Lost Leopard Causes Panic at Local Zoo 10/31

Visitors to the Durham Zoo were rushed to the exit at 9am this morning when a leopard was found missing from its cage. A press conference was held to address the issue while police and zoo workers frantically searched the grounds for the lost leopard.

Gerry Durrell, director of the Durham Zoo, said that when the zoo opened 7:30 a.m. this morning, Fluffy, the spotted leopard, was immediately noticed as absent from her cage.

“Everything about her cage seemed normal,” Durrell said. “The door was shut and did not appear to have been tampered with.”

“We have no idea what time Fluffy escaped or where she went,” Durrell continued. “We love that cat, and we don’t want to lose her,” Durrell finished, leaving the stage with tears in his eyes.

James Petronkis from Newmarket was at the zoo at 7:30 a.m. this morning for his daily visit to see his favorite leopard, Fluffy.

“Everything seemed normal, until I got to the cage,” Petronkis said. Petronkis is accustomed to seeing the leopard asleep in a nest of straw that she draws together in a small house inside her cage. Today there was no straw and no leopard.

Petronkis alerted a guard of his observation and was instructed to “mind his own business.” To try and raise concern, Petronkis pulled the fire alarm and waited for the zoo guards to check the leopard’s cage.

“This time they checked the house, and then all hell broke loose,” Petronkis said. Police officers and zoo staff arrived with guns in hand and visitors to the zoo began to panic.

“It sounded like a thousand cars squealing their tires,” Petronkis said. “It was mayhem.”

Children were crying and adults were grumbling because of the disaster taking place at the zoo. Some people called out the leopard’s good nature while others demanded a refund for their lost visit. At the time, the main concern of the zoo staff and police department was to locate and secure the leopard.

According to Kitty Smith, chief biologist at the Durham Zoo, Fluffy is a 10-year-old Romanian spotted leopard, one of only five left in existence. The leopard is noted to be “extremely dangerous” with an appetite for young children, causing a major concern for Police Chief William Blair.

“We will first search every inch of this zoo. If possible, Fluffy will be shot with a tranquilizer gun,” Blair said. If the leopard is not found in the zoo, the search will move to the surrounding neighborhood where an elementary school is located.

“We have to find her before 3 p.m.,” Blair said. “If we don’t, it could be a very messy night.”

“Fluffy is a wonderful, warm, gentle cat who has never hurt anyone,” Smith said. “But if these cats are cornered- or encountered on a dark night- their defense is to kill, and to kill quickly.”

Smith said the leopard is black with white spots, weighs 146 pounds and can run up to 60 miles an hour. Smith advised anyone who may encounter the cat in the search to avoid eye contact, get slowly to the ground and lay still.

The New Hampshire State Police, the State Wildlife Department and the National Guard are assisting in the search and providing supplies such as helicopters and infrared sensors to help locate the leopard in the dark.

“We’re going to find this cat if it kills us,” Blair said.

Monday 10/31/11

After scanning the first pages of the A section, I decided to read an article about the upcoming presidential election. I enjoy politics and haven't read an article in depth about it recently, so I must be time. I read the article about Rick Perry's stance on crime; quite a controversial topic. While Perry has been governor of Texas, he has seen over 200 executions take place. In most instances he was not directly involved, seeing as he is not part of the justice system, but for the example cited in the article, he had the chance to grant mercy to a schizophrenic man who committed murder and instead let him be executed. In this case, Perry said he wanted to make sure a man like this would not be free to commit murder again. The response he received was that a man that dangerous would not be set free to roam the streets.

This article had a delayed lede, effective sine the topic is deep and controversial. I think the reporter made the right decision in feeding us the information slowly so as not to overload. As far as the issue goes, its a tough subject. Perry has a reason for what he has done and sticks to his decisions, which I think is honorable. Yet when talking about the death sentence one will always find many people unhappy. The biggest thing working against Perry here is his similarities with former president George W. Bush; Texas governor and who believes in the death penalty. If Perry is able to defend his decisions and stick to what he has said and done, instead of catering to a crowd, he will have a much better chance at nomination.

