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30 Nov 2010 20:45

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U.S.: Why Marinette school officials didn’t notice the hostage situation

  • one The lights were off in the classroom at the time the hostage crisis started, so it didn’t look like anyone was in there.
  • two A sign was posted on the door telling seventh period students to go to the library, which was common at the school.
  • three While administrators were suspicious, they didn’t check until a parent said something – two hours later. source
  • » About the shooter: Sam Hengel, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, strangely did not make any demands during the situation and even joked about music and movies. Hengel, a straight-A student who liked the outdoors, apparently didn’t show any telltale signs beforehand. His parents are staying mum in the wake of the incident.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Nov 2010 11:08

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U.S.: Lame-duck Senate passes food-safety bill with bipartisan love

  • good A food-safety regulation bill, made necessary in the wake of multiple salmonella crises, passed the Senate with bipartisan support.
  • bad The bill may not benefit organic or small-scale farmers, who could be treated to similar levels of scrutiny to the agricultural giants.
  • worse The bill was held up for months by GOP Senator Tom Coburn, who apparently thinks you should eat contaminated peanut butter. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Nov 2010 10:23

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U.S.: Marinette, Wisconsin police: The teacher is the real hero here

  • The teacher was nothing short of heroic. She kept a very cool head and kept the suspect as calm as possible. We really give that teacher a lot of credit.
  • Marinette, Wisconsin Police Chief Jeff Skorik • Describing how the teacher involved in last night’s high school hostage situation ensured that things didn’t get worse. The 15-year-old student, who has not been named, was carrying two types of guns and a duffel bag loaded ammunition when he held a classroom hostage last night. He’s reportedly suffering from life-threatening injuries due to wounds self-inflicted as the hostages were released. It could have been far worse, kids. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Nov 2010 10:07

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U.S.: How Marinette, Wisconsin’s local paper played the hostage situation

  • Because we admit to having a tinge of morning-after guilt about the way we ripped the online coverage of the high school hostage situation in Marinette, Wisconsin last night, here’s the cover of today’s Marinette EagleHerald. This is probably the biggest story of the year for them. And in case you’re curious, you can read the full stories over here. (Green Bay also had some good play in print, even if early online coverage was lacking.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Nov 2010 00:22

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Offbeat, U.S.: If you keep rubber bands in your car, you might get searched

  • standard Cops in Pennsylvania pulled a guy over because a GPS unit was blocking the driver’s view. No big deal, right?
  • unusual Upon searching his car, the officers found 26 pounds of cocaine (!), worth $1.2 million, hiding in a secret compartment.
  • dubious The probable cause for the search was…the presence of rubber bands (often used to stack money). source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 23:01

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Politics, U.S.: TARP: Not as expensive as we’d thought it was

  • $109
    billlion     estimated losses of the TARP program, as of last March, according to CBO
  • $66 billion that same estimate, revised five months later by CBO
  • $25 billion the most recent estimate of TARP’s losses, as of today  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 22:42

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Biz, U.S.: Wikileaks’ next target: the financial sector

  • It could take down a bank or two.
  • Wikileaks founder Julian Assange • Discussing an upcoming “megaleak” to be released early next year. Assange is being characteristically tight-lipped about this, but he says it will expose both “the ecosystem of corruption” and “the regular decision making that turns a blind eye to and supports unethical practices.” The only precedent, he says, is the Enron emails.   source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

29 Nov 2010 22:15

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U.S.: Marinette, Wisconsin hostage situation ends; coverage still sucks

  • good The high school hostage crisis is over in Marinette, Wisconsin and only the gunman was hurt. The situation lasted about five hours.
  • bad The coverage was still very scarce for hours, though Green Bay finally has some photos. Can anyone explain why this happened? source
  • » There’s a lesson here: In the past few years, newspaper companies have cut their resources very thin, especially at companies like Gannett, which owns the nearby Green Bay Press-Gazette. It’s sad to think that when something genuinely bad happens in small-town America, there are no details because we’ve cut our resources that much. We’re sad for the town that trusts the local news; we’re also glad that things weren’t worse.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 20:48

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U.S.: Some more morsels from the Marinette, Wisconsin hostage situation

  • 24 people are being held hostage – 23 students and one teacher; noone has been injured
  • yes the situation started during the school day, but other students were unaware of the situation
  • no the student doesn’t have a criminal record, nor do any media sources have photos yet source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 19:48

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U.S.: What happens if there’s a school hostage situation, but no media?

  • Well, that’s what appears to be happening in Marinette, Wisconsin. Granted, the town of around 11,000 isn’t big or anything, but it’s within shouting distance of Green Bay, and police have been on the scene for somewhere around three hours, yet this is all the coverage we appear to have. Small-town Wisconsin is small-town Wisconsin, but it’s weird that a hostage situation has been going on for somewhere in the neighborhood of three hours, yet all we seemingly have is the lead paragraph. (In the case of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, a reporter is driving out there now.) Have we gotten that lax about paying small-town reporters or having comprehensive coverage? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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