Brief #11 - Civics

GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump hasn’t seen his poll numbers slide any in the last month, despite controversies and lackluster debate performances. As a matter of fact, the Republican standard-bearer slightly grew his lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the former First Lady of Arkansas’ one-time home state.

In the U.S. Senate race, the contest has tightened between incumbent Republican Sen. John Boozman and Democratic challenger Conner Eldridge, but Boozman still maintains a comfortable 18-point lead.

The latest Talk Business & Politics-Hendrix College survey, conducted among 463 likely Arkansas voters on October 21, 2016, produced the following results:

Q: If the election for President were today, which candidate would you support?
32.5% Democrat Hillary Clinton
56% Republican Donald J. Trump
3.5% Libertarian Gary Johnson
2% Green Party candidate Jill Stein
1% Other
5% Undecided

Q: If the election for U.S. Senate were today, which candidate would you support?
52% Republican Senator John Boozman
34% Democrat Conner Eldridge
4% Libertarian Frank Gilbert
2% Other
8% Undecided

In mid-September polling, Trump led Clinton 55-34%, while Boozman led Eldridge 55-29%.

“Arkansas voters seem unfazed by Donald Trump’s controversies and the results of this latest poll reinforce Arkansas’ solidification as a Republican state,” said Talk Business & Politics CEO Roby Brock. “The strength of these Republican numbers at the top of the ticket could affect turnout and voter preference down-ballot in legislative and local races.”

Talk Business & Politics has released polling results on two medical marijuana initiatives that shows them trailing in support. On Tuesday, results will be released on Issues 2 and 3, which will appear on the November ballot.



KATV

Brief #10 - Listening Posts (Campus)

People receive information from more than news mediums such as the internet, tradition cable news networks, magazines, and newspapers. One of the oldest ways of receiving information is by word of mouth. You can pick up information in a lot of different places. We all have heard of barber shop or beauty shop banter, locker room talk, and even Sunday afternoon gossip after church. The places where you can go just to catch the 411 are listening posts.

 There are tons of places that you can tune in to what's going on at Southern Arkansas University and for me it's the cafeteria. I work in the cafeteria four nights a week and see almost every student regularly. Wiping the salad bar I can listen in on the football players say what went right and wrong at last week's game, sitting in the pizza corner I can over hear on what parties are planned for Thursday night, and at the end of the night cleaning the cereal dispensers I can "ear hustle" on the girl's table and figure out whose dating who. Listening post are anywhere you can pick up information that you didn't know before.

Brief #9 - Public Records (State, National, International)

"Higher energy costs fueled U.S. consumer prices in September, but overall inflation remained in check as it has for the past several years.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that consumer prices increased 0.3 percent last month. Much of that rise stemmed from energy, housing and prescription drugs. Energy costs surged 2.9 percent in September as oil and gasoline prices rebounded from recent lows. Previous price declines still mean that gas costs 6.4 percent less than a year ago.

Inflation has stayed relatively low despite job growth that has brought more workers into the economy. Until last month, the modest levels of inflation largely came from muted oil prices and a stronger dollar.

Core inflation, which excludes the volatile categories of food and energy, rose 0.1 percent.

Prices fell last month for cars and clothing. But they increased 0.4 percent for shelter costs, which make up roughly a third of the consumer price index.

Over the past 12 months, core inflation has increased 2.2 percent. But the entire consumer price index has risen at a gradual yearly pace of 1.5 percent, undershooting the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target for inflation."






Works Cited
Arkansas Online

Brief #8 - Public Records (Local)

Columbia County Public Records: Final Divorce Decrees

(Most Recent - Listed First)

Jamie C. Linton v. William M. Linton. October 5. Plaintiff's name restored to Jamie C. Hanson.

Rachel Cole v. Ludlow Ashmeade. October 5.

Joshua Meadors v. Marty Willis. October 3.

Jimmy D. Glass v. Christy Lynn Glass. September 15.

Andrew Joseph Guidry v. Charity Ann Guidry. September 14.

Derrick Thomas Jurls v. Bobbie Danette Jurls. September 14.

Lawrence Hardin v. Kinwania Jackson. September 8.

Katherine Meadors v. Tony Foster. September 8.

Paula Kelly v. Joel Kelly. September 7.

Veronica Smith v. James C. Smith. September 7. 

Heather R. Sherman v. Matthew S. Sherman. September 7.

Jeremy R. Criss v. Alison R. Criss. September 7. 

Amber L. Morrison v. Patrick J. Morrison. September 7.

Works Cited

Magnolia Reporter - Public Records

Brief #7 - Campus Hard News

College football games are great outlets for sports fanatics, spectators, and students to inter-mingle. The aroma of grilled hot dogs and fresh turf enraptures your nose and the light chill you feel right before Summer leaves and Fall begins lets you know what time it is. Picture yourself at your all time favorite SEC Game; you're calling the Hogs and just before you belt out "Sooieeee" you notice your Professor getting arrested. Well that was the case for University of Arkansas students this past weekend.

