For the last year or so there has been a considerable amount of redevelopment in Roosevelt quad. Directly adjacent to circle road, or better known as the outer loop to campus residents, is a hindrance called construction. A new dormitory is being built the spot where the old Roosevelt Cafeteria once stood. Due to constant construction, surrounding buildings often have no hot water and students’ living environments are constantly being disrupted. I plan to report on the status of this redevelopment project and the problems it has caused for the residents of the surrounding dormitories. I think some good sources might be campus housing officials, construction workers, building managers, Roosevelt quad director and students. I plan to answer questions such as: What is being done to speed up the construction, how are students being comforted for living in such harmful and annoying conditions, are there plans to make more space for parking, etc. I think my findings will deliver some type of argument from both sides of the spectrum, both university and students. My side bar will most likely be a profile or human-interest story on someone greatly affected by the ongoing, never-ending construction
Over the past year there has been a large push forward by Stony Brook to increase awareness about recycling.
My story will focus on Stony Brook recycling efforts. I will be covering Recycle mania and Earth stock.
The story will also focus on Stony Brooks efforts in the past. My sources include but are not limited to Mike Youdelman plan the manager of Stony Brook's recycling department. Enthusiast on campus and event coordinators. Not all students are satisfied with Stony Brook's efforts and say the university could be doing much more.
In the past three years, Stony Brook University has seen an increase in burglaries/thefts and weapon crimes on campus, according to the Stony Brook University police website. The number of stolen laptops, textbooks and other valuable personal belongings have increased. There have also been more instances where disciplinary referrals were issued to armed persons on campus. Although the alleged gunman incident on campus this past February was concluded to be an inaccurate report, it exposed the troubling problems. Some students I have spoken to believe that the police on campus did not control the situation properly and did not make them feel any safer on campus. Other’s were worried that professors were not prepared and were unaware of what procedures to follow in the event that there was an actual threat on campus. As a result of the increasing number of crimes, the university is planning new ways to crack down on these growing trends. I will talk about new plans, hirings, meetings and crime prevention systems. I will interview the following people for this assignment:
Doug Little, the Asst. Chief of the University Police
Robert J. Lenahan, the Director of Campus Emergency Management (hired Jan.10th of this year)
Neil Sluiter, Captain Training & Special Events Coordinator.
I will also interview students, professors and others, who make up the 40,000 people, who frequent the campus daily and get their reactions to new changes and proposed future changes to ensure campus safety for every individual and his or her own property.
My final project is going to be about the Starbucks that just recently opened on campus. I will focus on the popularity of the new name brand coffee shop and compare it to other coffee houses on campus. I see if Starbucks has any effect on the business of the others.
I want to also incorporate why students choose Starbucks over other coffee brands on campus, such as Seattle's Best. From what I see, students are overwhelmingly choosing Starbucks over Seattle's Best. Perhaps it is the fact that Starbucks is a well-known brand or simply more people prefer the taste of Starbucks over others.
The people I will interview will be students who purchase Starbucks and other coffee brands and staff members at Starbucks and other coffee houses around campus.
For my news package, I am planning on detailing the new upgrades to the campus buses. There are over nine buses that run daily on campus from as early as 5:30 a.m. to as late as 11:45 p.m. There are ten routes throughout campus, including the outer loop, inner loop, hospital and express routes. The buses currently run on Biodiesel. “Biodiesel is a domestic, renewable fuel for diesel engines derived from natural oils like soybean oil,” according to biodiesel.org. The university is planning on improving the air emissions even more in the next few years and I plan on finding out exactly what they will be doing. I will be interviewing James O’Connor, Director of transportation and parking services, the Stony Brook chapter of NYPIRG, Michelle Pizer, the President of the Environmental Club, and Daniel Knopf, a professor in the atmospheric sciences department specializing in atmospheric chemistry, microphysics and chemistry of atmospheric aerosols, heterogeneous atmospheric chemistry and kinetics.
Every year at Stony Brook, there is a boating event at Roth Quad pond. It is the Roth Regatta. Organizations/clubs on campus, residence halls, sometimes even academic colleges, team up and build a boat for the regatta and sail it on the pond.
From the past regattas I've been to, the scene is always vibrant. All kinds of people show up, and some boats are extremely creative.
I want to cover this event. I figure it'll make a good video component and a colorful narrative piece. I can talk to an organization/club about how they're constructing their boat and write something colorful about that.
Did I mention that the boats can only be made out of cardboard and duct tape?
The story would detail how many boats are going to be competing this year, how many people are expected to attend. I'd like to go into the history of the Regatta and answer questions like: How long has this been tradition? Who started it? Why?
So you should let me report this. Cardboard and duct tape always make a good story!
My project is about college students and caffeine or any stimulants.The stimulant Adderall, which is used primarily to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy, is taken by students who use it to stay up for all nighters and crame for tests. Other stimulants i want to use for my project are energy drinks like- red bull, rockstar and explore the amount of caffeine in starbucks coffees that students drink several times a day. Since the Starbucks is on campus, there will be plenty of people to interview and shots of Broll. The SAC also sells energy drinks and there will be students i can talk to there also. I really want to find out all the effects that caffeine does on the body and its reprocussions- same with students taking the prescription drug adderall. I'd like to set up interviews with doctors, students, maybe a social worker on campus who deals with issues on drug abuse (about students abusing adderall). It's goint to take alot of work, but i'm excited about the topic!