Wednesday 10/26/11

There were a lot of interesting articles on the front page alone today. Skimming through before reading, I found a handful I'd like to read, including the HPV vaccine being acceptable for young boys and China's initiatives towards clean water. The one most interesting to me though was a new amendment stirring and a few states that would make an embryo a human, adding more conflict to the abortion debate. In Mississippi, what would happen is the "personhood amendment" would make a fertilized egg a human being, therefore rendering abortion and certain birth control methods illegal. Those who oppose the the amendment claim that it is a dangerous mix of criminal law into medical care, which has the potential to cause great harm. Those in favor see it as an "inspired moral leap." In the coming days, many Mississippi residents plan to protest, either by handing fliers out against the amendment or speaking for it.

In this next paragraph, I typically give my thoughts and opinions on the issue at hand. While I do have firm beliefs in the abortion debate, i don't think this is the time or place to share them. Instead, I'll talk a bit about the style of this article. The summary lede and to-the-point headline work very well in favor of this piece. The topic is controversial enough, so once the reader is in, I think he or she will most likely continue to read it. Throughout the article, I noticed a bit of a theme. While the reporter displays both sides, you can see a bit that he is not in favor of the new amendment, calling it "far-reaching" and often citing "doctors and women" as being against it, as if there are none of either in favor. With such a hot button issue, I excepted opinions to shine through and I'm interested to see the aftermath in Mississippi, no matter what the outcome of this amendment is.

Tuesday 10/25/11

Not much jumped off the page at me from today's paper. After flipping through the pages and reading a few stories, I settled on the article about Tunisia's election and the moderate Islamist party most likely to win. In an article from the Times last week, I read and wrote about political cartoons having an impact on the elections, which is why I chose to go deeper into this one to see the predicted results for the historic elections.

Tunisia is the first nation involved in the Arab Spring elections which makes this an exciting and cautionary time for the other nations. Historically, nations who have had Islamist parties in the lead have led to military coups and confrontation. Since the party leading in Tunisia is a moderate Islamist party the people hope incidents seen in other Arab countries will not take place. There could still be a change before the elections, but whichever party wins, the Tunisian people are anxious to take part in a democratic election and have a constitution written.

Monday 10/24/11

There was a headline in today's paper about schools in NYC cutting back on homework requirements. Being a diligent and informed college student, this caught my attention right away. The article was about a handful of highly-competitive and expensive Upper East Side NY private school evaluating the impact large amounts of homework has on the health of students. These schools have a reputation of charging a lot of money for an intense academic routine. Now that they may be lessening the workload in favor of students getting more free and sleep time, mixed emotions have risen in response.

I particularly enjoyed the lede of this story because not only did it make me smile for its humor, but it really connected the reader to the subject of the story: students. With a story like this, its not vital to get all of the information out right away, so the reporter can ease into it to engage a reader like me, which it did.

As far as lowering the homework load goes, I think it should stay rigorous, just not insane. Parents who send there kids to this school pay a lot of money and expect results so I can see how they would be a bit upset for the toughness level to be lowered. The schools are correct in analyzing the situation with scientists and professionals because it shows ultimately they do have concern for the health and well-being of their students.

Wednesday 10/19/11

My eye was caught today about an article the pertained directly to New York City. Their "one million tree campaign" is facing tough times as New Yorkers are complaining about the number of trees as well the lack of care for them. Among the complaints were leaf debris, excessive shade and dangling limbs. While many New York politicians spoke of benefits the trees offer like absorbing carbon dioxide, they are still bound to what the people want.

This piece used a delayed lede which was wise given the somewhat whimsical topic of the piece. Its not breaking news so you don't have to rush everything into the the first sentence. By using a delayed lede, the reader now has a picture of what the trees are adding to the New York sidewalks and how it will suffer if they are taken away.

