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Exercise I
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     Rewrite for radio the following stories taken from the news wires of the AP and UPI. Keep the copy under 100 words.

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A. Solitary

     SAGINAW, Mich. (AP)—Unruly students will again be placed in solitary confinement, in a decision by the Carrollton School District that is being protested by some parents and a school board member.
     Under the program, names of students who misbehave are written on a chalkboard. After the fourth incident, students may be confined to one of three rooms—one 9 by 12 feet and two others 6 by 9 feet—for a six-and-a-half-hour school day, with two restroom breaks and with lunch brought in.
     David Pawley, a high school principal, said 21 of the school's 486 students had gone into solitary confinement since the policy went into effect at the beginning of the school year. The infractions covered by the policy include talking out of turn, walking around the classroom without permission and forgetting books for class.
     The policy was scrapped last month after several parents complained. But the school board, in a 6–1 vote Monday, decided to reinstate it.
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B. Edison

     NEW YORK (AP)—In a ruling that could affect scores of other cases, a civil jury in the Bronx has found Consolidated Edison Co. guilty of gross negligence in connection with last year's city blackout.
     The jury of one woman and five men returned a damage award of $40,500 to a chain of supermarkets Wednesday after deliberating three hours following an eight-day trial in state Supreme Court.
     Con Edison, which had won all other blackout damage decisions in higher courts, said it would immediately appeal the decision.
     The latest ruling differs from earlier ones in that it is the first involving a commercial establishment and also in that a different section of the law was argued in this case.
     The award went to Pageant Food Co., Inc., a chain of seven supermarkets. The company had sought $75,000, alleging spoilage and loss of business due to the blackout, which darkened the city for more than 24 hours in July.
     In what had been considered the most significant ruling on the matter to date, a three-judge appeals panel found last December that Con Edison could not be held liable for damages incurred by residential customers during the blackout.
     The judges threw out seven damage awards ranging from $45 to $972 that had been granted by a lower court.
     The judges noted in that ruling that the lower court judge had incorrectly overruled a state Public Service Commission regulation that exempts Con Edison from ordinary negligence claims.
     But the appeals panel ruled that Con Edison could be found liable if gross negligence was demonstrated.
     A Bronx jury found the utility guilty of gross negligence following the trial.
     Con Edison spokesman Irv Levine said the company was confident the state exemption clause would be upheld in this case on appeal, as it has been on the previous occasions involving residential customers.
     In the case of a finding of gross negligence, Con Edison claims its tariff exempts damage claims when service is interrupted "from causes beyond its control."
     Scores of other cases against Con Edison are pending in state Supreme Court throughout the city and parts of Westchester County. The only action thus far on those suits has been the denial of class-action status for them, thereby forcing individual firms to file their own suits.
—AP-NY-05-09 23:20 EDT
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C. Twins

     CINCINNATI (UPI)—On Aug. 19, 1939, a 14-year-old unwed girl gave birth to identical twin boys in Piqua, Ohio.
     A few weeks later, the twins were put up for adoption and taken in by different families—the Ernest Springer family in Piqua, and the Jess Lewis family in Lima, Ohio, 45 miles away.
     Apparently through bureaucratic misinformation, neither family knew at the time that their adopted son had a twin brother.
     About a year later, the Lewis family discovered through final adoption papers their adopted son had a twin, but they couldn't find out who had adopted him.
     So, the twins grew up in different homes 45 miles away, not knowing the other, and went on to lead separate adult lives.
     But the Lewis twin, who learned from his adoptive family that he had a brother, kept searching for his look-alike.
     Finally, 66 years after birth, he found probate court records that led him to his brother, now living in Dayton, Ohio.
     When the twins got together, they discovered some amazing coincidences about their separate lives.
     The Springer family named their adopted son "Jim." The Lewis family named their adopted son "Jim."
     Both boys had had pet dogs. Both named their dogs "Toy."
     After school, both took law enforcement training. Both enjoyed similar hobbies: blueprinting, drafting and carpentry.
     Jim Lewis had been married three times, Jim Springer twice. Both their first wives were named "Linda." Both their second wives were named "Betty." Both named their first sons "James Allan."
     University of Minnesota researchers who specialize in studying twins recently examined the two for a week to study similarities and differences in twins who had grown up separately. Similarities were the rule.
     "They found out that our brainwaves and heartbeat patterns are the same," Springer said. "Our handwriting is similar. We have virtually identical fingerprints. Our eye and ear structures are exactly the same, which is the real test of twins.
     "And," he added, "the results of all the tests we took looked like one person had taken the same tests twice."
—UPI 05-10 01:09 AED
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D. Lakes

     ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)—The 82 lakes that give Orlando its picture-card look will die without the infusion of millions of dollars and stringent drainage and pollution-control ordinances, a consulting group says.
     The lakes, which get their water from rainfall and runoff, are victims of pollution washed from the city's growing expanse of roofs, driveways, parking lots and streets, according to a report released
this week by the firm of Dyer, Riddle, Mills & Precourt.
     Every lake in Orlando "has been degraded by storm-water and other pollutants to the extent that favorable conditions exist for excessive aquatic weed growth, large-scale algae blooms, possible fish kills and loss of recreational use," the report said.







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