Inflation

Here is an inflation calculator from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Budgets

Budget Resources

* Dave Herzog's "Twenty tips for covering and writing about budgets": http://www.projo.com/words/tip408.htm
* Dave Herzog's "Writing Better Budget Stories": http://www.projo.com/words/tip415.htm
beat and check out the "government info" links): http://www.powerreporting.com
* Robert Niles' "Statistics Every Writer Should Know": http://www.robertniles.com/stats/
* George Landau's percent-change calculator: http://www.newsengin.com (click on "free tools")
* Guidestar's "Donor's guide to the charitable universe": http://www.guidestar.org/index.html
* "The Spreadsheet Page": http://www.j-walk.com/ss/index.html
* Census Bureau information on state and local government finances, school spending, etc.: http://www.census.gov/econ/www/go0200.html
* National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting: http://www.nicar.org

Small claims court

Civil Courts

Here are the records for Seminole County foreclosures. Here is foreclosure process.

Here is Orange County foreclosure information.

Here is information about purchasing Orange County Court records.

Trials

Testimony

On television court dramas, witnesses give clear answers to direct questions. After all, the entire story has to wrap by the top of the hour. In real life, testimony isn’t always so easy.

Put yourself in the jurors’ seat for this exchange between Kristen Neuhaus and prosecutor Barry Disney during the trial of George Tiller Monday. Tiller is charged with performing abortions in an illegal business relationship with Neuhaus, another doctor.

In the following video, Neuhaus appears to take pains to keep from saying she “worked” for Tiller, even has she compares what she did in Wichita to a doctor she “worked for” in Kansas City, Kan. This video lasts less than three minutes. Jurors have had to listen to days of this kind of testimony.

Covering courts and Leonard Charles

Leonard Charles accosted a woman at a video store on Christmas Day, then came back and threatened to kill the clerks. After being convicted at trial, would he get the maximum time in prison? He might have, if the proper paperwork had arrived.



Previously on “Common Law”, we heard preliminary hearing testimony from women who said they were threatened by Leonard Charles on Christmas Day at a west Wichita video store. When Charles went to trial, a jury found him guilty, though of a less serious crime than he was facing. His public defender Lacy Gilmour explains:



A woman is stranded. A man offers to help. Then he follows her home. It happened to Autumn McDowell at the Family Video store near 29th and Tyler. It was Christmas Day. She and the video store manager described their frightening experiences recently for Judge Jeff Goering at a preliminary hearing.

Elections and exit polls

Here is a story on the dangers of exit polls.

Covering courts

Milwaukee J-S Court Coverage

Here's a strong in-depth look at the Milwaukee Courthouse - with some multi-media.

Covering Courts

Here is a chart of the Florida court system.

Here is an overview of the Florida circuit court system.

Here is information about the Ninth Circuit Court. Here is basic information about the docket. Here are some past annual reports.

Here is information about the Eighteenth Circuit Court. Here is docket information - not every judge posts his/her schedule.

Here is an overview of county courts.

Here is information about the Seminole County Clerk of Courts.

Here is information about the Orange County Clerk of Courts.

Here is information about the Fifth District Court of Appeals. Here are some recent opinions.

Here is information about the Florida Supreme Court.

Here is information about selection judges in Florida.

Here is a good resource for legal terms.

Covering Accidents

Thursday's speaker

Here is a clip of Thursday's speaker, Jerry Mitchell, from the Colbert Report.

Covering Police

Veterans Project

Here is a link to instructional videos about the oral history project.

Covering Higher Education

Thursday's class

In place of class on Thursday, please take the NewsU course on covering education.

Go here to create an account, if you do not already have one.

Here is the link to "Covering Education."

Remember to have my email available so I have proof you completed the course.

Education concepts

Education Resources

Here is a link to great organization: Education Writers Association. The page includes links to education data.

Here is a link to the Florida PTA.

Here is a link to the Florida School Board organization.

Here is the Florida Department of Education. Here is information on FCAT - including school and district scores.

Here is information on Florida chater schools.

Here are the school report cards for Florida.

Election coverage

Here is a strong election package.

Here is a basic candidate story.

Here is a pre-election story regarding residency.

