Nov 28 News

I spent a good amount of time on Boston.com today to look at news, since I have not spent too much time on it all semester.  I read a couple interesting articles, many about crime in Boston and whatnot.  One of the articles I read was about a Lynn school teacher giving marijuana to at least one student this past week and he was of course, arrested.  I just thought that this was interesting because it seems crazy to me that a teacher would even do that, or have it on them while in school.  Another thing I looked at was the murders in Boston over the course of the year.  This was more of a chart than an article, but definitely spoke for itself and was very informative.  I think I like that type of "reporting" because it makes it more interactive to me, since I was able to essentially come up with my own assumptions and results to the chart.  There were about 45 murders this year in the city, with most of them coming from the Roxbury and Dorchester area.  

Also, to update on my last blog, the powerball is now at $500 million and gets picked tonight.  I think it'll be interesting to see if it gets hit, and if not, what happens next.  How high will it/can it go? 

Powerball!

Today, I focused on reading some stories in my local newspaper, the Hampton Union.  I read about the local High School football team winning the state championship, and a story behind the quarterback of the team, as well as a story about the Christmas parade coming up this weekend, as well as an article about a 19 year old in town who is convicted of a rape crime.  I also read an article in the USA Today about Powerball and how it is now a $425 million dollar jackpot.  I read that they are debating whether or not to raise the jackpot, since it is likely to raise even higher between now and Wednesday, but they said that the lottery commission is waiting until later tonight to see what sales are like, then making a decision.  I thought that this was interesting because I didn't know that people raise the jackpots in lottery games, I thought it raised no matter what as long as people were buying into it.

Alex

Another Attack at a Beach in Amity

At 2 p.m. today, another life was taken at the beaches in Amity.  This time, it was Alex Kinter, 10, of Mayfair Court.  This attack appeared to be a vicious and unprovoked shark attack.

According to Witnesses, Kinter was floating in the ocean when suddenly, a ring of blood appeared, and the boy disappeared off his yellow raft at Village Beach. 

His body has not been recovered, however, his raft floated ashore with a large chunk taken outof it.

This is the second attack of the day at the beaches in town, making it more clear that a shark attack could be linked to the cause of the death of Chrissie Watson, 17, who was found dead earlier this morning on South Beach after last being seen at around 11 p.m. the night before at a beach party.

The attack on Watson is still under investigation, as her body is still at the coroner's office for an autopsy. 

The 10 year old was at the beach with his mother, Marion Kinter, who is currently being treated at Amity General Hospital for shock, where she is reportedly in fair condition.

Amity Mayer Larry Vaughn is expressing his deepest and most sincere condolences to the Kinter family. 

Due to these unfortunate events, a meeeting will be held at the town hall by Mayor Vaughn, Chief Martin Brody, and the Amity Board of Selectmen at 6 p.m. to discuss the recent events of Amity and the closing of the beaches on July 4. 

Chrissie

Amity Teen Found Dead on an Amity Beach

Chrissie Watson, 17, of 23 Sharkstooth St., Amity was found dead on a beach in town today.  She was reportedly last seen leaving a beach party with another teen male last night.

The male she was last seen with, who was identified as Christopher Hoggenbottam III, is a sophomore at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., who is a former resident of the island, at around 11 p.m. last night.

Hoggenbottam reported to the police at 6 a.m. that Watson's body had been missing, after he realized she had not returned from her swim.

According to the press release, Hoggenbottam told police that Watson entered the water in a remote section of South Beach near the South Beach bell buoy.

Witnesses told police that the two had been drinking heavily at a bonfire previous to the incident, and possibly smoking marijuana. 

Jay Hendricks, Amity Police Deputy, found Watson's body mangled up early this morning after briefly searching.  Her body has been reportedly mauled by an unkown attacker, and has been transported to the coroner's office for an autopsy. 

Watson was a member of the varsity swim team at Amity High School and a lifeguard at the Amity Island YMCA pool in Oak Bluffs.

The attack, which is still being investigated, is thought to possibly be a shark attack.  However, according to Hendricks, the likelihood that it was a shark attack are very, very slim. 

"There is no evidence that it was a shark attack," he said. "It could have been an assault, we don't know."

The beaches of Amity Island are still open for swimming until outcome of the investigation is released. 

If anyone has any other information about this incident, please email brodyman@beachcop.com with your information.

