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Anne Arundel Community College Job Fair

      Thursday started off as any other Thursday.
      Until 12:30 p.m. came around. I was able to put on my reporter cap and cover the Anne Arundel Community College annual Job Fair. This was my very first "real story" that I was covering.
When we walked in there as a class, it was nice to have that comfort feeling that you were not alone, and that everyone in class was doing their first "real story."
      Once we went on our own to cover the event, I back nervous and wasn't even sure where to start. I just stood and took it all in.
So I began with my first tweet.

Come out to the #aaccfair #am pic.twitter.com/Dyr0FL4WdA
— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) April 16, 2015

      As I looked around to see everyone so engaged with the conversations they were having with the employers, the applications they were filling, papers they were reading, and much more!

Job seekers filling out resumes at the #aacc job fair #aaccfair #am pic.twitter.com/6cyjbDkExT
— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) April 16, 2015

     To make a good story I needed 4 things:
          1. Interview at least 2 different businesses
          2. Interview someone seeking for a job
          3. To get as much information about the event as I could
          4. To get direct useful quotes
      I was nervous to go up to a business when I was deciding on which one to approach first. So I went to Apple Inc. As I told them that I was reporting a story for my class and if I could ask them a few questions, they began to become disinterested. They one lady told me that she would not be able to give me specific information. At this point, I became nervous and wasn't sure what to ask next. Then, it just came out and I knew exactly what I should say. Like it became natural. She was nice and answered the best she could.
      After talking with Apple, I felt a little more comfortable with myself going up to businesses and talking to them. It became more of a conversation for me when I was talking to other businesses. I was able to get quotes from everyone I spoke to.
     I tweeted out some tips for success in style!

Tips to success in style: clothing should be clean, pressed and wrinkled free #aaccfair #am

— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) April 16, 2015

Tips to success in style: avoid tight and revealing clothing #aaccfair #am

— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) April 16, 2015

Tips to success in style: simple, conservative jewelry and accessories can be worn, limited to three items #aaccfair #am

— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) April 16, 2015

      After I was done covering the event I was able to use my notes, my memory, and my tweets to create a story. It was a fun experience and I will only get better as I continue to practice doing small things like this.

What now? A female president?

      Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State, has officially entered the 2016 race to be the President of the United States. Clinton is the first candidate in the thin Democratic field to formally announce a 2016 run, and is unlikely to face any real challenge until the general election.

      "I'm running for president," Clinton says in the video. "Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top. Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion so you can do more than just get by. You can get ahead and stay ahead. Because when families are strong, America is strong."

I'm running for president. Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion. –H https://t.co/w8Hoe1pbtC

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 12, 2015

      In 2008, Clinton made history when she ran for president the. She became the first women to win presidential primary races and nabbing a total of about 18 million votes. Clinton suspended her campaign and urged voters to vote for President Barack Obama. 

      This week Clinton is heading to Iowa where she will do small events throughout the week. She will kick off her new bid for the White House. She will not formally hold a political rally or give a campaign speech until may. 

A clip from her announcement video saying she will be running for president.
(Photo Credit: usnews.com)

      I think people are supporting her because she is the first women to run for president. But people want options. 

      

      Clinton's announcement video she is not even in it for the first 90 seconds of the two minute video. Causing the video to be easily mistaken for something else

      In the last three months, according to Facebook, an average of $270,000 unique have talked about Clinton each day. So far, her announcement video has been viewed more than 2.8 million times on Facebook and nearly 2.5 million times on YouTube 

     

California Drought

      California is the state where people refer to when they say, "the grass is always greener." Well, lately the grass isn't very "green." California consists of 164,000 square miles of mountains, farmland, and coastlines.

Before and after of Lake Oroville (CA.gov)

      The state of California is facing one of the most severe droughts on record. Governor Brown announced last week to compel people to reduce water consumption.
      California is entering their fourth year of drought with a record-low. The State Water
Resources Control Board is warning that water right holders, including senior right holders, are likely to be curtailed soon within key watersheds in the state. This warning to holders of more than 36,000 water rights across the state, is designed to give water right holders advance notice to help them make difficult spring planting decisions.

      Will Califorinains be able to see what their beautiful state once looked liked?

The drought “will change what Californians see as beautiful” http://t.co/XcEB9pyEBM pic.twitter.com/KW5IX65Gin
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 4, 2015

      California once was the place where the winter-chilled tourists with eight acres of turf and flowers, city officials are in the early stages of re[lacing the grass with cactus, desert bushes and paloverde trees. The city was hoping to replace the entire lawn, but the project's $2 million price tag forced it to begin instead with three acres, said the city manager.

