Tweet Update 2

Amity citizen, James Parks became the third life taken by the killer shark lurking in Amity waters at about 1:30 p.m. today.  Parks was in a small rowboat when the shark attacked.

His leg was later found.

Beaches are no closed for further notice.

Tweeting Update

Citizens were horrified today at Amity beach when two young boys wearing cardboard shark fins swam through the water in what was a scandalizing prank, causing beach goers to evacuate the water in panic.

No one was injured during the prank, and the two boys were pulled from the water by shark spotters.

Caught

Police Chief Martin Brody has announced that the shark attacking citizen of Amity beach has been caught and killed today.

According to Brody, this vicious killer has been responsible for the death of two citizens, the disruption of the island’s July 4 celebrations, and the disruption of busy tourism in Amity.

Matt Hooper, a marine biologist from the Woods Hole, Mass. Oceanic Institute has identified the carcass as a nurse shark.

“Nurse Sharks are among the most brutal and dangerous of all sharks and have been for hundreds of swimmers’ deaths along the East Coast of the United States,” said Brody in a press release.

Conversely, National Geographic describes Nurse Sharks as “slow-moving bottom-dwellers and are, for the most part, harmless to humans.” 

National Geographic also constitutes Nurse Sharks as defensive animals, saying that they “will bite defensively if stepped on or bothered by divers.”

But Brody seems enthusiastic about the death of the “killer shark.”  Believing the waters are now purged of danger, he encourages citizens to “swim and have fun!”

But the entrapment of the Nurse Shark may not have happened without the posting of a $3000 reward yesterday.

The reward for what Brody describes as “heroic and selfless efforts” was the main topic of discussion at yesterday’s town meeting.

The meeting, which was packed with loud, concerned citizens, commenced with some shouting, “is that $3,000 bounty on the shark in cash or check?” to Chief Brody.  The outburst was greeted by laughter from the audience of citizens.

At the meeting, Brody announced that police were going to close the town beaches.  “We’re going to put on the summer deputies as soon as possible,” Brody said, in order to make the area even safer.

The chaos of the meeting was interrupted by the ear-piercing scratch of Mr. Quint, an Amity local, scratching this nails down a chalkboard baring the chalked outline of an open-mouthed shark.

“I’ll find it for $3,000, but I’ll catch it and kill it for ten,” said Quint.  He then proposed catching the shark on his own, and without a crew.

The fishermen who caught and killed the Nurse Shark have not yet been named.

According to Brody, there will be “shark spotters from the Coast Guard, the Marine Patrol, the Mass. State Police, the U.S. Navy, Homeland Security, the FBI, and numerous local municipal and county police agencies in the waters of our beaches.”  But “islanders and guests alike should not be alarmed,” he said.

Alex Kinter

According to Police Chief Martin Brody, a local boy was killed by what appeared to be a shark attack at 2 p.m. today. 

The beautiful day at Village Beach was stained red with the blood of Alex Kinter.  Ten year old Kinter was floating on a raft when he was pulled under water, a pool of blood surrounding him.

The beach was crowded with adults and children alike, all enjoying the fair weather and calm seas.  Police Chief Brody was also present at the beach today, but was in clear distress, the weight of the pending investigation of Chrissie Watson on his heart and mind.

The appartent attack on Kinter is could possibly be linked to yesterday’s Amity attack, in which 17 year old Watson was found mangled on the beach after a late night swim yesterday.  The two attacks have police investigating possible shark attacks, but Brody wishes that the townspeople not “jump to any conclusions regarding the perpetrator or perpetrators in this tragic incident.”  Any connection between the two incidents is under investigation.

Unlike Watson, the body of Kinter has not been recovered.  The only evidence remaining of his presence at the beach today is his deflated raft, which washed up onto the beach, along with what appeared to be his blood.

Brody, along with Mayor Larry Vaughn, express their deepest condolence to the Kinter family. 