Shopping Season

Many of the articles I saw/read today revolved around shopping this weekend.  According to a USA Today article, this was a record shopping weekend, and tomorrow, Cyber Monday, is expected to make it even more of a record.  The article stated that many people, more than ever, came out on Thanksgiving night to get the deals at stores like Target, Sears, and Toys R Us.  One site reports that there was over 59 billion dollars in sales between Thursday night and today, Sunday. More people were out shopping, as well as spending money online.  The article said that people spent about 41 percent more this Black Friday weekend than any other.

Another interesting article I read over the weekend talked about YouTube, and the newest thing, Gangnam Style.  The video on Youtube by an artist named Psy has officially topped most ever view on the website, passing Justin Bieber (who had the most prior) by about 2 billion, with around 306 billion views.  I'm shocked because I don't know why it is so popular in the first place, but I thought it was amazing how quickly it got so many views.

French Connection

French man shot and killed by New York Detective Sunday Late Sunday Afternoon

A long police chase ended in death for a French man on Sunday at 4:08 p.m.  Detective Jimmy Doyle of the New York Police Department killed the 36 year old man with one shot of a gun at the 15th Street Station after following his train from 35th Street Station.

Pierre Jeantot of Nice, France was suspected of working for a French drug kingpin in the city.  The man is also currently under investigation for possibly being involved with a crime involving a heroin shipment between France and New York City.

Jeantot had reportedly shot at the detective from a rooftop, which he quickly fled from after shooting and killing a woman walking by.  Police officers quickly made it to the top of the building, where they found an automatic rifle and many shell casings.

The chase involved Jeantot hijacking the train while Detective Doyle followed it in a commandeered car. 

According to the New York Police Department and several eyewitnesses, the eventful afternoon began with a gunshot from the top of an apartment building located at 1767 W. 57th Avenue.  All of a sudden, according to witness Tori Roche, 19, a woman who was pushing a stroller went down on the ground and appeared dead, while the detective went and hid under a tree for cover from the gunshots.  

Roche said that the detective was shot at again but was luckily not hit.  After 5 shots were fired, the gunman was done shooting, but babies were still crying from the loud bang of the gun, and people were screaming.  Detective Doyle quickly got up and scooted across the building and up the stairs to find the gunman, but he had escaped too quickly.

According to Roche, the gunman had been down on the street when the detective spotted him from the top of the apartment building.  She saw the detective disappear down the stairs quickly to try and catch Jeantot, but it was too late, he was already headed toward the train station.

According to a witness on the train, Sean Loucks, 23, the train with Jeantot was just as frightening and eventful.   Loucks said the gunman got on the train and started running through the carts as a man on the train who appeared to be either a police officer or a worker caught up to him, but the gunman quickly turned around and shot him in the leg.  The man went down to the ground instantly, according to the witness.

Loucks said that the gunman made it to the end of the carts and into the one with the conductor.  Jeantot reportedly put the gun to the conductors head and told him not to stop at the next stop, which Loucks believed to be the stop at 25th Avenue.  The conductor followed instruction and continued past the stop, while many people standing and waiting for the train looked angry and suspicious as to why there train went past them.  

On the train, Jeantot tried to make an escape and began trying to find a way out.  He ran back through the carts while shooting another police officer on the train in the chest on the way, and killing him.  The train also collided with another train soon after.  The gunman hit his head on the side of the train when the two trains collided and lost his gun somewhere in the cart.  

The gunman reportedly finished his train ride after escaping through a back door.

According to eyewitness Meghan Haughton, 22, while the gunman was on the train, detective Doyle was chasing the train in a reddish colored car through the streets of New York City.  She said that the detective was driving recklessly trying to keep an eye on where the train was at all times.

Haughton said that the detective was swerving through all kinds of traffic, and hit 2 cars while he was at it, but he kept on going.  The witness also mentioned a crazy amount of beeping done during the chase by the detective.  

According to witness Lauren Lawrence, the shooter was at the top of the stairs when the detective finally caught up with him once he was off the train.  Lawrence claimed that the detective was standing at the bottom of the stairs and looked at him in a calm manor before shooting him. 

The gunman quickly went rolling down the staircase as the detective stumbled onto the bottom of the stairs.  

The gunman was officially killed, after shooting and killing multiple people through the afternoon from the apartment building to the train.  

