 |
 |
|
|
News BLOG |
|
September 2008
Categories
News or Not |
July 2008 ArchivesI covered the event when the Phoenix first touched down on Mars back on May 25. Since then, I've only done a handful of other stories related to the mission, that is until a group of scientists announced at Mission Control here in Tucson today that they've discovered water on the red planet. It's not everyday I get to report on significant achievements in the world of science. In fact, it's also rare to write a story that was also ment... My story today was about that word. A man was found guilty of 22 counts of racketeering. He's been operating one in Tucson across the street from University Medical Center for several years. One of the many things my supervisor, Bob Richardson, and I talked about with this story was how comfortable I felt saying that word on camera. I didn't feel comfortable at all. I don't even feel comfortable typing it now. I despise that word ... We generally have about a minute and a half to put our stories together, which often means we have to leave out other pieces of information that are still interesting and important. In the case of Alex Salinas, the 14-year-old girl from Corona de Tucson who police say was shot to death by her 15-year-old stepbrother, the family issued a statement regarding the situation that I did not have time to mention in the story I filed Tuesday. ... Talking about the earthquake in LA came easy to me because I'm from there -- Pasadena to be exact. I was born in LA but grew up in Pasadena for the most part. I've lived in several cities in Southern California very close to Chino Hills -- the epicenter of Tuesday's 5.4 magnitude earthquake. By the way, if any of you are fans of rap music from what I know Snoop Dogg lives in Chino Hills. It's a very nice, yet somewhat affordable are... It's really sad and frightening to think about Deshaun Glover being electrocuted. I can't imagine that happening to anyone, let alone an eight year old. We really didn't have anything to go on when we set out to follow up on this story. We made a lot of phone calls that never got returned. Actually, the story after ours in our newscast with information on the amount of lightning strikes near Reid Park the day of the accident, was ...
The story I did tonight about the eight year old boy who was electrocuted because of lightning really made me think twice about my habit of walking near big puddles when there's lightning and thunder overhead. I really hope the family is doing ok. I can't imagine dealing with a situation like that. I've only met one person who's been struck by lightning. It was a story I did a couple years ago. It had to do with the nursing shortage and o... We switched stories twice before we ended up with a story for the newscast. A one year old boy almost drowned. Since we didn't get word of it until late we had a short write up on it for the newscast. Unfortunately, monsoon lightning started overhead. If you know anything about live trucks, lightning and live trucks just don't mix. My photographer decided he didn't feel comfortable letting me do a live shot. It's his call. I trust his j... My story on Wednesday dealt with the the effect of "predatory lending" on families in Tucson. While there is no legal definition for the term, Wikipedia describes predatory lending as: "The practice of a lender deceptively convincing borrowers to agree to unfair and abusive loan terms, or systematically violating those terms in ways that make it difficult for the borrower to defend against." Tucson City Council... I have one relative who's on the donor list for a kidney. I admit I don't think much about it. Obviously our story about organ donors reminded me. That relative won't let anyone in our family donate our kidney, which is somewhat frustrating to me, but I'm not gonna argue about it. Anyway, a woman by the name of Angi Norton has needed a new pancreas for several years now. She's been diabetic since she was nine. We knew we'd be do... It took three tries before we had a story today. That happens more often than people think. The good thing is, we found a story. i always love doing stories with young people. I used to be a high school teacher before I started reporting, so it brings back good memories and it's an arena I feel comfortable in. The students we met with today are, for the most part, looking to pursue a career in the science and medical fields. They're all ... We were at Davis Monthan until about 10:30pm last night for President Bush's arrival. Airforce one is very impressive. If you ever get a chance to see it you should. That was my first time seeing it up close (well, from about 80 feet away). It's hard to make out the President's face when you're too far away from him, but he seemed just as tired as we all were having waited five hours to see him. Overall, it was enjoyable seeing him for th...