As far as this issue goes, I can somewhat sympathize with the people who don't want trees, but only so much. Trees have a large impact on our daily living which most people don't realize. Across the globe trees and forests are suffering and anywhere we can add more we should. I'm taking a conservation class this semester and am more tuned to these kinds of issues. I'd say a few New Yorkers can deal with excessive shade rather than a scorching hot planet with no ozone layer.

Tuesday 10/18/11

It was a bit of a search for me to find an article I really enjoyed. After reading a few of the front page stories, keeping up with Occupy Wall St. and such, I went for my tried-and-true section of interest: international news. What caught my eye was a title telling of a cartoon being aired before elections in Tunisia. The cartoon is said to have "touched on heresy and censorship" which right before an election is quite controversial. The main character of the cartoon is a young girl who speaks Arabic and shows a cartoon of how the girl imagines god, which is blasphemous in the Muslim faith. Many followers of both parties, liberal and conservative (who are seen as the West and East parties) were quick to announce their disagreement with the film. Though they have different political views, none of them want to take a strike at religion.

The title for this piece was very effective, especially in a time when media plays such a huge role in politics. Given the recent Arab Spring in Tunisia, I can see how this cartoon would cause the politicians and officials to worry. Tunisia is making great strides as a country and don't need the mixing of politics and religion to harm them.

Students Face Saturday Detentions if New Policy Passes

Portsmouth, NH- The Friday afternoon bell will no longer offer relief to misbehaving students if a new policy requiring students with disciplinary problems to serve a 4 hour session on Saturday mornings is passed for the Portsmouth school district.

School Board member Tim Steele said the new measure will reduce the number of in-house suspensions which are given automatically to Portsmouth High School students.

“It’s bad enough to get my son off to school Monday through Friday,” said Peggy Bacon, a parent who works six days a week, including Saturday mornings, and dislikes the proposal because of the additional time commitment.

“Why should I have to worry about Saturday as well?” Bacon said.

Bacon believes that the Saturday sessions won’t make a difference and will only end up causing the parents to pay “in higher taxes as well as ruined Saturdays.”

“I know this isn’t good news for parents,” Steele said. “But I hope the threat of Saturday classes will make students think twice before breaking the school rules.”

Steele proposed the new policy to cut down on in-house suspensions since students aren’t allowed to make up the class work missed during the suspensions. The Saturday sessions means students will miss no class time and therefore stay on top of their assignments.

“Parents can whine all they want about this, but maybe it’s time parents in America were made to take a little responsibility for their kids, said Bob Farley, a Portsmouth resident in favor of the new policy.

“Maybe if they have to miss a few Saturday morning cartoons they’ll start wising up,” Farley said.

Along with concerned parents and community members, five high school students attended the meeting, including senior Lisa Gallagher.

“I think it’s just being done to make life easier for the faculty, so they don’t have to deal with detentions during the week,” said Gallagher, who has not served a detention in her 12 years of schooling.

“What if someone skips the session?” Gallagher asked. “What are they going to do, make them stay all weekend?”

Steele responded by explaining that if a student misses a Saturday session, he or she cannot return to school until the session is served, impacting the student’s class work and grades.

While smoking is not the only discipline problem at the school, it’s one of the worst according to Steele.

“I just want to keep students from smoking in the high school bathrooms,” Steele said.

Despite the strong opinions voiced, the board voted to hold the issue until the next meeting where Steele was instructed to return with figures on in-school detention rates for the current school year.

Monday 10/17/11

A headline caught my attention right away in today's paper. Cellphone users will now get an alert message when they are nearing the limit on their voice or data plan to avoid large excess charge fees. The F.C.C. along with the Obama Administration and the CTIA have been working towards this for some time and withing the next 18 months, all carriers will have to offer customers an option for free usage updates.

