WHAT'S THE BEEF?
Columbia: Home of the ninth-cheapest ground beef in the nation

Everytime I go to the grocery store with my mom, I hear her complain about the high costs of everything. Ground beef is one of the things high up on her list. In St. Louis, specifically North County, the average price for a pound of ground beef is about $2.79. In the Missourian article "Columbia: A best bet for bargain beef," Stephanie DeMello reports that Columbia is home to the ninth-cheapest ground beef in the nation, at $1.65 a pound. In Columbia, eggs cost 73 cents for a dozen, compared to an average of about $1.50 a dozen where I am from. Overall, the article reports that Missouri ranks 11th in the nation for the lowest cost of living. When I go to the store with my mom, we are always bargain shopping, so I guess I will have to suggest coming to Columbia for her beef and egg needs. Or not.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16253

MYSTERIOUS DEATHS ADD UP
The growing number of deaths of American soldiers in Iraq leads to controversy

In the Missourian article "Protesters join day of anti-war rallies" by Stephen Nellis, the details of the protest that took place yesterday and some of the stories behind it are revealed. When I read this story, I immediately thought of the girl from my high school class that was killed while serving in Iraq this past summer. Nadia McCaffrey, whose son was also killed in Iraq, was reported as telling listeners that the "government had been dishonest with its soldiers and families." This is what made me think of my former schoolmate, as her death is still very largely a mystery, about three months after she died. This is one of the reasons for the protesting, and I think it's a very logical one. No one wants to bury a son or daughter.
On a more technical note, I thought it was interesting that the article didn't give much mention to the other side of the story. No details were given on how President Bush's camp is commenting on or dealing with the mounting opposition to the current state of things in Iraq.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16200

THE FIRST DAY OF FALL
Starting with temperatures in the nineties

Walking to class, dripping in sweat: something one would expect to go through in the hot, humid days of June, July or August, but this year, the heat and humidity is occurring in September, on the first day of fall. As the Missourian article "Warm weather defies seasonal norm," by Jessica Bassett, reports, today temperatures were in the summer range, hitting the low-90s, allowing everyone to wonder if it really is the first day of the fall season. The article also reports that the hottest temperature hit on this day was 97 degrees in 1937.
While we are stuck in the heat, we should be grateful that it is not ten years ago, as the coldest temperature, a bone-chilling 33 degrees, was hit in 1995.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16154

SEVERE STORMS HIT COLUMBIA
Reminding a dozen college students to bring their umbrellas with the slightest chance of rain

The storm that hit last night was definitely treacherous, as the Missourian reported it to be.
A bunch of people from my dorm, Cramer, went to eat at Rollins last night around 5:30, and I asked if they thought we needed umbrellas. "Nah." So, we went, and after we got inside and sat down to eat our food, it started storming. After we finished eating, we sat and talked for awhile, hoping to wait out the storm. Eventually, we decided to go for it, and one guy grabbed us newspapers to have at least a little cover. A river had already been created on Virginia Ave., so we had to go up to the crosswalk by Plaza to cross it. As we were running into the Virginia Ave. Garage to seek a little shelter, the wind picked up, and I thought we were going to be blown over. We got inside, tried to see if it would calm down a little - it didn't - and then ran the last 20 feet to Cramer. I was soaked. I had to change clothes only to go back out into the elements about 45 minutes later for a Statistics test all the way in Middlebush. Luckily, it wasn't raining when I was walking to my test, but when I left, it was pouring. I brought my umbrella, but it didn't help much. The walkway between Arts & Sciences and GCB was flooded. I had to wade through water up to my ankles pretty much all of the way back to the dorm.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16109

5 IDEAS
An excellent idea to increase community involvement

The Missourian article "5 ideas - What People Should Be Talking About," compiled by Holly Leach, is a very good concept for increasing community involvement and interaction with the newspaper. The paper plans on doing this every week, with five new ideas addressed to the public. This week, the "ideas" are the abortion bill, Constitution Day, pedestrian safety, "The buck stops where?" and artificial turf. After a brief overview of each issue or idea, there is a question asking the reader to comment with their opinions on the particular subject matter.
I think this is a very smart idea. It encourages involvement both with the newspaper and within the community. Some of the newspaper's first goals are to increase knowledge about the community it serves and to encourage involvement within that community, and the "5 ideas" concept is a very good way to accomplish those goals.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16082

FOR ALL WE CALL MIZZOU
What's it all about?

I noticed the wall featuring the names of private and million-dollar donors to the For All We Call Mizzou campaign last night when I went to see Best Week Ever at Jesse Hall last night. I was pretty sure that it was new, but I was not certain. The article "MU unveils million-dollar donor wall" by Adam Buckallew published in today's issue of the Missourian clarified it for me. I thought the wall was nice; it was modern and impressive, both in good ways.
I didn't like that the story did not have too many details concerning the For All We Call Mizzou fund raising. What exactly are the funds going to be used for? I know that they are close to reaching their target amount, so I was surprised to not see any mention of that detail in the article.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16073

THE RESOLVE AFTER THE STORM
The plans to help rebuild areas in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are being developed

Hurricane Katrina has brought heavy burdens on everyone it has affected, especially those people having to rebuild their lives, basically from square one. This Missourian article outlines President Bush's plans for the regrouping, which he discussed last night in an address from New Orleans.
President Bush acknowleged that the administration messed up on not getting on top of matters early on with Hurricane Katrina, and, while I am not an avid supporter of the current president, I think that it was very brave - and very good - of him to admit to that. I also thought that it was interesting that the article included former presidential candidate John Kerry's opinions on Bush and the rebuilding process, a year after the heated election season.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=16060