In my career, I've had the opportunity to cover visits by several differe... I worked on a story Wednesday where I tried to determine where President Bush might stay once he arrives in Tucson Thursday night. Did I find out? No. Although there are three resorts near the home he'll be at on Friday that are distinct possibilities. I asked several people around town where they'd stay in Tucson if they were president. Some suggested one of the luxurious resorts. One woman said she would stay at a ranch in order to ... I have to be honest, I'm not much of a sports fan. I don't watch sports at all really. Mainly because after an hour of sitting in the same place I get bored. I really only go to baseball games for the food. That aside, I hope Tucson doesn't lose Spring Training. I commend members of the Pima County Sports and Tourism Authority for trying to keep it from happening. By the way, the group doesn't generate any revenue. They're strictly a gr...
I made a few cursory phone calls to some friends who have been aroun... It's really hard to imagine what it would be like to have a member of my family disappear. I really feel for the families that deal with that. The family of Elnora Charles and Kay Read have to go everyday wondering where Elnora and Kay are and what has happened to them. Elnora Charles' family doesn't think she's still alive. I can't say I blame them. It's been exactly eight months. The hardest part about covering stories about missing pe... I worked on a story today responding to a number of complaints people had regarding Pima County Public Defender Isabel Garcia's actions at a book signing event last week with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. During the demonstration, a pinata with the likeness of Arpaio's head glued to it was beaten on the ground. Garcia then took the head of the pinata and carried it around the parking lot. You can find the video on YouTube >> Continue reading: Isabel Garcia
What most people don't realize is while we're working everyday our FOX 11 studio is slowly becoming...a studio. When I dropped off the promos we shoot to promote our stories today a man was in there bufffing the floors. It was a sight to see! This is my third television news job. I've always worked somewhere where there's a studio. I didn't realize how much I missed having one until I saw the man cleaning the floors. We're all extremely ... With a slumping economy and a tough job market, Wal-Mart is bringing some relief to the Tucson area in the form of 350 jobs at its new Supercenter in Oro Valley that's scheduled to open sometime in September. Wal-Mart has set up a temporary hiring center for people interested in working there...here's a few details I couldn't include about the hiring center in my story due to time constraints. What: Wal-Mart hi... Devin Neeley is joining the Fox 11 News family on Wednesday. Devin is a graduate of New Mexico State University. He's from Farmington, New Mexico. Even though Devin is just out of college, he has extensive news-gathering experience. NMSU operates the PBS affiliate in Las Cruces and produces a daily half-hour news broadcast each night. Devin has learned his skills in the trenches covering news on a daily basis there. We look... Usually on Saturdays we only have one crew and we have to cover as many stories as we can. Sometimes there isn't a lot going on and we have lots of time to focus on our main story for the day. Other times, we don't. That's what happened today. We started the day shooting video for a vosot. A man and his wife came home last night and there house was on fire. They weren't at the house when we went. But you can only imagine how they're feel... As our nation pauses to celebrate its 232nd birthday, the news business goes on. Deanna Morgan and photojournalist Ruben Fuentes are spending the day in Sierra Vista. Arguably the most "military" of Southern Arizona cities, we see how they honor the nation. Governor Janet Napolitano was there today as well. We've asked our "do it all" guy, Phil Anaya, to go out and report on how Tucsonans are celebrating and enjoying the Fo... I worked on a story today warning people about the dangers of drinking and driving over the 4th of July weekend. It's a message that becomes even more important because Independence Day is on a Friday this year, and statistics show that more alcohol is consumed when the 4th falls on a Friday or Monday because it gives most people a three day weekend...and the party generally seems to last all weekend long, according to law enforcement. So, today was an interesting day. Not like I don't have lots of those. We were supposed to do a story on Chief Warrant Officer, Robert Hammet's passing. The problem was, we had one picture of him and no one in his family would talk on camera. I called the base where he was stationed in Florida. They sent me one more picture. Good news, but not good enough. I searched online for a long time to try and get more information about him. Aft... I had to come in an hour earlier than usual today to cover the city council's special executive session that would determine the immediate fate of City Manager Mike Hein. After nearly two hours of a closed-door meeting (at which point I was able to exchange "war stories" with reporters from some of the other Tucson stations), the city council came out and voted unanimously to keep Hein as the city manager. But, council members say they... |