The summary lede was a good choice for the piece because it gave the information on a fairly complex process quickly and efficiently. Since cellphones are such a common household item these days, having a title and lede that gives the reader everything right away will most likely cause them to continue reading because they know its something that effects their lives.

While I understand how this new system will benefit customers and help them stay on top of their usage and by extent their finances, its seems a bit sad that it has to be done. Responsibility and independence are less common in American citizens as we just spend and use without thinking of the cost. The article did tell of an elderly man whose unlimited plan abruptly stopped, causing him to owe a large sum of money, but that was a unique case. Most of this issue comes from people using their phone unwisely, never stopping to check to see where they were on their plan limit. As someone who tracks her data usage each month, this new system will only add one more way for me to stay informed. Hopefully this will help people stop and see how much time they spend on their phones before its too expensive to live with.

Thursday 10/13/11

My streak of instant interest ran out today as I had to search the paper a bit to find an article that pulled me in. The section I landed on today was the international news blurbs which I think is a great idea. Instead of having one or two longer pieces, the Times has a handful of small paragraphs dedicated to a wide range of international news. This way, people can stay informed about what is going on in the world in a neat and quick way.

The blurb (as I have decided to call it) that caught my eye the most was Britain's PM Cameron calling on a change to the rules of female succession. I found this particularly interesting because I spent the summer in England studying the monarchy from Henry VIII to Victoria. Having the background I do now after my weeks of study, allowing an older sister to inherit before her brother would be a monumental change for England and its history. While I do think its innovative and forward thinking, its also humorous because of something like this was in place during the mid 1500s, Henry VIII may have had only one wife.

It does make sense for Cameron to be pushing this though, because not only are women very capable of holding power, England's three longest reigning Monarchs have been female. Why not give a woman a chance right off the bat?

Wednesday 10/12/11

Once again I was drawn easily into a front page story with the title telling of Israel and Hamas doing a soldier-prisoner swap. The deal reached between the two typically unfriendly nations was that one Israeli soldier in captivity since 2006 would be exchanged for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Egypt acted as the neutral party and will be the center point for the exchanges.

As wonderful as it is for Israel to receive a sergeant they have been waiting for, it seems risky to me to release 1,000 Hamas members who very well could have been involved in terrible acts of terrorism. Its taken over two years for any kind of deal to be confirmed so that fact alone shows progress in the region, but I'm still wary of the after effects of this exchange.

Although the title caught my eye, the use of a summary lede quickly got me into the story. An article like this seems like it would be of much importance to a lot of people so using a summary lede is most effective because people will already want to read it. Its good to get the key info out right away.

Young Man Saves Tourist from Train Disaster 10/11/11

Old Orchard Beach, Maine- When James Laboke woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, he had no idea that his four mile commute to the Eezy Breezy Restaurant in Old Orchard Beach, Maine would involve saving the life of an 80-year-old tourist.

Laboke was walking to work when he saw a car stalled on the tracks where the Amtrak Downeaster runs from Portland to Boston.

A man was slumped over the steering wheel, the engine was running, the doors were locked and Laboke could not wake the man by pounding on the window.

“I never thought about it,” Laboke said. “I just knew I couldn’t let that man get crushed by a train.”

Laboke, a 17-year-old Afghan refugee, has lived in Maine for three years. He does not own a cell phone, so he ran 100 yards to the police station on Pier Street for help.

Janet Paradiso, a captain on the town police force, was parked a mile away from the railroad crossing when she received a call over the radio about the stranded vehicle. She arrived on the scene within minutes and heard the train’s whistle.

“I knew there was no time. I had to do something,” Paradiso said.

Acting quickly, Paradiso drove her police cruiser in the stalled pink Cadillac Seville pushing it off of the tracks. Thirty seconds later the train went through at around 40 miles per hour.

“I don’t remember a thing,” said Francois Truffaut, the owner of the vehicle who was visiting from Quebec City, Canada.

