MULTIMEDIA:

The Oakland Raiders pulled os a 20-17 upset over the Cincinnatti Bengals Sunday night. They were down 17-10 with 59 seconds left when replacement quarterback Bruce Gradkowski drove the raiders downthe field and completed a 29-yard touchdown pass to Rookie Wide Receiver Louis Murphy. The first two scores of the game were back to back go ahead touchdowns y Cincy's quarterback Carson Palmer himself. He ran both touchdowns in to put them up 14-0. Shortly before the half ended though, Replacement QB Gradkowski put together a 1:35 second drill that ended with a Zach Miller Touchdown. This game may not mean much for Oaklands season, but it could have much larger implications for the franchises future. As for Cincinatti, they are still atop the AFC North division, however this loss doesn't help given they have a very tough division consisting of the Steelers, Ravens, and Brown. All in all, the Raiders may not be a playoff caliber team, but this win should certainly boost their confidence and help them aim towards next year.

Newsworthy Blog Post Three Styles: Radio Broadcast

RADIO BROADCAST:

Speaker: "Today, problably the biggest story in NFL news was the upset of the Cincinnatti Bengals by the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders are coming off a 3 game losing streak while the Bengals have come off three straight wins. In the first half, all signs were pointing Cincy's way, however as the second half began it was an entirely different ball game. The Bengals began the game scoring two touchdowns on their first 2 posessions, from that point forwards it was all Oakland. 2nd year Tight end Zach Miller and rookie receiver Louis Murphy both had Touchdown Grabs while new starter Bruce Gradkowski threw for 181 passing yards. Their final score, however, came on a last second touchdown pass to Louis Murphy which kept them in the game. They responded on special teams by forcing a fumble on the opposing teams own 20 yard line which set up a game winning janikowski field goal. The team may not be in the playoff race, but any signs of improvement for this young Oakland team will help at this point. And this might give them the light they need to continue they're growth in the NFL."

Newsworthy Blog in 3 Styles: Newspaper Article

NEWSPAPER VERSION:



The Oakland Raiders have just come off only they're third victory all year against the Cincinnatti Bengals. However, according to head coach Tom Cable, it won't be their last. The Raiders have lost three consecutive games and they were 60 seconds away from losing their fourth until Bruce Gradkowski, newly replaced quarterback for the Oakland Raiders, decided to drive his team down the field to set up the tying score. It started with a 25 yeard bomb to Receiver Chaz Schilens on a fourth and ten, which set them up for running Michael Bush who plowed an additional 17 yards on the next play. With no timeouts and only 48 second on the clock, Gradkowski looked right, looked left and fired a bullet to rookie Wide Receiver Louis Murphy who had to force his body an extra 2 yards after the catch into the end zone for the game tying score. The Raiders didn't give up from the point forward and following the kickoff rookie tight end Brandon Myers forced a fumble on the 20 yard line where the Raiders were set up for a 25 yard game-winning Janikowski Field goal. Overall, the raiders scored ten points in under a minute, which gives them a high feeling of confidence considering they have averaged less points than that all year (9.6).This may be only one victory for this Oakland team, but it's a step in the right direction according to head Coach Tom Cable.

Sports Article

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, the Phi Eta Kappa floor hockey team gathered around for one last huddle. It was the second round of the floor hockey playoffs and as hard as they played, it wasn't enough. They lost to their common sports rival SAE by a score of five to three, and while they're season is over, they're not going to hang theirs heads over it. "we played really well, and we let up a lot of unneccesary goals. I don't mean to point the finger either, we need to play smarter defense." Brendan casavant remarked. The game started at a very fast pace, and Phi Eta ended up scoring the first goal. However , from that point forward it was a seemingly unsurmountable slope. SAE came back with three goals in a row and by the half the starters were winded and the attendance of Phi Eta's bench was lacking. According to the Hockey goalie Nicolo, the teams attendance was the biggest contributing factor. " I could see our guys getting tired out there, but because our bench was limited, they stayed in for longer periods of time and you could see it affecting us." he added. As the second half began, they boys tried another approach by having three forwards and stationing two on defense and it apparently seemed to work, at least for the first 10 minutes. Brendan Casavant put them up one more point, making the score 4-3 with 6 minutes left and it seemed as though they had a chance. But, without any hesitation and without wasting anytime SAE's most talented player Greg Scott whipped a long ranging goal in 60 seconds later. From that point, it was a desperation game. They tried everything in their power to just get one goal, pt SAE's goalie was just to good. With goal block after block, reality began to sink in with only 60 seconds remaining. Before they knew it, They were out of the playoffs for a second straight year. However, they have brighter things to look forward to, this year's pledge class contains a Umaine hockey player and according to Galen Munroe, he's the new secret weapon.

