The Daily Donna

By Donna Baeck Students at the University of Minnesota received a crime alert for an attempted kidnapping on Feb. 18 via SAFE-U, the school’s mass notification text messaging system.  The university began to use the new alert system in the beginning of the academic year to notify students about the incidents more frequently, according to the MN Daily. Some students barely read the recurring crime alerts and others feel the campus is more unsafe. Justin Niska, a junior at the university, said he doesn’t always read the crime alerts thoroughly and still feels safe walking around on campus late at night. “Typically my gender is the one who is committing these crimes. I’m also a pretty big person so I know most people wouldn’t mess with me.” Niska said.  Students who still felt safe after reading the alerts said the likelihood of the crime happening to them seemed slim because the campus is so large.  The crime alerts describe kidnappings, robber...

By Donna Baeck Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is projected to win the Nevada Democratic caucuses that took place on Saturday, according to CNN. CNN reported Sanders' campaign utilized their grassroots fundraising to advertise to Nevada's largest Latino community through radio, television, and music streaming services like Pandora and Spotify. Sanders and his wife, Jane, took the stage in San Antonio after his victory in the Nevada caucus. He said his campaign had built a multigenerational and multi-race coalition in Nevada, according to CNN. "In Nevada, and in New Hampshire and in Iowa-what we showed is that our volunteers are prepared to knock on hundreds and hundreds of thousands of doors," Sanders. "That no campaign has a grassroots movement like we do, which is another reason why we're going to win this election." Sanders' success in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada made him a target against his other political rivals. It also caused more Dem...

By Donna Baeck Covering breaking news can be challenging in various ways for journalists as they try to provide accurate information in a timely manner. One major challenge in breaking news is keeping track of the facts. When the event first takes place, journalists often scramble to find the important details in order to publish a story. However, knowing what is actually true and what is yet to be verified can get tricky when rumors start to surface the Internet. Some solutions to this challenge is to verify sources and fact check frequently. Journalists should make sure they are receiving information from credible sources and providing attribution throughout their story. Another challenge is the time and pressure that comes with a breaking news story. When the story first breaks out, journalists might make the mistake of risking truth and accuracy for speed. News networks want to deliver stories in a timely manner and journalists must be able to keep up with the pace....

By Donna Baeck A 53-year-old violinist played her instrument as surgeons at Kings College Hospital in London removed a brain tumor on Wednesday, according to Time. Time reported surgeons woke up Dagmar Turner during the procedure and asked her to play the violin in order to avoid damaging areas of the brain that would affect her musical abilities when the tumor was removed. The tumor in her right frontal lobe was extremely close to areas of the brain that were responsible in the function of finer hand movements in her left hand, according to CNN.  A team of medical professionals spent two hours mapping areas of Turner's brain to locate which areas were active when she played the violin. Doctors successfully removed 90% of the tumor and were able to preserve full function in her left hand, according to Time. "We knew how important the violin is to Dagmar, so it was vital that we preserved function in the delicate areas of her brain that allowed her to play," sa...

By Donna Baeck Police and prosecutors announced on Saturday a 14-year-old boy was charged and arrested in the murder of Tessa Majors in New York City Park, according to CNN. CNN reported the boy was indicted on two counts of murder in the second degree. He is also charged with four robbery counts. This makes him the second person to be charged in the killing. A 13-year-old boy was arrested and charged with second degree murder, robbery, and weapons-related count a few days after the incident happened back in December. Tessa Majors was a student at Barnard College and was walking near campus on Dec.11 when the murder took place. She was approached by three teenagers who put her into a chokehold and looked through her pockets, according to NBC. NBC reported a criminal complaint displaying video, blood, and cellphone evidence. A witness reported to the police he heard a male voice say, "Gimme your phone. You got some weed, gimme that too." CNN reported police were ab...

By Donna Baeck The CNN story I read is about an ex-Michigan State gymnastics coach who was found guilty of lying to the police during the Larry Nassar scandal.  The article seems to follow an inverted pyramid structure because it begins with the most newsworthy info and provides readers all the information they need to know about the story. The lede and nutgraf discuss how the gymnastics coach, Kathie Klages, failed to act on the complaints given by several victims about Nassar's sexual abuse. She was convicted of a felony count and misdemeanor count. I would say this article is inverted because it is organized into three parts- the important details, an account given by a former gymnast who testified against Klages, and a segment of what could have been prevented if Klages had acted upon the complaints.  The middle of the article discusses how Larissa Boyce, a former gymnast, had testified against Klages. Boyce had told the coach back in 1997 about what Nassa...

