The story I read was “BU to honor years at The Case” by Maleesa Johnson. As Baylor’s time in Floyd Casey Stadium comes to an end, Baylor organizations are finding ways to make the last season memorable. Baylor Alumni Association and Baylor Athletics are honoring each decade of football played at Floyd Casey at each game this season.

This story uses quotes in an effective manner. There is a point stated, then reinforced by a quote, then explained in more detail. “’We came up with the idea last spring just as a way to commemorate previous players and say goodbye to The Case,’ Fertsch said. Former players are being honored on the field between the first and second quarter of the game” (Johnson). I think the quotes add to the story because they are from the people who came up with the idea and who are making it happen. It gives the readers insight about what they are doing and why.

I would not like to be quoted in a newspaper. I feel like it is too much pressure and there are negative outcomes if someone does not like what you say.

I had heard of the Huffington Post before but I had never read anything from it until today, Thursday September 19, 2013. This news source is slightly different than the usual ones we read. It is more geared towards a younger adult population instead of business men and women. There are more topics that would be interesting to a young adult population such as comedy, technology, media, entertainment, and sports while still keeping the main topics, business and politics.

The main story on the front page was “Ted Cruz Digs Himself In Further On Obamacare: ‘Likely That It Will Take Another Election For A Full Repeal’”. Sen. Ted Cruz is not too pleased with his fellow republican’s actions toward a repeal of Obamacare. He would like the government to stop funding Obamacare all together, but other Senators are not as adamant about this plan as he is. Cruz says that “a full repeal of Obamacare doesn’t have a chance until at least after the 2014 elections.” He does not think that the people who are in office at the moment will push hard enough for the government to stop funds which will ultimately bring an end to Obamacare.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/ted-cruz-government-shutdown-2013_n_3953754.html

An interesting story was about a group of students from Ohio State University who were living in a house off campus when they started noticing strange things going on inside the house. They had joked with friends about there being a ghost in the house because they noticed the cabinets were left open or the microwave was left open. They searched throughout the house and found a door in the basement that was locked so they called the realtor to open it. When they walked inside they found out that another college student from Ohio State University had been living there secretly. There were pictures of him and his friends and family along with a bed, his belongings, and his textbooks. They left a note for him to contact them and when they got in touch they moved his stuff out. They since have changed the locks to the house.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/students-find-man-living-_n_3947840.html?ir=Weird+News

Another interesting story was about how car company Tesla Motors is working on building self-driving cars. They are exploring the idea with Google about making cars that can drive by themselves. They plan to have this car ready in three years, although other car company’s say that a car like that would most likely be ready in 10 to 15 years. Mercedes and Nissan are also exploring making self-driving cars and having them on the market by the end of the decade. They want to build and program the car so it abides by traffic rules to meet insurance standards and to give drivers piece of mind that the car is safe. California Governor Jerry Brown passed a law last year allowing Tesla Motors to begin testing their self-driving cars on the road.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/tesla-self-driving-cars_n_3948819.html?ir=Technology

Dallas Morning News

September 18, 2013

“Defund? Repeal? No, Gov. Rick Perry wants to “fix” Obamacare”, written by Todd J. Gillman, covers Perry’s plan to work with both political parties to fix the problems with Obamacare. As Obamacare is starting to take effect in some areas, people are starting to see that they are not receiving all the benefits they were told they would. The republican party would like to stop funds all together for this program, but Gov. Perry says that he would like to work together with both parties as they should and try to come to a conclusion on how to make this work better for the country.

This story uses short sentences. “Perry made clear that he’s no fan off that approach.”(Gillman) for example. This is referring to the republican party’s solution to stop funds for the program.

This story used short paragraphs.

“Adding the comment about lines in the sand, he said, “We’d like to see Congress work. We’d like to see Congress sit down and actually work together the way Democrats and Republicans do in Texas or probably even in Maryland. That would be an improvement in and of itself.””(Gillman)

“Perry cast himself as a Washington outsider in his 2012 bid for president. Presenting himself as above rancorous congressional politics fits that image.”(Gillman)

“Still, shunning the tea party’s hard-nosed defund/shutdown tactic is noteworthy.” (Gillman)

This story uses short words. “How exactly he would fix it, he didn’t say.”(Gillman) The writer could have used more complex wording but he wanted to make sure that his audience knew exactly what was being said.

