Eduwonk blogger, and educational consultant at Bellwether Education. He acknowledges that the program is not fail-proof, but says the teachers hired through TFA do as well or better than the average teacher in a similar high-poverty school. "And I think this has less to do with the Teach for America, per se, than just the generally poor quality of teacher selection and teacher preparation. What you're really seeing, I think, in the data, is that Teach for America does a good job in a field that largely does a bad job."

He explains that the method through which people become teachers in the US is problematic. "Abundant research shows the route into teaching is less important than the candidate," Rotherham says. "And considering the amount of money we put into teacher licensure and teacher preparation, we need to be talking about a much different way of doing this. Policies are really disconnected from what we know from the research right now."

Many of the complaints about the Teach for America program are actually general complaints about starting a career in teaching. Teach for America teachers leave the field at the same rate as the average teacher in the same high-poverty school district.

Rotherham continues the parallel:

Teachers in general say they don't get enough support in their first couple years. The common surveys show this again and again. This is irrespective of route. They traditionally get the hardest assignments because of the way seniority works. So, you're coming into it, you're not well supported, and you're often getting the most challenging students and situations within a school. So, TFA's programs, I think, and their initiatives are admirable.

Rotherham would like to see the "quite evidently deranged" experiment taken further:

What would happen if you coupled TFA's selection model with even more ambitious training, more ambitious supporProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0

3F What might the results look like? We don't know, and in part, we don't know because we have this unwillingness of the education establishment to really engage -- have these conversations and see what we can learn and what we can do better. And instead, it's just this back and forth attack year after year after year, and it's incredibly counter-productive.

The Who: the Teach for America Organization
The What: are helping eliminate inequality in schools
The Why: to improve the public school system
This article affects importance proximity and emotional values everyone who has a child in the public school system is affected by this groups efforts.
I think the lead is sufficient amount of information to get the point across.
I don't see nay unanswered questions in this article.

https://una.angellearning.com/section/default.asp?id=22663-201120

Why Teach For America Works

The organization, whose goal is to "eliminate inequality in schools," hasn't survived without controversy. Many complain about the short training period that new teachers receive -- just five weeks. TFA teachers sign a two-year commitment and receive the same salary and benefits as teachers with a master's in education. Some union teachers have filed lawsuits to curtail the program, saying they are being "squeezed out of jobs."

Teach for America works because the program hires strong teachers, according to Andrew Rotherham, New York Times educational columnist, Eduwonk blogger, and educational consultant at Bellwether Education. He acknowledges that the program is not fail-proof, but says the teachers hired through TFA do as well or better than the average teacher in a similar high-poverty school. "And I think this has less to do with the Teach for America, per se, than just the generally poor quality of teacher selection and teacher preparation. What you're really seeing, I think, in the data, is that Teach for America does a good job in a field that largely does a bad job."

He explains that the method through which people become teachers in the US is problematic. "Abundant research shows the route into teaching is less important than the candidate," Rotherham says. "And considering the amount of money we put into teacher licensure and teacher preparation, we need to be talking about a much different way of doing this. Policies are really disconnected from what we know from the research right now."

Many of the complaints about the Teach for America program are actually general complaints about starting a career in teaching. Teach for America teachers leave the field at the same rate as the average teacher in the same high-poverty school district.

Rotherham continues the parallel:

Teachers in general say they don't get enough support in their first couple years. The common surveys show this again and again. This is irrespective of route. They traditionally get the hardest assignments because of the way seniority works. So, you're coming into it, you're not well supported, and you're often getting the most challenging students and situations within a school. So, TFA's programs, I think, and their initiatives are admirable.

Rotherham would like to see the "quite evidently deranged" experiment taken further:

What would happen if you coupled TFA's selection model with even more ambitious training, more ambitious support? What might the results look like? We don't knowProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0

C and in part, we don't know because we have this unwillingness of the education establishment to really engage -- have these conversations and see what we can learn and what we can do better. And instead, it's just this back and forth attack year after year after year, and it's incredibly counter-productive.

The Who: the Teach for America Oranization
The What: are helping eliminate inequality in schools
The Why: to improve the public school system
This article affects imortance proximity and emotional values everyone who has a child in the public school system is affected by this groups efforts.

https://una.angellearning.com/section/default.asp?id=22663-201120

Is MTV showing too much skin?

I chose this story because the focus is viewers mostly 12-34 years old. And how it possibly affects that age group and demographic.

The lead was well done it gave me the basic rundown of what i was going to read.

 News value boils down to impact. The show itself may have an impact on the children, teenagers and young adults. The story itself may have an impact on how those who have never watched the show. And may have a strong opinion from those who are extremely protective of there children.

There could be a follow up story of possible politicians or moms who speak against.

Wake Up To Your Sleep Deficit, America!