Police File Article

Last Thursday, at approximately 10:00 p.m. University of Maine student Matthew Stevens was pulled over for performing what is considered a rolling stop. No one was hurt in the incident, however according to officer Landers someone easily could have been. As the student approached the stop sign in front of the University Union he slowed his vehicle but, " persisted to roll right through without any hesitation" Said Landers. When asked whether he thought he came to a complete stop, Matthew remarked, " unless my brakes don't work anymore I came to a complete stop, I dont know what he was looking at.". The pull over resulted in a sightly heated argument between the two because matthew not only thought he came to a complete stop, but was running late for a floor hockey game. After the officer checked his driving record, he came back out with more than just his information. The ticket handed to Matthew totaled in $135. When told he could contest the ticket, Matthew replied, " I'll see you in court". and drove to his game. Officer Landers had this to say about the incident: " I see people speed through here all the time thinking they can get away way things like this, but this is a University and whether you think you looked both ways or not, you never know who could be crossing the road." While Matthew insists he is innocent and until proven guilty he is, the determining factor lays in the judges hands now.

Obituary....

Eric Tapley, former mechanic of 13 years passed away last Monday while, ironically enough, repairing a transmission in his SUV. He died of a sudden heart attack around 7:00 p.m.

Tapley, who had no former health conditions to this extent was a long time local of the town of Standish. " he was always so kind, and he always fixed my car at a decent price." local annie briggs added. The funeral has been scheduled for this Sunday and the attendance level is supposed to be quite large. "everyone in the town knew him, he was our town mechanic, its such a terrible loss of such a great person." said town official andrew lacey.

He had worked for NAPA auto parts for the first 7 years of his career before becoming self employed right across the street from his biggest competition, Standish, Mobil. " he was one hell of a competitor, every time we lowered our price, he insisted on going one cent lower." current Standish, Mobile owner said.

eric had been working on cars ever since he took shop class in High School. He was playing with toy cars and pretewnding to repair them ever since watching NASCAR as a child. He was his life ling dream to work in a pit crew.

The funeral will be held in Sebago Lake village at the united church of Christ at 11:00 a.m. and the families have requested that everyone park in their driveway if needed which is right across the street.

Article on Tsunami (Twitter/Wikipedia assignment)

killing nearly 230,000 people in eleven countries, the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami was one of the countries worse natural disasters in recent history. The tsunami was caused by an undersea magathrust Earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2004, containing an epicenter off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The Tsunami reached coastal shores of 11 different countries with some waves as high as 100 feet high. It was the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph with a magnitude between 9.1 and 9.3. The countries who received the biggest hit were Indonesia, India, and Thailand. This underwater earthquake also had the longest duration of faulting ever observed. It lasted approximately 8 to 10 minutes. The earthquake was so loud that it triggered earthquakes as far away as Alaska.
Given the length of time over which the earthquake took place, it created a series of waves instead of just large one. An estimated 1,600 km of fault line slipped about 15 meters of it's original location and happened over a series of two shifts.
Because of the tsunami's devastating results to countries across the globe, it sparked a very large humanitarian response. Countries from across the globe donated money to the struggling countries totaling around seven billion dollars. The largest economical impact the tsunami brought to these countries mainly surrounded fisheries. Being an export-oriented sector, that is responsible for generating substantial foreign exchange earnings, these countries took a massive financial hit. Also, because of the psychological effects the tragedy had on so many people across the world, many places saw a vast number of resort cancellations for tourists. Even the areas that were not affected by the tsunami experienced huge cancellations.
The main environmental impact aside from the human death toll was the sanitation and condition of much of the land. Mangroves, coral reefs, forests, were all destroyed and even the sewage system was completely ruptured. Overall, the Tsunami was one of the worse natural disasters in recorded history and it will affect the these countries for many years to come.

First Article: EDITED and quotes added.