Before and after of Folsom Lake (CA.gov)

      The biggest water users in California is farming. California grows half of the fruits and veggies produced in the States, including more than 90 percent of the country's grapes, walnuts, almonds, and broccoli. Though agriculture uses more than 80 percent of the state's water, the regulations merely require farmers to submit "water management plans."
      What will California's next step?

(Photo credit: arabspring-news.com)

Young co-pilot of Germanwings, Andreas Lubitz, was the caused of the plane crash on March 24th. Lubitz has been accused by French prosecutors of intentionally flying an Airbus 320 into the French Alps, with 150 people on board.
Investigators believe that the co-pilot locked the captain out of the cockpit and then crashed the plane. My thought on this is why doesn't Germany have the same laws as us when it comes to the pilot or co-pilot leaving the cockpit? A stewardess has to come in and sit. CNN reported that Capt. Patrick Sondenheimer screamed "For God's sake, open the door!" as he banged on the cockpit door, pleading with the co-pilot. Thirteen minutes later, the plane crashed into the French Alps. The audio from the plane's cockpit voice reporter has not been released. It was 1.5 hours of audio. But the German newspaper published a summary of the transcript of the recording.
Investigators have not found any writings or conversations where Lubitz shared his motives or plans of doing this. His past medical records inform them that Lubitz was suicidal at one time and underwent psychotherapy. But this was before he received his pilot's license. Officials say that the company was never given any indication Lubitz was depressed, and that if he went to a doctor on his own, he would have been required to self-report if deemed unfit to fly. Which I did hear from a source that he was not allowed to be at work that day. A doctor informed him that he was unable to work, for reasons that I did not read why.
About 150 German investigators are in the French Alps at the site of the crash identifying remains of bodies. of the 150 passengers, 78 have been identified through DNA.

12-year-old detained

In Colorado a 12 year old girl has been arrested.

She has been arrested on two counts of attempted murder, after allegedly trying to kill her mother twice. She attempted to kill her mother by poisoning her drinks with bleach.The woman first felt sick on March 2, after drinking a smoothie, according to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office. While she noticed the smell of bleach from her glass, the woman assumed her daughter hadn't rinsed it properly. 

(Photo Credit: imgarcade.com)

Then a couple days after that, the mother went to drink her water and smelled the bleach again. She then confronted her daughter. 

The daughter told her mother that she was trying to kill her because she took away her iPhone. 

The 12-year old was detained on Friday. she is currently at the Boulder County Juvenile Center on two counts of attempted first-degree murder. 

It is obvious how attached we are to our electronic devices now days. The fact that a 12-year old child thought to kill her mother because she took her phone away just leaves me speechless. 

It is pretty scary to me that a child so young would do something like that. It is outrageous the reaction the daughter had to having her phone taken away. This reflects on how teens today are so dependent on it that they are going to these extremes. 

Drinking bleach will make you sick to your stomach. It can cause liver and/or kidney damage that could eventually kill you. 

Potholes

As I was driving today I was thinking about what I wanted my post to be about this week. Well after hitting a few potholes in the road, I came home to a news hit on WBAL about the pothole problems in Maryland.
Hitting these potholes can do so much damage to your car, whether you hit it straight on or just nick it. It could possibly effect your alignment to your car, tire damage, wheel rims, and etc. I know I have nicked a few. It is hard going 55 miles-per-hour and seeing a pothole and trying to avoid it, especially when other cars are around.

(Photo from The Baltimore Sun)

According to the WBAL article, city transportation officials said March is typically the busiest month for pothole repairs. I am sure it is the busiest month. After all the bad weather we tend to get closer to March, it causes some damage to the roads. 

My mother and I were out today and we saw crews working on some of the roads today to repair the potholes. According to WBAL, there have been 21,000 pothole repairs so far this winter. These repairs took up to 12 crews specifically to fix them. 

