Assignment 6

Current Event: Surge in flu-like symptoms flood hospital emergency rooms By: Kyla King The Grand Rapids Press October 28, 2009

Story Ideas:
1. Will hospitals have to hire more nurses/doctors if people continue to get H1N1?
- The idea behind this story is that people (including people in the medical field) continue to get H1N1 and this means people taking days off of work. I was wondering if hospitals/medical centers will have to increase their staff if this continues.
- Possible sources for this story would be board members of medical centers/hospitals, other nurses and doctors and staff who have to take time off because they have been diagnosed with swine flu.
2. Do medicals staffs see the swine flu disappearing anytime soon?
- The idea behind this story is that people are very worried about coming down with swine flu and are getting vaccinations. Will swine flu be either completely gone or at least die down any time soon?
- Possible sources for this story would be doctors or scientists who have done research on swine flu.
3. I would also do a history on swine flu (from when it was present in the 1980’s or earlier, I’m not sure on the date).
- The idea behind this story is to show people that there’s really no need to be overreacting as much as what they are. This is not the first time that swine flu has been present in the United States and I think showing people that would be eye opening. I don’t think that very many people know that it’s been around before.
- Possible sources for this story would include the internet, doctors from when it was present before and possibly someone who had it during that time also.

Assignment #5

Profile Article

The person that I plan on trying to interview for my profile article is Duane Below. He is worth interviewing because he plays for a minor league baseball team and someday might even play for the Detroit Tigers. This is interesting because he graduated from a really small school (Britton Macon Area School). He graduated the year before me and I didn’t really know him in high school so I believe that this will be an interesting article. Right now though he has to take a year off because of an injury that happened to him at the beginning of the year. The reason why I’m not sure if it’ll be possible for me to interview him is because he’s always really busy and because…he’s not exactly the nicest person (or at least that’s how he was in high school).

Questions:

1. What’s it like knowing you might play for the Tigers someday?
2. How will your injury interfere with your pitching?
3. What’s it like knowing that you accomplished something this big with coming from such a small school?
4. How do you feel about becoming an idol in Britton?

Enrollment

“This is only my second semester here at Eastern Michigan University. I transferred from Washtenaw Community College because I wanted my bachelor’s degree,” Andrea Dennison said. “I’m really happy to see it though because I think it opens up more opportunities for diversity.”
With the enrollment increasing at Eastern Michigan University it means more opportunities for students to interact with each other. It also will increase the size of classes for professors. “I don’t think that this will affect my one on one time with professors because they seem pretty good about making sure the students are doing well in their classes,” Dennison said.
Eastern Michigan University’s enrollment jumped up 4.26 percent for the 2009-10 school year. The reason behind the increase could be a factor of reasons including more on-line classes being offered and students wanting to transfer from two-year colleges to a four-year to get a bachelor degree. Dennison said, “I don’t think that the enrollment will continue to increase though because of the economy though. If the economy doesn’t get better I think that the enrollment with actually decrease.”

Assignment 4

Feature Story Idea: Where to take inexpensive trips with your family.
Main website: http://www.visitlenawee.com/
Website #1: http://hiddenlakegardens.msu.edu/
Website #2: http://www.thetca.org/
Website #3: http://www.visitlenawee.com/page40.html
Website #4: http://www.visitlenawee.com/page5.html

Article 1

Everybody loves having a good time with their family and friends. It doesn’t matter whether it’s spending time with each other during the holidays, birthdays, parties or weddings. How about going out together on the busiest bar night of the year? It’s been rumored that Thanksgiving Eve is the biggest night that bars make their most money.
Britton, MI consists of a library, fire department, gas station, school and a bar. When driving from Dundee to Tecumseh you could miss it if you blink. In Britton the small bar in town is called The Whistle Stop (this is due to its location next to the railroad tracks that go through town). When you walk into the bar that is located in between an antique store and a building that’s for sale, you can feel the small town energy take over. There are booths on each side of the building with tables down the middle of the room. It’s very dimly lit and quiet in the afternoon with only a few students and retiree’s eating lunch. The four televisions that are lining the walls have sports, the weather or Keno on.
“Thanksgiving Eve is one of our busiest nights of the year. With everybody coming in with family and friends that night we can increase our business by 50 percent compared to a weekend night,” Diane Straits answers about what night is the busiest for them. Straits knows the bar business considering she’s been a waitress for 27 years with the last three spent at The Whistle Stop. “I think it’s mostly because people know that they don’t have to work the next morning and want to get out. I do think that it’s also because people want to get together with their family that night.”
Britton is a very small town (it’s actually considered a village) that has only about 600 people within the city limits. You would never know it was there unless you were from the area or you knew someone from town. “Most of the people that come out that night are usually locals, we don’t get very many people from out of town,” Straits continues.
The bar hours for The Whistle Stop are consist of staying open until only 11 pm Monday thru Thursdays, 2 am on Friday and Saturday and then only until 8 pm on Sunday nights. Straits said that Thanksgiving Eve they usually keep the bar open until 2 am though, even though it’s a weekday night. When asked if she thought they would get more business if they were located in a bigger town Straits answers, “I think the only way we would get more people is if we were located in Ann Arbor. But my guess is that we would have about the same amount of people whether we were located here or in Tecumseh. We do have to prepare for that night though. We order extra of everything and we have specials that go all night.”
When doing a search for the best bar to be at on Thanksgiving Eve I run across nightclubvip.com. This website holds six bars advertising for all of their specials that they are going to be having on the night before Thanksgiving. Three floors of music, open bars for an hour, dinner buffets and DJ’s are just some of the perks that they’re going to hold that night. These are facts that it’s not a rumor that Thanksgiving Eve is the busiest bar night of the year.
Waiting at the bar for more people to talk to about bar nights Thanksgiving Eve, Clinton, MI resident Emilie Cadmus walks in with a couple of her friends. “I do usually go out the night before Thanksgiving with my mom and some of my other family. We like to drink so when we’re all together that night it seems like going to a bar is the thing to do.”
When looking for something to do the night before Thanksgiving, grab some friends or family members and go to your local bar. They’re most likely having a lot of specials and you might even run into some people that you haven’t seen in awhile. Cadmus goes on saying, “It’s always good to catch up with people that you haven’t seen in awhile. My friends are usually coming back into town that night for the holidays and they just also happen to be at the bar also.”