Mayor Vaughn will be holding a special meeting in the town hall at 6 p.m. today.  On the agenda is the possibility of closing all beaches on July 4.  Also on the agenda is a possible $3000 reward to the Kinter family, and fisherman Quint’s offer to hunt the shark, which is the supposed perpetrator of this tragic event.

Chrissie Watson, Jaws

Amity teenager Chrissie Watson, 17, was found dead on South Beach this morning by Police Deputy Jay Hendricks.  Her mangled body washed up onto the sand after a vicious attack from an unknown killer.

Watson was most recently seen alive last night around 11 p.m. with fellow teenager Christopher P. Hoggenbottam III, when Watson decided to go for a late-night swim.

According to witnesses, “both teenagers had been drinking heavily and possibly smoking marijuana.”

 

Although under the influence, Watson was known for her incredible swimming skills.  She was a member of the Amity High School Varsity swim team and a lifeguard at the Amity Island YMCA.

Hoggenbottam alerted police this morning at 6 a.m when he finally noticed Watson’s absence.  According to chief of Police Martin Brody, “her mangled body was found…after a brief search.”

The crime is currently under investigation.  According to a police report, “Watson’s body has been transported to the coroner’s office for autopsy. “

Because of Watson’s adept skill in swimming and reportedly calm seas last night, the possibility of a shark attack “has not been completely ruled out,” said Brody.

However, according to Brody, “all residents and visitors on our fine island…are in no danger.”  He also confidently reported that “our lovely beaches will remain open for swimming pending the outcome of the investigation.”

No more Elmo

So, I'm a bit confused. Apparently the voice of Elmo resigned after an underaged sex scandal, but the news report says his name is Kevin Clash... That's not the man that comes to do the UNH show at the beginning I the school year every September. What's his name? He's hilarious. And he claims to be the voice of Elmo... Interesting...

SCOPE

Ok, so I've fallen off my blogging for quite a while- time to get back on the horse! I can't believe poor SCOPE is not even its own organization anymore! And all because 2 irresponsible members stole property during a SCOPE outing. Such a shame! Every member of the org was removed and the student activity committee is now in control of its funding. I have a feeling the whole student body is going to be pretty bummed out by this too, because they organize our concerts!!

Scope Suspended

I can't believe SCOPE got suspended for theft!! During one of their new member/old member bonding trips to Portsmouth, new members stole business signs.  The police found out, and contacted the school.  the MUB had to put them through the conduct system, and once the group is no longer suspended they will be on 2 year probation.  If I were one of the senior members of the group, I'd be soooo mad!

A question for the candidates

Former Governor Romney, in the last debate, President Obama made certain claims about your plan the reduce the deficit.  How do you plan on defending your strategy tonight?

Sooooo apparently North Korea is claiming that they have missiles capable of reaching mainland America.  Please! not another cold war.... 

Meeting practice

Instead of sleeping in and watching their favorite cartoons, rebellious youngsters may have to start spending their Saturdays in detention. 

            Portsmouth High School’s move to initiate a Saturday morning detention period has riled up children and parents alike.  No more Bugs Bunny and no more lazy, news paper-reading, coffee-drinking mornings.

            The School Department is now pushing to hold delinquent students on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon several weekends a month.  Parents like Peggy Bacon are unhappy with the interruption to their weekend rituals.  “The parents are going to pay for it—in higher taxes as well as in ruined Saturdays”.

            Bacon is right about the taxes.  This new rule will cost about $3,000 per year for staffing, according to Tim Steele, School Board member. 

            Even students with clean academic records think the idea is wrong.  Lisa Gallagher, a senior student who has never served a detention, argued, “what if someone skips the session?  What are they going to do, make them stay all weekend?” 

            In response, Steele explained that any student who misses a Saturday morning detention will not be allowed in school until the detention is served. This is a direct contradiction to his earlier comment in the meeting that proposed students will miss less class time by attending these detentions rather than receiving in-house suspensions, which restrict students from attending class or doing their work.  

