Monday, March 30, 2009

Obama at Notre Dame

It has been a tradition for the past nine President-elects to visit the University of Notre Dame and deliver the Commencement speech at the graduation.  However, this year there has been quite a dramatic controversy.  The press has been covering this for more than a week.   
 
Some Catholics are disappointed the newly elected President will speak at the graduation because of his stance on embryonic stem-cell research as well as abortions since these go against the Catholic religion.  Others think it is the respect for President Obama that needs to be considered and not over looked.  Finally a decision has been made and Obama will speak at the University. One woman I spoke with has ties to the University of Notre Dame and she said that she wishes that Notre Dame will go back to it's Catholic roots and not swing to the left.  

However, others disagree. Even Bill O'Reilly from FOX has said he thinks President Obama should be welcomed to the campus.  Since the decision was reached, the press can finally rest on this over-dramatized story. I say "dramatized" because President Obama is not the only President to be disrespected by officials at a University, and I am sure he will not be the last.  Just recently Southern Methodist University in Dallas wanted to name it's library after George W. Bush and some criticized that move.  No matter the political preference there will always be some people who oppose honoring a certain politician. 

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Editing Test...

Today is the day I usually spend editing and writing my web stories for that weeks package I have been working on; however, I have no package to do this week. BUT I did have my editing test at KOMU.  Exciting! I got through it pretty easily after a little confusing instructions converting the video.  I have to admit, wasn't my best work but I got it done in time.  And the best part is that it made me extra excited to start reporting at KOMU!

Interesting, but about 2 years too late...

So I see a top read story and the link reads "Unwed birth rate reaches all time high in US." So I click on it and the headline reads..."More Babies Born in 2007 Than Any Other Year in History." What is wrong with that??? Although that is an interesting fact, it is 2009. Almost two whole years later.  Why cover that now? I even double checked the published date to make sure it was recent news.  Not only is it old news, but the link was very misleading.  The web editor might want to do some adjusting.  Click to read the old news...

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Learning from Mistakes

After writing and editing my package about the possible MO Bill making pseudaphedrine a prescription, I received great feed back from my professor. I need to correct a few things though.  I put to many facts in my package.  It is only 90 seconds and I think I gave the viewers to much to focus on.  My focus was how Blaine Alberty as a local pharmacist feels about this possible bill passing; however, I went off onto the electronic log that I had mentioned in my previous blog last week.  I plan to break the package into two, one being a focus on the electronic log which could help track pseudaphedrine purchases through out the state, and the other will be Alberty's reaction to this proposed bill. 

Coverage Stems Research

We have all seen coverage over the Chris Brown and Rihanna situation.  CNN had articles, so did FOX, almost all networks have brushed the topic.  Rumors spread, and it got ugly. But what is now confirmed is that Chris Brown hit his girlfriend Rihanna causing "horrific" injuries.  Was the coverage too much? If they had been any other couple, this constant coverage wouldn't happen.  I was walking through Wal-Mart the other day and saw US Weekly had them on the cover with "Rihana's Side" written on the cover.  I think it's been over done.  Especially today when I looked at FOX NEWs and saw one of their top stories was 1 in 7 believe it is fine to hit a woman. Gee,  I wonder what recent incident sparked this research.  In my opinion the coverage has been carried extremely far; however, the results in this survey are ridiculous.  It is possible that this over stressed celebrity dispute might lead to a much bigger issue facing America. 

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Wilmette Murder-Suicide

I am fascinated with anything to do with court cases, and this sure does. 

On February 28 and March 1, Richard Wiley killed his wife and her son, then turned the gun on himself.  He had been arrested in 1985 for the stabbing death of his first wife and served 15 of his 30 year sentence.   Why was he let off so easily?

I went to CNN and searched the articles and this one came up from The Huffington Post. The article it self is basically just fact based.  What is more interesting is the other ways this story has been put out there, facebook.  After the murder-suicide, facebook groups have been popping up every where in memory of Kathy Motes, and her son Christopher. 

I suppose this isn't rare. In most deaths a memory group is formed, but in this particular situation it was interesting to see the actual story unfold in a facebook group as well as on news websites.  

Drugs containing Pseudafedrine



Possible Bill Banning Some Cold Meds...

In 2008 Missouri had 1,487 meth busts according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.  That works out to four busts a day.  Missouri makes up about a quarter of the meth incidents nationwide. That is an extremely large number and lawmakers want to do something to stop this meth production.  Their solution is to make cold medicines containing pseudafedrine prescriptions.  This means that Cairitin D and Sudafed along with Nyquil and other medications will be out of the hands of consumers unless they first go to the doctor and get a prescription. Being the curious person I am, I wondered what pharmacists, doctors, and consumers thought of this possible bill.  I went to a local pharmacy and spoke with Blaine Alberty, a registered pharmacist.  

Alberty told me that frankly if this bill became a reality, it would be much more of a hassle for the pharmacy and for the customers. It would make more work on behalf of pharmacists throughout the state, and it would give the every day person more steps to obtain cold medication.  Alberty went further to explain that in 2006 the state made the medications containing the decongestant pseudafedrine a behind the counter drug that people needed to be ID'd and logged into a system. People would be allowed to buy 7.5 grams of medication during a 30 day period.  Alberty believes this works; however, part of the 2006 legislation said that there would be an electronic system where each pharmacy could track a persons purchases at other pharmacies.  This electronic system was never funded.  Alberty believes that this could solve more problems that trying to recreate another solution that would be more costly to tax payers. However, it would cost close to one-million dollars to get the electronic system up and running and additional tax payer money to keep it going.  

While at Alberty's pharmacy I talked to Becky Rowson. Rowson lives in Columbia and is a therapist in a private practice.  She used to work at a  treatment facility and worked with many meth addicts.  She voiced strong opinion that she thinks the 2006 legislation was effective, and that she personally is not in favor of the talk of making these drugs prescriptive.  She says she uses those cold medications herself and it would be an inconvenience for her and others. She added that many addicts she met would steal the cold medications.  Would making them a prescription stop that?

The proposed bill was discussed last week, but debate over the conflicting issue continues.