Wednesdays Democratic debate between Sen., Barrack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia started out friendly, but quickly grew into a 12 round bout going to a decision. But who won?
Obama was questioned about his pasture and about his loyalty to the United States, while Clinton was questioned about her credibility after she misspoke about her trip to Bosnia.
Clinton was asked about the polls done by ABC, which the moderator told her that, “about six in 10 voters that we talked to say they don’t believe that you’re honest and trustworthy.”
This was the opportunity for Clinton to put this question to bed with a strong and truthful answer, but it seemed as if she danced around the question and bit her tongue to avoid putting herself in a bad situation. She apologized for it and said that it was a mistake, but did not really say why she said what she said. Obama was asked about what he thought about the incident, but rather than attack Clinton, he decided to take the high road. It seemed that he knew that it would soon be his turn on the hot seat and hoped that by having mercy on Clinton, she might return the favor. He was wrong . . .
When asked by a voter about his decision to remove an American flag pin during his campaign. Obama responded:
“This is the kind of manufactured issue that our politics has become obsessed with and, once again distracts us from what should be my job when I’m commander and chief, which is going to be figuring out how we get our troops out of Iraq and how we actually make our economy better for the American people.”
The bell sounded and Clinton wound up for a jab, pointing out Obama’s continued friendship with William Ayers, a professor who was part of the group known as “Weather Underground,” which attacked the Pentagon and other government buildings in the 1970’s and spoke out against the U.S. after the attacks on 9/11.
Obama ducked, evading the attack and countered with an uppercut, replying,
“I don’t think she would make it, since President [Bill] Clinton pardoned or commuted the sentences of two members of the Weather Underground, which I think is a slightly more significant act than me.”
Down Goes Clinton!
Clinton picked herself up, as the moderator reached an “eight count.”
The attacks were held to a minimum for the remainder of the debate as the candidates voiced there policies on topics such as, Iraq, NATO, Social Security taxes, the right to bear arms and gas prices. The democratic candidates even shared a laugh after hearing Republican candidate, John McCain mispronounce “audacity.” (Watch from 7:50-8:17 in the video below.)
Oh no, McCain’s turning into George W. Bush.
Debate/Fight results: Obama wins by decision.
A new poll by Associated Press-Yahoo news found Sen. Barack Obama more likely to beat Sen. John McCain in the general election than Sen. Hillary Clinton. The Poll has been collecting data since November 2007. In November, Clinton had a 63 percent chance of beating McCain compared with Obama’s 14 percent.
Clinton’s lead steadily declined over the last several months and April marked the first month where Obama passed Hillary by a 13 percent margin.
The analysis explains as Americans learned more about the once unknown Illinois senator, his supporters have grown. Clinton, widely known since the early 1990’s has been struggling with changing the minds of those who have been skeptical of her campaign since the beginning.
Since January, Clinton’s ratings in the honesty, likeability, and ethics categories have decreased whereas Obama’s ratings increased.
Obama may owe this to his winning streak in the primaries. Clinton still held the lead as the stronger nominee with 56 percent of Democrats — ahead of Obama’s 33 percent.
However, voters note Obama does have his flaws. Since the fall, the category rating him as “not at all honest” jumped nine percent. This jump coincided with his connection to his former pastor who has been criticized for anti-white remarks.
The poll was conducted with more than 1,800 randomly selected adults whose opinions are rechecked every few months.
Senator Barack Obama came under criticism Friday after some poorly-chosen words. According to USA Today, the Illinois Senator made some comments in private during a fundraiser in San Francisco, California which described some Americans who are fed up with the current economy status.
"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or anti-pathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," said Obama.
After acknowledging his previous remarks in California could have been better phrased, he added:
"The truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, those are important. That's what sustains us. But what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they are being listened to."
The Clinton camp is using this opportunity to jump all over her opponent. The camp handed out buttons with the words "I'm not bitter" printed on them and held a conference call of Pennsylvania mayors to denounce the Illinois senator.
In a very competitive campaign where the Democratic Race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, it appears that Clinton has a new opponent. Her husband Bill Clinton has recently brought up what many refer to as the “Bosnia incident,” 12 years after he says that his wife misspoke.
In 1996, Hillary Clinton spoke about her trip to Bosnia saying that the plane “landed under sniper fire.” She later retracted the statement after video was released of her walking calmly off the plane when she arrived in Bosnia. Now 12 years later, she trails Sen. Obama by 157 delegates in a very close Democratic race, the incident has resurfaced complements of her husband.