Apple Strikes

I've read that the workers of apple have gone on strike and its allowing down the production of phones. I can't say I didn't see this coming. This phone sold out quicker than any of the other ones. I bet apple is an amazing contributor to our economy right now. Also, I hope the workers get what they need soon!

Downeaster Danger

Seventeen year old Maine resident James Laboke became a hero today at 6:00 a.m. when he notified police of an unconscious elderly man in a stalled car straddling the Downeaster  train tracks.  Captain Janet Paradiso, who reported to the scene, rammed 80 year old Francois Truffaut off the tracks using her police cruiser within moments of the Downeaster's arrival.

Filmmaker Arrested

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was finally found and arrested for making the youtube hit "innocence of muslims".    He was locked up on the grounds of disturbing the peace.  As happy as I am about this, it reminded me of our class discussions about free speech.  Where can you draw the line? I mean, part of me wants to say that Nakoula has the right to say what he wants and make a film about whatever he wants, but it obviously came at a cost.  Maybe this kind of speech could be considered "hate speech" and therefore be illegal.  But then where do we draw the lines in other, less intense situations?  If someone's comment in class causes controversy and even a physical fight to break out, does that make their comment illegal?  Living in such a beautiful, free society can sometimes get a bit tricky.  I mean, how free is too free?

3 Kinds of Intros

For the first couple weeks of class, we concentrated on Basic News Leads. These leads can be divided into two subcategories:  The summary lead and the delayed identification lead.  The summary lead is what we first learned--it gives the who, what, where, when, why/how in the first paragraph.  The delayed identification lead gives most of this information in the second paragraph, in order to use the first paragraph as a "hook" to get the reader interested.  Also, sometimes all this information is easier to comprehend when it is split between two paragraphs.
Another type of lead is the Direct Address Lead.  This is when the author writes in the second person point of view.  This kind of writing is used in feature writing because news writing is always written in the third person.  This kind of lead can be helpful when you want your reader to feel or sense something that you are describing, and therefore making them want to invest their time in the article.
This week, I wrote a feature article for my homework.  For this article, I wrote a scene-setter lead.  This kind of lead was originally borrowed from fiction writing, which is why feature articles are not "breaking news".  My topic this week was about the changes that have occurred to the businesses downtown.   This is a feature article because it doesn't cover a specific incident, but rather it is an overall picture of downtown life.  This is why a scene-setting intro was great for my story.  I described the change in the leaves and air temperature downtown and then related that to all the new human-made changes.

"MOB RULE: Middle East Protests Escalate" - The Huffington Post

What is happening with this world right now? People are dying, restaurants are being bombed, embassies are being attack all because of some youtube video that someone (who is obviously not too smart) posted.  I read that it generated from somewhere in California but the name of the creator hasn't been released.  Honestly, I can't believe a clip like this is causing the whole middle east and parts of Africa to turn completely upside-down.  Lets put the shoe on the other foot.... is someone in, let's say Cairo, made a video mocking Protestantism, I would not attack ANY embassies.  Obviously, if someone made a video attacking my religion, that would be their (ill informed) opinion.  Don't get me wrong, I understand why people are upset.  But should people really die over this?  Can't we concentrate on things like feeding kids in Cairo or increasing the value of the Euro?  Come on people, lets start acting like we live on this planet together- because we do.

My "News Diet"

As suggested in class, I've started using the app Pulse on my Kindle Fire.  I love it!!! I can see multiple sources of news, and multiple story teasers for each source.  It works perfectly for me because I can skim through to find the stories I actually care about (I enjoy world politics).  Also, right outside our newsroom there is a stack of The New York Times.  I grabbed one after last class and read it over.  In fact, I think that's where my first reaction post will come from....

What is News?

The news is information given to a society about current events, or topics of interest; the news is any information that affects our lives.