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C. Wounded Knee
D. High-Low
Here are some figures that are used by those who make quality-of-life determinations. These figures are ten years old. Bring them up to date. Find the figures for your state and place them in relationship to the other data. Write an article on your findings.
E. Check These (1)
Use the resources of the World Wide Web to find the answer to the following questions and localize one of them for a story: 1. Foreign-born residents in the U.S. 2. Hispanic residents in the U.S. 3. Millionaire households. 4. CEO-worker pay ratio. 5. Prison population. 6. Violent crime rate. 7. Property crime rate. 8. Car-to-driver ratio per household. 9. Ratio of divorces to marriages. 10. Obese Americans.
F. Ranking
G. Campus Crime
How does your campus compare with other schools in the number of crimes per 100 students? Find out by analyzing the latest Uniform Crime Report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Annually, all law enforcement agencies–including campus police departments–tell the FBI how many crime reports they received during the preceding year. The statistics cover four categories of violent crime (murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults) and four types of property crime (burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson). The FBI compiles such statistics into a 500-page report and posts it on its Web site:http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm Colleges and universities report not only the number of crimes but also the number of students they have. This makes it possible to compute each school's crime rate. You will find campus crime statistics in "Section II: Offenses Reported" of the Uniform Crime Report. Each institution is listed in "Table 9–Offenses Known to Law Enforcement by University and College." The most efficient and accurate way to compare campus crime rates is to build a spreadsheet based on the UCR data:
H. Locating Information
Using online resources, find the following information. The resources you need are listed on NRW Plus under "Locating Information." 1. Through an open records request, you've obtained the mayor's cell-phone records. You notice that several times a week, he has called (804) 674-0790. Whose phone number is that? 2. You're doing a story about the Electoral College. Find an expert you could interview, especially someone in your state or a neighboring state. 3. Imagine you're writing a profile of a publicly owned company that is a major local employer. How much does the company's president get paid? Look it up in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's database of corporate filings. (Hint: You'll find executive compensation in a document called a DEF 14A.) 4. The Federal Register is the U.S. government's official daily publication for agency rules and notices, including the awarding of contracts to colleges and universities. Has your school been mentioned in the Federal Register recently? 5. You've obtained a county supervisor's travel reimbursement records for a trip she recently took to Chicago. She drove, but the mileage that she is claiming seems high to you. How far is it from your town to Chicago? 6. There's a fire on Main Street (or some other street) in your town. But you're on deadline with another story and can't leave the newsroom right now. Get a list of the names and phone numbers of Main Street residents, so you can call them and get their description of the fire. 7. Who "owns" the Web site www.martinlutherking.org? Network Solutions keeps a database of Internet-site registration records at:http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/ (Warning: Despite its name, martinlutherking.org is a racist Web site. Discover who registered that domain name, and then dig up background information on the owner.) 8. Find an official government report on carjackings. (Hint: Use Google to limit your search to federal-government Web sites.) 9. Has your state put online the disciplinary records for doctors or for attorneys? Or perhaps the health inspection reports for restaurants? What stories could you develop from such data? 10. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, how has the Latino population of your state or metro area changed over the past decade?
I. Homecoming
A gay senior at Vanderbilt University ran for homecoming queen and although he did not win he was elected to the homecoming court and took part—in drag—at the homecoming football game. At St. Cloud State University, a male student was elected homecoming queen, setting off an angry reaction among parents and alumni. At the University of Washington in Seattle, two women were crowned homecoming "royals." No king was crowned. At New Mexico State University, a gay student ran for homecoming queen, which led to the student government's ruling that queen candidates must be female. But three years later, a female student ran for homecoming king. These actions were part of an attack on "gender specific titles," a searching examination of the homecoming ritual that highlights the election of kings and queens. Some universities have dropped the election under pressure from women students who complained the process is sexist. Some schools have altered the procedure to include gay candidates. Make a search for a feature about homecoming controversies. If your school has had such a controversy, include it.