According to the Washington County Sheriff Department Lawton Nalley was booked into the Washington County Detention Center after allegedly yelling profanities at Arkansas head coach, Bret Bielema. Nalley is an assistant professor of the Agriculture department at at The U of A, and he was booked on suspicion of public intoxication and disorderly conduct.

Nalley bailed out the same day, and issued a public statement: "I embarrassed myself, the college and the university. I hold myself to higher standards and have no excuses for my actions. I especially want to apologize to Coach (Bret) Bielema.

"Lona Robertson, interim dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences at The U of A, released the following statement: "We have reviewed this situation and are very disappointed by Dr. Nalley’s actions, which were highly inappropriate. Dr. Nalley is remorseful for what occurred. He is respected for his teaching and research, and has been an asset to the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, and the college. Taking all this into consideration, we are moving forward with appropriate measures to address the matter with Dr. Nalley, who remains employed by the University."








Works Cited
5 News Online - Fayetteville

Brief #6 - Campus Crime

Most people would imagine their school as a safe haven. When parents send their children off to college they never imagine that they will be victims of crime, let alone commit crimes. Colleges and universities are melting pots of people from all walks of lives and backgrounds and there is no sure fire way that just because their students aren't convicts that they won't become convicts. Arizona State University is one of the largest schools in the nation and they are making headlines for more than just academics at this point. Upon researching campus crime, I googled campus crime reports and an article regarding Arizona State University and the University of Arizona was at the top of the list. Arizona Central reported that the most reported campus crime on both campuses was burglary. The article also touched on several other crimes being reported between both schools such as rape, liquor and drug law violations, and aggravated assault.

	UA	ASU
Burglaries	57	33
Rape	14	18

"UA had fewer liquor-law incidents but more drug-law incidents than in 2013 or 2014. It was almost the same at ASU, which in 2015 had the most drug arrests at 325 and fewest alcohol arrests at 314 in its three-year period." 

"ASU cited a recent survey from the American College Health Association survey which showed that 60.9 percent of ASU students reported they had ever received information from their university about sexual assault and relationship violence, up from 50.1 percent two years ago."



Works Cited
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2016/10/01/asu-ua-clery-report-statistics-crime/91342452/

Brief #5 - Hometown Feature News

"Merry Time in Magnolia" struck gold at the most recent Magnolia Advertising and Commission meeting. The commission granted the Downtown Magnolia District with $10,000 for Christmas lighting and installation of the new lights.

 "Merry Time in Magnolia" is a new 2-day event that will include lights, meet and greets with Santa for the children, choral music, and other activities.

The commission also granted over $16,000 to installing the Christmas lights at the courthouse and over $6,000 to studying the feasibility of an aquatic park here in Magnolia.

Kathy Gean, speaking on behalf of the Downtown Magnolia District, told commissioners that local businesses think Wilson Garden is under-utilized so it was decided that it would be the perfect backdrop for "Merry Time in Magnolia".

Works Cited

http://www.magnoliareporter.com/news_and_business/local_news/article_3e133a68-84db-11e6-989a-df78f3cce9c3.html 

Brief #4 - Hometown Hard News

Recently here in Magnolia, there have been announcements that Amfuel, a fuel cell manufacturing plant, was closing it's doors and moving the plant's operations to Wichita Falls, TX. 

Amfuel has offered several, out of the 300 employees, transfers to the new facility. Amfuel has recorded that payroll is at 6 million dollars annually.

Even though the plant is closing down inevitably, Amfuel will still remain operating here in Magnolia, Ar for another full year. Talks and negotiations between the company and Union workers have lead to the decision that the company will do whatever they can to minimize the constraints of the move on the employees. 

The Gourley Management Group went on to recognize the City of Magnolia, the MEDC, as well as the state of Arkansas for their efforts. 

The Amfuel Plant has a long history here in Magnolia. Prior to being Amfuel, it was owned by a French company by the name of Zodiac and before that it was American Fuel Cell and Coated Fabrics. 

  Works Cited http://www.magnoliareporter.com/news_and_business/local_business/article_b8b5c62c-85b3-11e6-946b-0f483f0f96e4.html

Brief #3 - Twitter News Leads with Story Links

Clinton focuses message to white people following Terrence Crutcher killing https://t.co/mMFdjzv26e via @Salon