This story also comes to the point quickly. This is represented in the second paragraph. “Still, it might come as a surprise that rather than push to defund the law, he’d rather tweak and improve it.”(Gillman) The writer summarized the whole story in one sentence in the second paragraph. The paragraphs following just add more detail to the story.

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/09/defund-repeal-no-gov-rick-perry-wants-to-fix-obamacare.html/

It was harder to write leads in an inverted pyramid style. Most writing classes teach you to add detail and make a story, so it was different to write a lead that goes straight to the point without unnecessary information. I can identify inverted pyramid styles easier in a newspaper and other news sources now because of writing those kinds of leads myself.

Hearing other peoples lead sentences helped a lot because it showed me how a story could be portrayed in a different way with just changing a few words.

Washington Post

September 12, 2013

This news outlet covers a variety of topics ranging from heath care to business, travel to politics, and many more. Its main audience is adults who read this magazine to keep up with daily news worldwide. It reaches out to many people who have different interests.

One top story was “Mayor Gray vetoes ‘living wage’ bill aimed at Wal-Mart, setting up decisive council vote” by Mike DeBonis. In this article DeBonis explains how Washington DC Mayor Gray fights to pass a bill for higher wages and salaries for large retail employees. He wants to force these large retailers to pay their employees what he calls a “super-minimum wage” that would increase their annual salary from about $17,000 to about $24,000. Not many people are on board with this idea though because it is causing many large retailers to back out of their contracts to open up stores in the DC area. Wal-Mart, for one, is not happy with this bill and said if the bill was passed they would only continue building three out of the six stores they had originally planned to open in the area. Although the bill is “good news for D.C. residents” says Wal-Mart spokesman Steve Restivo, city council members are afraid that if the bill is passed and retailers choose to leave, the economy will not be as prosperous as they had hoped and they will not be able to open as many jobs as they had hoped. As of right now large retailers such as Wal-Mart are hoping that the bill gets an override vote and that they can continue to operate as they had planned. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/mayor-gray-vetoes-living-wage-bill-aimed-at-wal-mart-setting-up-decisive-council-vote/2013/09/12/664d7310-077d-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html?hpid=z1

An interesting story was “Hawaii expects thousands of fish to die after molasses spill; Honolulu harbor turning brown” by Associated Press. This article covers the molasses spill that is killing thousands of fish in Honolulu. The spill was caused by a leaky pipe which allowed 1,400 tons of molasses spill into the water and destroy the marine habitat. The molasses makes the water thick and murky which makes it hard for the fish to breathe. The state Department of Health is collecting the fish as they are dying and reported to have collected hundreds so far and are expecting thousands more to die. The Department of Health is also warning people to stay away from the water because of large predators, sharks and barracudas, which will most likely invade the area because of all the dead fish. It is expected for the water to remain dark and murky for weeks until the currents wash away the spilled molasses out into the sea. The state of Hawaii could sue Matson Navigation Co. for violating the Clean Water Act if there is evidence against them. Matson is working to make sure spills like this do not happen in the future. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/hawaii-expects-thousands-of-fish-to-die-after-molasses-spill-honolulu-harbor-turning-brown/2013/09/11/ab01fbbc-1b59-11e3-80ac-96205cacb45a_story.html

Another interesting articles was “Florida pastor arrested before he could burn 2,998 Qurans on anniversary of 9/11 attacks” by Associated Press. A Florida pastor drove to a nearby park with almost 3,000 Qurans to burn, one for every victim of the 9/11 attack. Polk County law enforcement arrested Pastor Terry Jones and his associate on felony charges when he drove up with a barbeque grill filled with lighter fluid-soaked Qurans. In 2010 Jones drew attention to himself when he planned to burn a Quran on 9/11 but he never actually did it, although he and his congregation burned a Muslim holy book and supported an anti-Muslim film, all of which started violent riots in the Middle East. The U.S. military has asked him to not stage protests because it puts American soldiers in danger overseas, but Jones refuses to listen. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/florida-pastor-arrested-before-he-could-burn-2998-qurans-on-anniversary-of-911-attacks/2013/09/11/6cba13e8-1b32-11e3-80ac-96205cacb45a_story.html?hpid=z4

New York Times

September 4, 2013

This news outlet covers a wide range of stories of a national basis.  It reaches out to adults and young adults who are interested in keeping up with what is happening in the world.  There are political, arts, science, and business sections to interest a broad spectrum of people who have different interests.  This media outlet appealed to me.  I like to keep up to date with news as much as I can and I enjoyed reading these different stories.