I chose this story because of its relevance to my life as a full-time college student who rarely gets the healthy amount of sleep at night. The writer referenced a recent survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that asked 75,000 people about their sleep habits. One-third of the people surveyed had slept less than 7 hours the previous night, and 38 percent of that group had unintentionally fallen asleep at least once during the last month. Of that group, 5 percent admitted to nodding off at the wheel. Scary.

There are several news values at work in this story. Impact and proximity are both present. The need for rest is universal to all people. If people are not getting enough sleep, not only are they less effective at their jobs, and less sociable, they are a danger to themselves and others. The statistics about people falling asleep at their cars is unsettling to readers, for this reason, the value of emotion is also evident in the story.

The structure of the article was somewhat confusing at first. The author did not begin his story with a lead that summarizes the story, but instead opened with a statement that his story was an exception to one of his rules. I would have preferred for him to simply introduce the article with a summary. Other than that, I found the article to be well-written. The author utilized the survey statistics well, and provided other useful statistics and comments as well.

A possible follow-up to the story may be when new statistics are released on this information. Perhaps the statistics about sleep deprivation that may be related to the recent time change because of Daylight Savings Time.

Europe's plan to aid North Africa toward democracy

This news story comes from the Public Radio International about two weeks ago, covering Europe's response toward the warring countries of North Africa. The anchor says a few things like how theses African countries have been Europe's close neighbor so they need to help them reach stability through democracy, and that Europe needs to change the way it provides for North Africa as fund to the countries only end up in the hands of corrupt leaders.
Of course there is conflict in North Africa right now, but I think the news values lean more toward emotions, because here is Europe stepping in to try and help North Africa, and that makes me as a reader very impressed to see that something is being done to help.
The lead uses some powerful verbs describing the condition in North Africa by refering to it as a 'wave of unrest', and the does well to direct the point of the story.
http://www.pri.org/politics-society/government/europe-s-plan-to-aid-north-africa-toward-democracy.html

First Listen: R.E.M., 'Collapse Into Now'

As REM is one of my favorite bands of the '80s and '90s, I simply had to post a story about their upcoming album. Over the years, REM has released some very good music and inspired many of my favorite bands.

The article itself contains two main news values: Prominence in the importance of REM as an influential alternative rock band and Immediacy in the fact that their new album comes out on Tuesday, March 8. The lead gives some good background information about the band but doesn't mention anything about the new album. I don't think any questions are left unanswered.

Storms rip through Tornado Valley...

Monday afternoon brought severe storms to areas ranging between Ohio and Florida. The precipitation was overwhelming for some counties located in low areas. Northwest Ohio was somewhat under water in select communities. Some were well prepared by placing walls of sandbags to help block the excessive water flow. The storm also took the lives of four in the state of Tennessee. Those living in counties affected by the storms are accustomed to such weather, but know there is little they can do.


http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2011/03/01/tornadoes-tear-parts-midwest/

2 US Airmen Killed, 2 Wounded

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134195467/two-killed-in-attack-on-bus-carrying-u-s-military

2 U.S. Airmen were attacked and killed on a bus outside of Terminal 2 at the Frankfurt Airport in Germany. The gunman attacked and killed two and wounded two others before he was brought down by officials. Many U.S. troops are based out of Germany and operate in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. Officials say it could be a possible terrorist attack though German and Kosovo officials are not convinced of so.

I picked this article because it was a major headline on the NPR site and pertains to our soldiers that are thought of as safe as long as they aren't in Iraq or Afghanistan. The news values in this article are Novelty (didn't expect an attack in Germany), Impact (the loss of more soldiers and the effect it has on their families'), Immediacy (though it doesn't say the exact time, it wouldn't be a major headline if it was old news), and Conflict (that one is obvious).

Alabama Retirees Battle City For Pensions Payouts

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/134057243/Alabama-Retirees-Battle-City-For-Pensions-Payouts

javascript:NPR.Player.openPlayer(134057243, 134057234, null, NPR.Player.Action.PLAY_NOW, NPR.Player.Type.STORY, '0')


Retired government employees in Prichard, Ala. are not getting their pension payouts becuase the funds have gone dry.

1. I chose this story because it shows that even if your promised a retirement pension, you should still save money.
2. Proximity- this is happening in Alabama. Impact- this has to do with people's money (or lack of) if your planning to work for the government, this is important to keep in mind.
3. The leade works, it tells who and what, which are the most imprtant items of the story.
4. Qestion I have are: what is going to happen to these people? Are the funds going to start flowing again?

Obama's Fight to Raise Education Budget

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/15/133768981/Obamas-Budget-Calls-For-More-Spending-On-Education

I chose this story because it made me realize that although the president may promise to fight for education buget increases, the likely hood of it actually happening is slim because of who opposes him.

The news values of this story are:

1. Impact: this will impact the education of the students in America, 2. Prominence: President Barack Obama is important in the story, and 3. Conflict: there is a conflict between what Obama wants and what congress wants.

The lead answers the who, what, and why. The two other W's are answered later in the story.