Skydiving incident

I recently read about an Australian skydiver having a seizure while skydiving.
Christopher Jones, who is 22 years old, survived a seizure while skydiving from 12,000 feet in Australia. He spent 30 seconds unconscious in free fall before his instructor saved him and pulled his parachute. Jones uploaded a video on Youtube on Sunday.
I could not imagine what it would be like to be an instructor, especially when something dangerous as this happens. How was the instructor able to get the skydiver so quickly? Jones was going 124 miles-per-hour. After having an incident like that there is no way I would never be able to do it again. Jones was able to go skydiving again. I wonder what caused for him to get a seizure? I would think this has caused him life-long effects limiting to things. (Photo was taken from The Sydney Morning Herald)

Rams Head Tavern videotaping

Last Thursday, Kyle Muehlhauser, owner of Rams Head Tavern, was arrested on six counts of visual surveillance with prurient intent. This investigation began in May of 2014. While the lady who reported it was using the bathroom, the camera fell onto the floor.
Reading this article gives me an un-easy feeling. How many other restrooms have I been into that may have camera hidden? Women do a lot of things in the bathroom that isn't for everyone to see. Such as, going to the bathroom, changing clothes, getting sick, crying, etc. It disturbs me to even hear about this.
My quick questions are:
-How long has this camera been there?
-Has he taken it down each night, put everything on his computer and then deleted it off the camera and put it back?
-Why did he feel the need to have a camera in the women's bathroom?
He is an owner. Why would he think it is okay for him to place a video camera there? I can only imagine what is going to happen to his business knowing what type of owner he is. Is it really worth it?

Rams Head Tavern-Savage Mills (Photo credit: Ramsheadgroup.com)

ISIS has recently released a five-minute video showing hostages in orange jumpsuit being marched along a beach, each accompanied by a masked militant. The men are made to kneel before they are simultaneously beheaded. They were 21 Egyptian Christians, most were from a poor village in Egypt, who were recently beheaded. The video is called "A Message signed with blood to the nation of the cross" and was released by the group's Al-Hayat Media Center, according to flashpoint intelligence, a global security firm and NBC News Consultant.
President Sisi, who is the current president of Egypt has stated that "Egypt and the whole world are in a fierce battle with extremist groups carrying extremist ideology and sharing the same goals," 

Is PTSD an excuse?

If you have not seen American Sniper, this post will spoil the ending. But if you have heard of Chris Kyle and know is story than you already know.
Chris Kyle is a United States Navy SEAL and was the most lethal sniper in the United States military history with 160 confirmed kills. While Kyle served 4 tours in Iraq he was awarded many awards for his heroism.
Kyle reached out to veterans who had Post-taumatic Stress Disorder and would try to help them. In 2013, Kyle and friend were shot and killed at a shooting range.
This week, the trial of Eddie Ray Routh opens. Eddie Ray Routh, who has PTSD, is accused of killing Chris Kyle.
Now the question everyone has is. "Will Post-traumatic Stress become the legal defense for ordering a man who helped other veterans battle the same affliction?"
PTSD is a very serious and dangerous disorder. But is this an excuse to why he killed Kyle and his friend? I don't believe that it is. I am very aware that it a serious condition but you don't just get an urge to pick up a gun and kill someone. If Routh wanted to shoot something, they were at a shooting range. Why did he decide to shoot people? In this article it states form Dr. Harry Croft, "The core symptoms of PTSD include irritability, agitation and anger. But the get angry at other stuff, usually, if there is any physical part of that anger, its with family memebers. But rarely is it ever a murder."
Chris Kyle Trial

Super Bowl 2015

Our question every Monday after the Super Bowl, what was the best commercials? Well Vox News gave us their opinion on what their "11 best 2015 Super Bowl commercials" were! (Click the name of the article to see how they rated the commercials.)
The commercials they selected are the ones that stuck out as I watched the Super Bowl. I wouldn't have necessarily put them in that exact order, because the Budweiser Puppy to me should have been number one. How could you not love it?

What to expect in Com 102

Have you ever had a class that you are extremely excited for but nervous at the same time? Yeah, me too! I am currently taking a course, Writing for News Media, at Anne Arundel Community College. I chose to take this course because my major is Mass Communication and I am currently still trying to decide exactly what I want to do, and I think this course will help me. I think this course will help me decide on what I want to do because I want to pursue my career in the media part of sports. I have considered maybe being a writer for a sports team or a public relations representative for a team. So I hope this course will help decide. I am really excited to be taking this course to help me learn the aspects in writing for news media. In this course throughout the semester I hope to gain how to write for news media, print and electronically, and the do's and don'ts. I think this course will be a positive experience for me. It will teach me to be a better writer and help me with my time management. Time management is very crucial when writing for news media, and also very crucial for my major. As a writer you must meet your deadlines. Whether I decide to pursue my career in writing for news media or something else, time management is very important. I enjoy writing but I hope to improve my writing skills in this course as well!