— Ariel (@bONiTA_PeQuEnA) September 21, 2016

Trump uses charity's money for legal dispute settlementshttps://t.co/le057D9pPY

— Ariel (@bONiTA_PeQuEnA) September 21, 2016

Rangers prevail over Angels 5-4 https://t.co/56Ncqj9nJ1

— Ariel (@bONiTA_PeQuEnA) September 21, 2016

Lady Gaga releases new video for #PERFECTILLUSION https://t.co/otutRSQgbg

— Ariel (@bONiTA_PeQuEnA) September 21, 2016

Ghost Rider debuts on Marvel's #AgentsofSHIELD season 4 https://t.co/O3FiFEEDBA

— Ariel (@bONiTA_PeQuEnA) September 21, 2016

Ghost Rider debuts on Marvel's #AgentsofSHIELD season 4 https://t.co/O3FiFEEDBA

— Ariel (@bONiTA_PeQuEnA) September 21, 2016

Curtis Hanson, director of L.A Confidential, dies at 76. https://t.co/v01gYjmQeZ

— Ariel (@bONiTA_PeQuEnA) September 21, 2016

Atlanta, new comedy series, on FX already renewed for another seasonhttps://t.co/bWMrOoIXGG via @thr

— Ariel (@bONiTA_PeQuEnA) September 21, 2016

Rapper beats his girlfriend for infidelity. https://t.co/T3wBKTCjuG

— Ariel (@bONiTA_PeQuEnA) September 21, 2016

Another unarmed man killed by police. https://t.co/RC8V4Kn53p

— Ariel (@bONiTA_PeQuEnA) September 21, 2016

49'ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick recieving death threats https://t.co/kFFDHkkg0M

— Ariel (@bONiTA_PeQuEnA) September 21, 2016

Brief #2 - Twitter Breaking News Updates

Over the past few years there have been heightened amounts of tension fermenting here in the United States regarding African-American people, law enforcement, the judiciary system, racial profiling, and racial bias in general. The realization that there was a problem with racial profiling began after the Trayvon Martin incident back in 2012 when a neighborhood watch member shot and killed the 17-year-old simply because he seemed suspicious and was acquitted of all charges. This one incident was an eye-opener but there have been several more incidents where the United States' laws and legal systems have been less than righteous towards African-Americans and the deaths of unarmed African American men have led to no indictments for their killers. Just to name a few cases: Micheal Brown in Ferguson, Dontre Hamilton in Milwaukee, Eric Garner in Staten Island, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Walter Scott in South Carolina, and most recently Alton Sterling in New Orleans and Philando Castile in Minnesota. This was just a little background knowledge to inform you on the breaking Twitter news updates. 

Due to the unfortunate, unrighteous treatment of African American people here in the United Stateds 49'ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has elected not to stand during the national anthem before games now. The entire country has been in an uproar choosing sides and asserting their opinions on what is just and what is unjust. Colin Kaepernick's reasoning for not standing during the national anthem is "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,”, “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder." The Twitter story I have been following is on South Park’s Kaepernick spoof. When I was choosing what story I wanted to follow for this brief I searched through the list of trending topics and saw Southpark, I figured it was something about the show ending but when I logged on I saw that they had started airing their 20^th season Wednesday night on Comedy Central. 

Apparently, Southpark had taken on the Kaepernick controversy and spoofed it for their first episode of season 20. I followed the thread for an entire night and was very entertained by the comments. This was a great way to lighten up the mood on such a controversial topic and for a little while Americans of all races were able to unite and commend Southpark on being “satirical geniuses”.  

See a portion of the Southpark Spoof here: https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/776248193151557633

Below are screengrabs of some of the tweets from the topic page. 

Works Cited

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000691077/article/colin-kaepernick-explains-why-he-sat-during-national-anthem 

https://twitter.com/search?q=%22South%20Park%22&src=tren 

https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/776248193151557633

Brief #1 - Defining News

I would bet any amount of money that the way "Baby Boomers" define news is night and day from the way that us "Millennials" do in this day and age. This observation was made simply based off of me and my personal news preferences. Just to be sure lets look at the definition of "news" in the most reliable dictionary available.

Even with knowing the actual definition of news, the validity of my point will not change. I believe that most of our elders feel as though the source where the news comes from defines the news, so whilst my grandmother thinks the only definition of news is our local newspaper, Channel 12, or any other local, national, or international news channels I have to disagree. I feel as though the source where the news is acquired from does not dehydrate the "juiciness" of a fresh story or first look. I hate to be that one person that plugs in social media use for everything, but the more and more I try to fight it, it just consumes me. News to me is actually Facebook. YES, I actually said it. Everyday before I even rub the crust out of my eyes or leave my bed I pick up my phone and there are notifications from Facebook. There are reminders for upcoming events, notifications from comments I or other people have made, instant feedback from anyone about ANYTHING! Now that I've finally typed it out I feel much better about admitting that I get news from Facebook. This past Summer when the Dallas Police Shooting Incident occurred there were several instances where the Facebook pages for most of the major news stations went Facebook Live and streamed everything as it was going on with no commercials and hardly any interruptions. Facebook and other social media platforms alike are doing a great justice to us more "tech-savvy" millennials by placing hard national news right alongside the funny, quirky videos of cats getting stuck in lampshades, as well as, posts about your Great Aunt's 80th birthday party.  

Works Cited
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/news