Detective Jimmy Doyle shot him with one shot of a .38 caliber service revolver.  The force used by Doyle was justified under the circumstances of what happened throughout the afternoon, as it is suspected that Jeantot was assigned to assassinate the detective earlier in the afternoon during the first shooting.

Police found Jeantot’s .44 magnum revolver gun on the train, which was recovered from the cart the man was in after the two trains had collided.  

This case is currently still under thorough investigation.  More information will be released once it is all unfolded.

Elmo

According to several articles, the voice of Elmo, Kevin Clash, has resigned from his job being a voice on Sesame Street.  He was recently accused of being involved in a sex scandal.  A few people have come forward claiming that the man behind the famous Elmo character has sexually abused them when they were younger.  He has been the voice of Elmo for about 28 years. With Christmas coming up, and Elmo toys being very popular, there was an article on USA Today that talked about how this would affect the sales.  According to the article, the sales will not be changing. Analysts say that Elmo is a much bigger icon than the man behind it, therefore, Hasbro could still sell $150 million or more of toys this holiday season.  I thought that this was interesting because I would think that it would change the sales, however, Elmo is everywhere, so it is almost hard to avoid it.

News Reading 11/19

Today, I am seeing more and more about Israel/Hamas attacks in the news.  It is now the sixth day and according to an article on the LA Times website, there are over 100 deaths now due to the bombings.  Another article I found on the site, that was Thanksgiving related, was about the amount of turkey Americans will buy this holiday.  Americans will buy 581 million pounds of turkey meat, and waste about a third of it.  I thought this was an interesting fact just because of the holiday coming up this week.  The article stated that all the wasted turkey is equivalent to enough water to supply NYC for 100 days in greenhouse gas emissions.  I thought that this was amazing.  I think it is sad how much we waste food here, especially because of all those that are starving.

Today, I decided to also look at a newspaper covering southwest Florida, because my parents have a house in the area so I thought it'd be interesting to look at what is going on.  It is funny looking at that newspaper compared to my own local paper because it just seems like so much more goes on.  An article I found interesting was about college tuition rates in FL may decrease to try and help out the economy.  The article said basically, that the colleges may start to charge different rates per major, and if the prices are lower and more people and go and get jobs, it could help the economy down there again.  I thought that this was an interesting concept, especially because FL colleges are already very cheap to go to an in-state school, especially compared to UNH!

Hostess

For the past few days, on television news and in the newspapers, I've read/heard a lot about Hostess going out of business.  I think it is kind of funny how this is such big news to everyone, because it makes me realize how much a company that makes donuts and other bakery snacks seems to mean to people in America.  On the news, it showed several people going out of there way to go to the store to buy "the last twinkies" and ding dongs, ho-ho's, etc.  I just think it is interesting how it seems to effect everyone.  Television news also reported on many stores actually being out of twinkies and other Hostess snacks after people heard that they'd be going out of business. I think the most devastating part of the news about Hostess leaving is that so many jobs will be lost from it.  According to a news article I read about it, it said the number of jobs being lost would be close to 18,000, which is such a large amount of people that are officially out of a job now after the strike against Hostess.  Luckily, I heard there were many companies planning to buy out Hostess, so maybe all the snacks people are buying could be back on the shelves before we know it.

Libel

Today, it seemed that there was a lot of news going on, however, a story I found on USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2012/11/02/amanda-bynes-not-naked-not-troubled-but-very-rich/1677765/?morestories=obnetwork, was the focus of my attention because it goes really well with what we talked about in class a few weeks ago about libel, and what you can say in the media.  In this story, popular actress, Amanda Bynes, is reportedly suing InTouch magazine because they reported on her in a tanning salon walking around naked because she forgot a robe. Bynes claims this is not true and is suing for printing a fake story, why InTouch says they stand by their printing.  I'm still kind of confused on what the rules are for her doing so, since she is a public figure, but I thought this story was really interesting, mostly because of what we talked about in class.  The discussion we had definitely made me think more about celebrity gossip magazines more than others because of what they put out there, for instance, almost every week I see something about the Kardashians, and how Khloe Kardashian and her husband are getting divorced, but they are clearly not getting divorced.  I think it's interesting that the rules vary for those in the public eye.