The top story was titled, “Many Dreams, but So Far Little Consensus, for a Revitalized Detroit” by Monica Davey.  As many know, Detroit declared bankruptcy, but no one knows what should be done to rebuild the city.  Some have pondered if the vacant neighborhoods should be turned into parks, if they should shift the economy from manufacturing automobiles to a technology based economy, and even if they should redirect who they want to move back there.  Although there is no one solution to this problem, if they find the right balance, they should one day be able to bring Detroit back.  If they economy is shifted toward a technological field, maybe it would be best for the city if they attracted a younger population that had experience and training for that industry.  Even though the situation looks bad for Detroit, a blessing in disguise is that they can start over, rebuild it to exactly how they would like to live.  Some people think it could never happen but many are hopeful that their economy will one day boom again.  A financial advisor was hired to oversee the whole city’s finances and to make decisions on where money should be cut and what to do with it instead.  The majority of Detroit’s population had left but hopefully if they are able to reshape the economy, many will return and also attract new residents.  Residents are hopeful that they will one day be able to bring Detroit back to a booming economy of whatever type, and that they can return to life as they knew it before.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/us/dreams-but-little-consensus-for-a-new-detroit.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Another interesting story was titled, “Sharks and Nature Cooperate for Solo Cuba-to-Florida Swim” by Lizette Alvarez.  A 64-year-old woman named Diana Nyad worked for 35 years of her life to be the first person to make the 110 mile swim from Cuba to Florida without any type of assistance.  Not even a shark cage.  It took her almost 53 hours, two days and two nights, to complete this journey through extremely dangerous waters, but she finally achieved this goal of hers on her fifth attempt.  The first few times she had to stop because of an asthma attack, jellyfish stings, weather conditions, and the effects the salt water did on her body.   After each failed attempt she recruited more and more specialized members in multiple different fields to her team to help her succeed.  When Nyad finally arrived on the coast of Key West, Florida, she said, “I have three messages.  One is we should never, ever give up.  Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams.  Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it takes a team.”  Because of each failed attempt and with the help of her team, she knew exactly what type of equipment and nutrition she needed along the way.  The weather that weekend made it the perfect time for Nyad to attempt this swim.  There were no swarms of sharks, only one storm which only lasted for a little under 90 minutes, hardly any jellyfish, and the current aided her by carrying her along.  Although she was prepared to challenge any one of these factors, the weather made it much more bearable to finish her goal.  Nyad is extremely happy that she was able to conquer this dream of hers, especially since it made her the first person to ever do it.  She looked back at her previously failed attempts and was glad she never gave up on her fairy tale.   http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/sports/nyad-completes-cuba-to-florida-swim.html?_r=0

A third interesting story was titled, “Field-Testing the Math Apps” by Lisa Guernsey.  Boston public television station took some of their designers and developers to a classroom at Little Sprouts child care center in Lawrence, Massachusetts bringing with them plenty of iPads for each of the children to use.  The developers that were sent are part of a program that is trying to make math fun and enjoyable to learn through the use of apps for a tablet.  This program is called Next Generation Preschool Math which is financed by a grant from the National Science Foundation.  They have found that may preschool age children enjoy playing on iPhones, iPads, and other tablet devices so they are trying to bring that into the classroom to promote a more enjoyable learning environment for the next generation of students.  The first year of the project was just to make sure the children had fun with the devices and learn how to use them.  One game, for example, was called the waffle game.  In this game students just had to cut the waffle into sections to teach them fractions.  After a year the students showed real progress in learning fractions and other concepts with using the device because it allowed them multiple ways to learn.  They are hoping that with the increase in educational games offered by iTunes, most of them free, school can bring iPads or other tablets into the classroom to offer a different way of learning that the students feel comfortable with. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/science/field-testing-the-math-apps.html?_r=0

This is Katie, and I’m going to be blogging all semester about news sources I use. A few of them are Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Yahoo, and national evening news on television. I use Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to find out news from my friends and what is going on in their lives as well as news from Baylor. It is a fast way to get information out to a large number of people. I use the evening news as a way to keep up with what is happening in our area as well as in other parts of the world. I am interested in checking out different news sources such as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.