Truffaut was taken to Southern Maine Medical Center and is in a stable condition. Truffaut is a diabetic and may have gone into insulin shock at the crossing, the police later reported. No report has been released regarding the state of the 1987 pink Cadillac Seville.

As for Laboke, he reported to work at the Eezy Breezy Restaurant on time and ready to wait tables.

When a reporter called the restaurant later, Laboke’s boss, Charles Champaigne, said he was not surprised to learn of Laboke’s heroism.

Champaigne owns the Eezy Breezy Restaurant on East Grand Street and hired Laboke about eight months ago.

"That young man is one of my most responsible employees. He’s just a great kid.”

Tuesday 10/11/11

Upon seeing the front page of today's paper, my eyes were drawn to the article about a high school boy with a stutter being told to stop talking in class by his professor at the community college where he was taking coursed.

I think the delayed lede used for this piece was very affective. First of all, the title caught my interest immediately and then the first paragraph made it easy for me to read deeper into the article. I think beginning with the question the student intended to ask when he was silenced by his professor was a particularly strong choice.

As far as the issue goes, I think its sad that this boy who is trying to further his education as well as defy the stereotypes of his stutter was treated this way. While I understand the teacher wanting to keep a flow and rhythm in class, it could have been handled better. It was encouraging to hear that the student was not discouraged too greatly and will continue to further his education.

Wednesday 10/5/11

From now until next fall, I am guaranteed to find something in the Times that interests me. There was an article today that had a headline about Governor Christie from New Jersey announcing that he will not run for president. Once I got into the article, it turned out to be a what-kind-of-Republican comparison chart. With Christie officially not running, many think Romney is the candidate who holds the most potential to run against Obama. With Palin and Pawlenty out, the rest of the candidates hold a niche of interest from Republicans voters, but Romney seems to be the best collective package, in the eyes of political analysts. I've always thought that in America, we spend too much time campaigning; starting way too early. At this stage in the season, much could change and I'm waiting to see how Cain does in the next few weeks since he has been up in the polls. I'd like to see someone challenge Romney so the candidacy is not set early in any matter.

Tuesday 10/4/11

There was a very interesting article about women using contraceptives in Africa on today's front page, which caught my eye right away. Women in Africa who have been using a hormone-injected contraceptive that may double the chances of getting HIV for them as well as their partners.

Further studies are being done, but if this proves true it will make things very difficult for women accustomed to this method. This style of contraceptive last longer and is more convenient for women. Women in the US use this as well, but the numbers and risk level for African women is much higher so that is where the research is focused.

Before an official warning is administered, the Word Health Organization is holding a meeting in January to discuss the new findings. If the WHO finds this contraceptive injection more harmful then helpful, new initiatives will be needed to help women in Africa. I'm anxious to read more about what is found at the meeting in January.

Speech Story Lede, 10/3

The student audience at Baird School sat in silence as Charlie Simms's fate balanced on the edge of Headmaster Trask's wooden pulpit.

Army Lieutenant Frank Slade sat as Simms's defense in the trial against Simms as a witness to several students playing a prank involving Trask's car.

"There is nothing like the sight of an amputated spirit," Slade said, during his passionate speech defending Simms's integrity and leadership potential for not naming the guilty students when threatened with expulsion.

Monday 10/3/11

I had to look a bit to find an article that really caught my interest today. The front page was decent, but I went into the national news and found a piece about the style of campaign Obama is going to run in the upcoming elections. The article compares the tactics Obama is beginning to take to that of George Bush in 2004, mainly because Obama is going from defense to offense with issues, supported by the Democrats. He is going to focus on topics such as gay rights and abortion and be proactive about them rather than defending economic woes that Republicans will most likely take as the number one issue against Obama. It seems sometimes that in American we are always either in an election season or campaigning for one. The way the Republican candidates look right now, a bit all over the board, I've very curious to see the next few months when Obama truly gets rolling with his re-election campaign.