Portland Water District Makes Another Attempt to Close Sebago Lake Boat LaunchThis marks another chapter in the ongoing dispute between the Portland Water District and the Town of Standish. For years, the Portland Water District has been trying to relocate a boat launch in Sebago Lake that has been a popular place for tourists and town locals. However, due to the fact that the town owns that property and is entitled to a boat launch, the Portland Water District cannot do anything about the launch unless the town agrees. The Portland Water districts primary concern is the popularity of the boat launch and the high exposure of contamination to the water it presents.The most recent attempt by the Portland water district to bar off town locals took place when they decided to place large boulders in front of the common parking lot used at the launch site. In response to this, the Portland Water district stated that the town had every right to a 90 ft. Right of way to the water, but that the parking lot was technically their property. The town was not surprised by the act and neither were the town locals. In fact, local boat owner Stanley Sanborn claims, “They've been trying to get us out of there for years now. We're not even allowed to touch the water, they have workers at the launch who inspect your boat and fine you if you so much as touch your foot in the water. It just makes it more difficult for us old guys to get our boats in the water and it’s just an unnecessary inconvenience…..” The town retaliated by passing a $105,000 proposal to expand they’re parking lot and compensate for the Portland Water District’s actions. “It's really quite a beautiful view coming down the hill. More importantly though, it shows the water district we are not backing down from this issue and that we deserve a right of way to this water front.” Stanley added.The boat launch has been a source of conflict between Standish and the water district for more than a decade. This includes multiple court cases, in which residents have twice rejected referendum proposals to move the launch. The main source of the districts’ concerns regards the drinking water that they draw from the southern end of the lake for nearly 200,000 people in Greater Portland. “They're just looking for any reason to limit the crowd down here.” Stanley included. Being the only public boating access on the southern end of Maine's second-largest lake, and most of the people who use it come from other communities in southern Maine, it has become quite the controversy in the past decade. The only other state-owned boat launches on the lake are on the northern end, at Sebago Lake State Park and at a small public ramp in Raymond.The town of Standish has worker’s at the boat launch on busy days, issuing passes and supervising parking. However, the launch is open t the public every day.The district hopes Standish's new parking area is just a temporary solution and that the town and water district will be able to revive discussions about an alternative launch site.Town officials and water district have claimed that relations between each other have improved recently but this is mostly because they haven’t discussed anything relating to the boat launch recently. "It's very unfortunate that things couldn't have been worked out to everyone's benefit," said Lunt, the water district trustee. "We've decided now to leave the boat launch issue up to the state and Standish."So for now, the town has reached a temporary solution to a seemingly persistent and relentless Portland Water district. However, I don’t believe we’ve seen the end of this one, and it would not surprise me if both sides agreed.

Essay on Bias

When it comes to bias, I personally try to avoid any and all forms of it. If I want to become a legitimate and well respected journalist, you simply have to avoid these temptations to speak in relation to your beliefs. For example, my favorite football team is the Oakland Raiders, so if I was reporting on how badly they lost, I may be slightly tempted to identify the positives rather than focus on the negative outcomes. However, this can be an issue considering my job is to report what is actually taking place and what has happened, not what I think was a good sign or what could be. In other words, it is dependant on what I am reporting when it comes to journalism bias.
For this particular subject, the bias I have chosen to identify is within situational stories. When reflecting or reporting back a story, I have been extremely tempted in the past to reflect my personal views on the current issue reported instead of simply reporting what has happened and what may preceded the incident. This, of course is no the best approach and from a journalists' perspective it is almost the opposite of what I should be doing dependant on the job. For example, Sports journalists' are supposed report what happens after the game, but they are also encouraged to reflect their personal views on the progress of the team and what they think this victory or lose may mean for the future of the team. These are technically blogs, but regardless they are still getting paid to report what happens.
I think i would be much better at personalized journalism because, well, who wouldn't want to reflect what they're personal opinion on an issue is? especially if it happens to be a topic of interest. When it comes to simple cold cut journalism though, I feel as though that is my weakness and I could certainly improve it in many different ways. One way I could improve this it to simply have another person read it so that I'm not using my own personal bias to avoid these potential biases. That may not seem as though it makes sense but at times i can literally tend to avoid my own mistakes because I believe they are right or think they should be included regardless off their requirements behind it.
Overall, I feel as though I have a relatively liberal sense of bias. In other words, I can control it for the most part. However, things can always be improved and having someone proofread my writings seem to always help.