Lead # 3
An Amtrak train known as the Colonial collided today with three Conrail locomotives that had run a stop sign near Chase, Maryland. The accident took place on a switch that merges four tracks into two.
Lead #4
4a) Flight 428 from Northwest Airlines was evacuated today at the LaCrosse, Wisconsin Municipal Airport.
After a landing tower employee noticed smoke near the wheels, forty passengers were let off the flight.
4b) A seven-year-old boy was found Thursday night in Brick Township, NJ after he had gone missing for three years.
One of the neighbors recognized the child's picture, which was shown after a movie, and phoned the police. Police have taken the boys mother, Ellen Lynn Conner age 27, into custody for charges of kidnapping and interference with a warrant.
Lead #5
Fact Set #1
Immediate Identification:
Duane La Chance, 55, suffered third-degree burns yesterday and was rushed to the Springfield Hospital after accidentally touching a power line while installing new pipes on a roof with a piece of angle iron; the line carried 15,000 volts.
La Chance is a pipe fitter employed by Gross Engineers, a company based in Springfield. As of Wednesday night he is currently in serious condition in the intensive care unit at Springfield Hospital.
Delayed Identification:
A Springfield pipe fitter working for Gross Engineers suffered third-degree burns Wednesday night while installing a new roof at the Springfield Municipal Power Plant.
Duane La Chance, 55, had accidentally touched a 15,000 volt power line with a piece of angle iron and is now in the intensive care unit at Springfield Hospital.
Fact Set #2
Immediate Identification:
James W. Cunning, 20, was struck by a vehicle on U.S. 63 yesterday just north of Blue Ridge Road. According to the Lincoln Country Sheriff's Department Cunning was heading north when suddenly a car driven by Wayne Clay, 19, crossed the center line and struck his vehicle; Cunning is currently in satisfactory condition at Springfield Hospital.
Delayed Identification:
There was a two car collision just north of Blue Ridge Road yesterday on U.S. 63 including a 2005 Ford Focus and another unidentified vehicle.
Cunning, age 20, which was in the Ford Focus, was struck by Wayne Clay, 19, after he crossed the center line of the freeway. According to local Sheriff's Cunning is in satisfactory condition at Springfield Hospital.
Top News # 2
In The New York Times I enjoyed reading a piece from the health section of the paper. “Telling Food Allergies From False Alarms” makes it known that many allergy tests cause false positives. One child was only eating potatoes, fruit, and hypoallergenic formula after diagnosed with food allergies. But with studies from the past years the same child is now able to incorporate other foods into the diet. When someone’s diet becomes so restricted, malnutrition comes into play. A blood test for antibodies that signal a reaction to food seems to be the reason for the false positive results.
The tests may not work well because certain proteins are not distinguishable between different foods. Someone who is allergic to peanuts could test positive for allergies toward other foods. This then causes a diet change that is unnecessary for many children and adults. Over 10 million Americans have food allergies and may be avoiding foods in their diet because of a false result. It is also important to be retested for as some people grow out of allergies. However, with all of this said, some doctors agree the best way to find out food allergies is to not be tested by blood but to find out by eating the food itself.
News Values
Impact: Millions of Americans who are tested for food allergies could be told they are allergic to a food which is not true.
Timeliness: Studies have been going on for years and this is just breaking in the last few.
Prominence: Children usually are tested for allergies so parents should be more aware of what the results really mean.
Proximity: This affects anyone and everyone regardless of where they live.
Conflict: Some believe blood tests will tell what a person is allergic to while others say just eat the food and find out.
AP Style # 1
1) Mayor Richard Wrigley expressed confidence that the gubernatorial debate, which begins at 7:30 p.m. this evening, will have a positive affect on his candidacy. He added, “Gov. Red Davidson is a master of dirty politics, but I won’t take any of his bologna.” (4)
1. Affect should be effect
3) Persuaded of the bill’s importance, members of the Democratic and Republican Parties came together on Capitol hill to support Anti-Terrorism legislation, despite their differences on other issues. (4)
1. Hill should be capitalized
2. No caps on anti-terrorism
3. change of to by
4) ROME, Italy – All around the world, Roman catholics today listened as the Pope delivered his homily. (3)
1. ROME change to Rome
2. today listened change to listened today
3. Catholics should be capitalized
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AP Style
ReplyDelete1) use p.m. or this evening, not both. Also check out the use of titles in quotes, and the proper spelling of bologna. (+1)
2) You missed this one
3) Your first two are correct. But look up "persuade" and political parties in your AP Stylebook. (+2)
4) Look up Rome under "datelines," also look up the pope. (+1)
4/15
P.S. It's easier to make your corrections within the sentence, instead of listing them below it. You can make your correction bold (or another color) to make it easy for me to spot it.
Top News #2 - 9.5/10
ReplyDeleteGood overview of the story and the news values involved. Just note that the "prominence" news value refers to prominent/well-known people in a story, not to the story's impact.
Lead #3: Good job, but abbreviate Maryland to Md. 10-1(posted late)=9/10
ReplyDeleteLeads 4a & 4b: 8-2(late/errors)= 6/10 - please revise
4a: The news is that 40 passengers were evacuated from a flight ... so start there, not with the flight number (which is not very interesting and is unlikely to attract readers). Combine your two sentences into one lead. Abbreviate Wisconsin.
4b: 7-year-old boy; comma after NJ; he didn't "go missing," he was apparently kidnapped by his mother. Also: it's boy's mother (it's possessive, not plural), and you don't need to say "age 27" -- just list her age after her name.
Fact Set 5: 5/5 - please revise
5-1-a) Good! But you can tighten it up and make it read more smoothly by saying he touched a "15,000-volt power line."
5-1-b) Fact error: you say he was installing a new roof, but the fact sheet (and your first lead) says he was installing pipes on the roof. (-2) Also, I don't need to know his employer in the lead.
5-2-a) This makes it sound like Cunning was hit, not his car. What makes this accident newsworthy is that someone was hurt, so make that the focus of your lead.
5-2-b) Focus on the person who was hurt in the accident.
BTW, it would be easier for me to grade if you'd put the Top News and AP Style exercise in separate blog posts.