By Donna Baeck A citizen-journalist exposing the extreme conditions of the coronavirus in Wuhan through social media has been missing since Feb. 6, according to CNN. Chen Qiushi, a 34-year-old lawyer and journalist, was capturing footage inside the Wuhan hospitals that were crowded with patients and frantic medical staff. When Qiushi stopped responding to messages, his friends and family reported his disappearance, according to CNN. CNN reported Qiushi had taken the last train to Wuhan a day after the city was placed under a lock down to stop citizens from traveling and spreading the virus. "What kind of a journalist am I if don't rush to the front line when there is a disaster?" Qiushi said. Time reported Qiushi's friend and well-known martial-artist, Xu Xiandong, announced in a live broadcast that he had been forced into quarantine by the police. The public and state security officers from Qingdao told Qiushi's parents he had been put into quarantin...

By Donna Baeck A recent CNN article citing the Washington Post discusses how the Secret Service was charged with rates as high as $650 a night to stay at Trump properties. This article includes a variety of sources in its report and attributes them very well. There is one attribution per paragraph and makes sure to cite government entities like the Secret Service. The nut graf of the article attributes the Washington Post which makes it clear to readers where the original report came from. It also mentions how the Post cited federal records that were obtained by public record requests and whoever reviewed the receipts. Providing attribution here tells the readers where the Post got their information from. The attributions throughout the article are very clear and all opinions and assumptions are credited. One example is a quote from a spokesperson from the Trump organization who said the article from the Washington Post was “total nonsense and is intentionally misleading” whi...

By Donna Baeck Dr. Li Wenliang passed away on Friday morning after being diagnosed with the coronavirus outbreak from treating patients in Wuhan, according to the New York Times.  Dr. Li had attempted to warn his medical school classmates in a private chat room after he detected a concerning cluster of viral infections in a Chinese province. He was later called in by medical officials who reprimanded him for spreading “rumors” and was required to write a criticism about himself, said the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times reported that after Dr. Li’s death, the Wuhan government began to receive criticism for the censorship that punished Dr. Li for acting as a whistleblower and a hero. “We will not forget the doctor who spoke up about an illness that was called rumor,” said one commenter in response to the Wuhan hospital’s announcement on Weibo, “What else can we do? The only thing is not to forget.” Dr. Li was a 34-year-old ophthalmologist in Wuhan who was expecting...

By Donna Baeck Mitt Romney was the only Republican senator to convict the president for the abuse of power during the senate vote in the impeachment trial on Wednesday afternoon in the Capitol building, according to CNN. Romney announced his vote during his speech a few hours before the rest of the GOP senators voted against both articles of impeachment. He explained how his faith guided him to make the decision and condemned the president, ABC reported. "I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the president, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong,” Romney told ABC. CNN reported Romney criticized the president for pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rival during the election.  “ The president's purpose was personal and political. Accordingly, the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust,” Romney tol...

By Donna Baeck A recent CNN article published on Saturday describes the emotional pregame ceremony at the Staples Center before the first Lakers game since Kobe Bryant’s passing. The lede works for the article because it includes the 'who, what, when and where'. The 'who'- the Lakers fans, the 'what'- commemorating Bryant’s career, the 'when'- Friday night and 'where'- Staples Center. Every lede must include each part because it provides the readers the most necessary details of the article. Another strong aspect of the lede is that it relays the grief and sorrow that was felt in the atmosphere of the arena. It includes the detail of a somber cello performance playing in the background as Lakers watched the video tribute. The lede also mentions who Bryant was. It includes the detail that he was not only a basketball star but also a husband and father to four daughters. Not only is this helpful information to readers who may not know wh...

By Donna Baeck According to a statement given by the Pentagon, the Defense Department will provide housing for 1,000 people per the request of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in response to coronavirus concerns.  The Pentagon said the request calls for the Defense Department to house anyone who is traveling overseas to the United States and is found needing to be quarantined. The HHS will be responsible to provide care, transportation, and security of the quarantined individuals while the DOD will prepare multiple facilities that can fit at least 250 people in separate rooms. The statement also mentions that anyone who may need to be quarantined will be monitored for at least 14 days and those found to be diagnosed with the infection will be sent to a civilian hospital in accordance to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.  CNN reported the coronavirus has killed at least 259 people and infected at least 12,000 people as it conti...