Election resources

Here is a good resource for covering elections.

Here is another.

Here is a good resource for campaign finance questions.

Here is Orange County election information.

Here is Seminole County election information.

Covering elections

Exam 1 Study Guide

Here is a link to your study guide for Exam 1 on Thursday.

Beat 1 story reminder

Just a reminder from your syllabus:


Guidelines for written work:
• ALL PAPERS MUST BE TYPED AND STAPLED.
• LATE PAPERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
• You must have three human sources per story. Documents and reports should also be used as sources where appropriate, but they will not count against the three-source minimum. Your relatives, friends and classmates are NOT acceptable sources. Random citizens make poor sources.
• Make sure you submit a source list including contact information with each story.
• Do not plagiarize, fabricate, or submit work you have done for another class. Your story should not have a UCF connection.
• Stories must be double-spaced, in correct form and style and should contain your name, the date, and the slug in the upper left-hand corner.
• Proofread and correctly copy edit your copy! All spelling, punctuation, grammar, AP style, and factual errors will cause you to lose points.
• You may not quote another newspaper or television or other media source.
• All stories must be approved in advance – by a minimum of 12 hours. An email pitch must be sent and it must include an explanation of why the story is newsworthy and a list of 3 sources. If it is not approved in advance by email, the highest grade you may receive is 70 points.

Good luck!

Covering legislation

Another city council story possibility is looking at legislation that the council has approved.

Here is a link to all local laws/ordinances in Florida.

Here is a good explanation of how a law is approved at the state level. (Although it is not actually Florida, most state approval works the same way.)

Here is another good resource.

How a Bill Becomes a Law

Chapter 4

Google maps Assignment

View Orlando City Hall in a larger map

Covering local government

PAR story examples

Here is a city council story.

Here is a Public Works/City Council story. Here is another.

Here is an ordinance story.

Here is a zoning story.

Forms of City Government

here are three basic forms of local government - these are covered in chapter six.

1) Mayor-council
2) City manager-council

Here's a chart comparing/contrasting the two forms.

3) Commission - rarely used

Here's a link to one of the few cities that uses this form of government, Portland.

Story Pitches

Remember that you need to have beat story pitches approved. Here are tips for story pitches:

* Pitch ideas not topics
* Do initial reporting
* Explain why is this newsworthy
* Explain why this is important now
* Make sure that there are people central to the story

Good luck!

Meetings

Here is a meeting preview.

Here is an explanatory meeting preview story.

Here is an average story that came out of a meeting. (This is not an actual meeting story.)

Beat communities and newspapers

Winter Park/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Will & James

Oviedo/Detroit Free-Press
Hannah & Lea Anne

Maitland/Las Vegas Sun
Monique & Katie

Winter Springs/Louisville Courier-Journal
Carmen & Manny

Ocoee/Kansas City Star
John & Lauren

Offbeat meeting example

Here's an offbeat meeting story. It's an example of how sometimes the real news has nothing to do with the agenda.

Florida's Open Meetings Laws

Here is information about Florida's open meetings laws.

Census Data

Get to know your beat community through Census data.

What story ideas come to mind?

Does anything surprise you?

How might this information impact your list of sources?

Questioning officials

Beat Community Background

Today you will receive your beat community - a self-governing city in Orange or Seminole County.

The possible communities include:
Winter Park, Oviedo, Maitland, Winter Springs and Ocoee.

You will cover this community for the rest of semester and pitch story ideas about what is happening. You will be competing with another classmate on these pitches. We will go over examples in class. Good luck and have fun.

Albert Brooks

FOIA

Here is a great Florida FOIA resource.

UCF Veterans' Oral History Project

Here is a link to the UCF Veterans' Oral History Project. The oral history you collect will be stored at the UCF Special Collection Archives and the Library of Congress.

Welcome!

Welcome to Public Affairs Reporting.

Over the next few class periods, you will receive your beat community - a self-governing city in Orange or Seminole County. You will cover this community for the rest of semester and pitch story ideas about what is happening. You will be competing with two classmates on these pitches. We will go over examples in class.

Your goal is to put public affairs reporting into practice. I am available for any questions along the way.