THE TREACHEROUS OZARK WATERS
First-hand knowledge of the dangers it poses

My family goes out to the lake at least two times a year, so while it was, at first, shocking to me that the Lake of the Ozarks was number one in the nation for alcohol-related accidents last year, it's not that big of a surprise. The alcohol is not the only thing that causes accidents on the lake; the article even states that larger boats and heavy traffic on the water can cause problems. My family and the other family vacationing with us this summer learned this first-hand.
Every Fourth of July, it's a tradition for my family to watch the fireworks display from the water at the Lodge of Four Seasons. The water is always choppy and traffic is always heavy when the fireworks wrap up; we were used to it and prepared for it. However, we were not prepared for one critical point when a wave engulfed almost all of the boat. The excess water started to drain out of the boat, but after a while, I could feel the water building back up on my feet and legs. We were starting to sink. My dad, the captain, eventually pulled off into a cove and all eight of us bailed out. My dad's pride and joy, which he perhaps loves a little more than my brother and myself, was fading away right before our eyes. Luckily, a family staying in one of the houses in the cove saw us and came to the rescue. The boat was even salvaged - my parents were back out on it for Labor Day.

Story Link: http://dev.columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=15996

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE MEDIA
Stephens College speaker examines it closely

In the Missourian article "Citizen Jane speaker focuses on media portrayal of women" by Tricia Herres, Barabara Weiner, founder of TVbyGIRLS, is quoted as saying "Words don't stick in our head, images do." Weiner says this in reference to the images of women's stereotypical roles as wives and mothers heavily advertised on television and in film. Weiner spoke at Stephens College last night as part of their Citizen Jane lecture series and also in a filmmaking class.
I think it would have been interesting to hear Weiner speak about her experiences in the field, as the entertainment industry, specifically filmmaking, is what I would like to report on when I finish school.
While I agree that these roles are still perpetuated by some media, I think that the stereotypical image is changing. This is due to the work of people like Weiner and the increasing acceptance of women as political, cultural and business equals of men.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=15918

HURRICANE KATRINA COVERAGE
How much is too much?

This blog entry doesn't necessarily go to a particular story, but the whole paper and perhaps all media combined.
When every single day almost every single story in the paper is about something having to do with Hurricane Katrina, it can get a little overwhelming. I think by now everyone knows about the horror inflicted by its wrath upon the Gulf coast and that money and other kinds of help are needed to improve the situation. I am not saying don't cover the hurricane and its effects at all; that would be wrong. Maybe limit it to two or three stories instead of five or six.
Other newspapers and media outlets are just as guilty of this as well. Television news stations are going 24/7 with Katrina stories. How are we supposed to know if anything else important is going on in the nation or world? The death of William Rehnquist caused a brief interruption in the hurricane coverage, but not much. The decision on who will be his replacement isn't getting a lot of coverage either.

Link to the 9/6 News Index of the Missourian: http://www.digmo.org/news/?day=2005-09-06

TRADING IN THE NORMAL LIFE FOR THE DORM LIFE
Dean of MU's College of Education lives in Mark Twain

When I began to read this story, I thought this lady, Dean of MU's College of Education Carolyn Herrington, was crazy. If you can afford to have an actual place, which I'm assuming you can as a dean, why would you even want to live in the dorm? Trading in your own private bedroom and bathroom for a foreign roommate and communal showers just seems absolutely nuts to me. Not only the privacy issue seems crazy; what about the dorm food? Occasionally it's okay, maybe good, but never great, especially if you're going to the entree line at Eva J's. But in Herrington's case, I can understand the allure of being around the education students to see what it's like to be a student at MU.
However, further down in the story, we find that Herrington lives in a three-bedroom apartment in Mark Twain with a full kitchen and private bathroom. Herrington even had a student paint and furnish the apartment for her. It must be nice.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=15819

GROUND IS BROKEN ON NEW JOURNALISM INSTITUTE
Missourian story pays little attention to detail.

While I am excited to see the progress being made on the Reynolds Journalism Institute, I was disappointed in this story by the lack of detail presented by the reporter, Shannan Tucker. She mentions nothing about when construction will officially begin on the institute or a tentative finish date for the project. Also when she said that the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation "made the largest private donation in MU history," she gave no detail as to how much it was. Tucker only said the entire project would cost $31 million. There's also no detail given as to how many people attended the groundbreaking yesterday.
It has interesting anecdotes, for example, "The shovel was in fact the one used in 1919 to break ground for nearby Neff Hall," but when the reporter says that the institute is going to improve journalism, I'd like to know how specifically. There are a lot of unanswered questions in this story. Are they going to have more classrooms dedicated to the new convergence sequence? What kind of new technology will be available in the institute?

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=15727

THE ADDICTING NATURE OF FACEBOOK
How much time spent on Facebook is too much?

I was one of the many people Charlie Rosenbury, the student profiled for a story in the Columbia Missourian (link below), asked to be a friend on the Facebook last spring. I agreed after reading his profile and seeing he was just doing it as an experiment, which I thought was pretty cool.
The Facebook has definitely caught the interest and curiosity of many people my age. We were talking about Facebook tonight at dinner because one of my friends, Lorenzo, is a "Facebook celebrity." One guy came up to him on the way to Plaza 900 because he recognized him from Facebook. Later into the conversation, one of the girls added that she has spent three hours at a time on Facebook, just looking at people's profiles and groups. She also spent that time updating her own profile with a quote a day over the summer. Some people's profiles are expansive, reading more like a dissertation than a simple profile for an online network of college students. I know my own profile tends to lead towards the dissertation side, with several quotes and a couple longer paragraphs in the "About Me" section.
The Facebook can definitely be an addictive thing for any college student. I know it is for me, anyway.

Story Link: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=15712