As many expected Hillary Clinton did not want this incident to be brought up again. In Alexander Mooney’s article, “Hillary to Bill: Knock it off on Bosnia,” the reporter writes, "Hillary called me and said, "I misstated it, you said I misstated it, but you got to let me handle it because you don't remember it, either.' ... I said, 'Yes, ma'am,' " Bill Clinton said in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Hillary Clinton has stood by her husband during the Monica Lewinski incident, which led to his impeachment from office. Clinton, now has the opportunity to become the first female President of the United States, which means that her credibility is very important to her. She no longer has to only worry about what Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama say about her, but what her own husband says as well.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, and former President Bill Clinton are making very direct arguments to Democratic superdelegates, insisting that Sen. Barack Obama,cannot win a general election against Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain.
Sources with knowledge of the conversation between Sen. Clinton and Governer Bill Richardson, prior to the Governor's endorsement of Obama say she told him , "He cannot win, Bill. He cannot win." This is essentially Clinton's third or fourth endorsement of McCain over Obama. This is Hillary at her worst point...if she can't win...she will sure as hell bring obama down for the count. The odd thing about all this is why would she endorse a candidate like McCain, when Obama has very similar viewpoints as her??? What is she looking to be president in 2012??????
Hillary Clinton a liar??? A politician oh no!! lol well it's not that shocking, Hillary Clinton has been exposed for lying about her trip to Bosnia back in 1996. "I remember landing under sniper fire," she said in Washington. "There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." .Clinton has described it as an international experience that makes her tested and ready to answer a 3 a.m. phone call at the White House on day one. News footage of the event however showed her to have been wide of the mark, and reporters who accompanied her stated that there was no sniper fire. Her account was ridiculed by ABC News as "like a scene from Saving Private Ryan". When Clinton was exposed the could be president blamed her embellishment on "exhaustion." Yeah Sure!! It's funny to see the videos of her greeting a young girl at the airport and casually walking around with her daughter chelsea- greeting more people and soilders. It's a situation that makes the public, as well as myself, very weary. Why would she embellish this story on several occassions- especially with it being videotaped? UMMMM Hello! If she lied about this situation, she can lie about others....any as we all know, the Clinton's are infamous for lying. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman..." YEAH RIGHT
According to the New York Times, the income of both Democratic Candidate, Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill, the 42nd President of the United States have accumulated a shared income of $109 MILLION! While many people have spoke out against the Clintons’ for the Monica Lewinsky situation and their positions on certain issues, it appears that more people have contributed an overwhelming amount of money to the family's campaign.
In, “Clintons’ Income Topped $109 Million,” Mike McIntire and Lisa Tozzi report that, “Former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton earned a combined $109 million between 2000 and 2007."
Sec. 644. (a) Increase in Annual Compensation.--Section 102 of title 3, United States Code, is amended by striking ``$200,000'' and inserting ``$400,000''. (b) Effective Date.--The <> amendment made by this section shall take effect at noon on January 20, 2001.
Considering the yearly income of a President, it would take 25 years to even equal Hillary Clinton's book income, which reached $10.5 million. While the Clintons' have earned a massive income, the New York Times article also points out that over the last eight years, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton have donated over $10 million towards helping the people, who make up the charities that the Clinton Family Foundation.
So I did a New York Times search on Obama to read something and get an idea for this blog.
And I did.
Anyway, I stumbled on this great article that just opened my eyes to the election in a different way. Here's a quote:
Reporters covering the candidates have already resorted to traditional analysis of style — fashion choices, manner of speaking, even the way they laugh. Yet, according to design experts, the candidates have left a clear blueprint of their personal style — perhaps even a window into their souls — through the Web sites they have created to raise money, recruit volunteers and generally meet-and-greet online.
On one thing, the experts seem to agree. The differences between hillaryclinton.com and barackobama.com can be summed up this way: Barack Obama is a Mac, and Hillary Clinton is a PC.
The article delved further into the personification of the two websites. Barack's website, it concluded, was more "youthful" and Hillary's is more "regal." And strikingly enough, the differences seem to carry over to their supporters.
And I think this article offers fresh insight into the campaign...and websites, in general. How much should personal websites emulate the owner's personality? And how successful are they, if they do?
A new poll, conducted by the New York Times and CBS News, found supporters of Sen. Barack Obama and supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton thinking differently about the future.
Both groups agree our economy is not getting any better. But supports of Obama are more optimistic the next generation will live better. The polls were conduced with data from a telephone interview, conducted Mar. 28 through Apr. 2 that questioned 1,368 adults throughout the U.S. Of the adults questioned 1,196 were registered voters.
In the Clinton camp, 35 percent of people said the next generation will live better than we do today, 31 percent said the standard of living will remain the same and 30 percent said it would decline.
Obama’s supporters are more optimistic. Of citizen who said they will vote or have already voted from Obama, 50 percent said the next generation will live better than we do and only 23 percent said they would live worse.
This could be caused by the demographic both camps are attracting. Obama is pretty much racking up the youth vote and by plastering his message of “change” all over the place, he may be attracting in a more energetic crowd with high hopes for the future.
Clinton on the other hand, is attracting a mix of youth and baby boomers. Therefore maybe her supporters are more realistic and realize the country can’t turn around after the last eight years and do a complete 180 right away. It will take time.