News Reading 11/14

Today, I read a couple of different articles.  One of the articles I read was from my local newspaper, Seacoast Online, about a man jailed for having heroin in his house.  This article caught my attention because its kind of a rare occasion in my area to see in the news, and stood out to me over the rest of the articles which seemed to be able school related things in the area.  Another article I read was in the Huffington Post, and it was about 5 hour energy drinks and how they have been reported to be a possible cause in 13 different deaths over the past 4 years.  I thought that this was a particularly interesting article, because although I don't drink energy drinks like 5 hour energy, I know a lot of people that do, so I was very curious to see what it had to say.  I think this kind of story would draw a lot of people in with its kind of delayed headline, "Caffeinated Drink Cited in Report of 13 Deaths."  I thought this was a good title on the writers part because automatically, readers, including myself, will be interested to see exactly which caffeinated drink it is talking about.

News reading 10/9

I read some articles today about the progress of New York City after the hurricane last week.  One article I read was the implementation of the even-odd gas rationing system in NYC.  On even numbered days, those whose license plate ends in an even number can get gas, and on odd numbered days, people with an odd last license plate digit can get gas.  According to the article read on USA today, this has worked a lot better and gas lines in the city are now only about 20 minutes compared to the hours and hours of waiting that was taking place before this happened.  Apparently, people were also selling gas on Craigslist for outrageous amounts of money.  Personally, I thought that it is rude for people do sell it for so high when there are plenty of people in need and who have been out of power for over a week at this point.

Today, I decided to finally take a look at the Washington Post as well because it is a site a have forgotten about all semester up to this point.  On the site, I found an interesting article about a Jeep recall from Chrysler in Detroit.  The jeeps are apparently recalled because of an airbag problem.  The airbags have been randomly deflating while people are driving in the 2002-2004 grand cherokee models.  The recall includes 919,000 vehicles.

In other news, I decided to do my issue story this week on the gym and was very surprised at the amount of survey-takers I have gotten on the survey I did, as it was more than double what I got on my last one!

Laws passed yesterday

Today, aside from reading a lot about the election itself and President Obama's big re-election, I found a lot of articles on the law that passed making marijuana legal in Colorado and Washington State.  I not only read about this on the news sites, but also on social media sites like Facebook and twitter.  It seemed like people almost cared more about that than the win from Obama.  I personally believe it is really stupid for people to be so hyped up about it, and it's actually annoying to see that people seem to care more about that, at least, people from my hometown.  I think it partially shows that people don't really know about politics in my age group, so it is definitely time for everyone to get more educated before the next election.

Election Day 2012

Today, as I expected, the election is taking over everything for one of the last times!  I decided to read some articles in the Hampton Union today, as well as in the USA Today.  The articles in the Hampton Union I read were pretty random ones, like about some kids who are facing criminal charges that went to my high school because they decided to break into a house.  Another article I read pertained to the election, and was actually about a man that comes into my work and how he is voting for Romney, and his quick election day story.  One of the articles I read in the USA Today was about how Dixville Notch, way up north in NH voted.  This one was interesting to me because I heard in the past that usually, whoever wins in Dixville Notch is the president, and since results aren't in yet, I was curious.  However, it came by surprise to me that Dixville Notch actually was a tie- 47% Democrat, 47% Republican.  This will make it very interesting to see how the election goes, especially because I've been seeing that it is a tie in many polls that i've looked at over the past few days.

Election Takeover on the news

Like I've mentioned in many posts lately, the election is really taking over the newspapers and TV news.  Today, on the Huffington Post homepage, there is a big chart of the 50 states and it gives you a lot of information and statistics about the candidates, as far as how they're doing in each state and what states are swing states, etc.  I took some time to look at this and kind of put it together, and it looks like there are a lot of Romney states, especially in the Southern portion of the country, however, electoral college wise, I'd say Obama definitely looks like the winner, but I guess we'll all see on Tuesday.  On top of spending time looking at the charts on the election, I noticed in several news sites, including the Huff. Post, there were a few articles about the New York Marathon being cancelled.  In the New York Times specifically, it went into how canceling it wastes a lot of money, however, I think there is more to it than just that, as there are many people still without power in the city.  Another article I read was about the MBTA system in Boston shutting down during the storm.  What I liked and found most interesting about this news story (found on the Boston Globe site), is that the article had little writing by the actual author, and mostly used peoples tweets about the MBTA system and its updates during the storm.  I thought it was very effective in telling the story, as twitter is very updated nowadays and you can find things out on there before even the newspapers report on something.