Week 9 & 10: Spring break and history

So, I was lame and decided to go into the office last week because I had almost absolutely no spring break plans to speak of and I'm accomodating to my poor status. It was a really off week for everyone, mostly because Rob and a majority of the staff was gone for most of the week. I mostly did what I was supposed to do but was completely unhappy with my sources because apparently, they too believed they deserved a vacation.

This week, on the other hand, was insane! As most would know, unless you have been living under a rock for the past week, the U.S. House passed national health care Sunday night.

Game over, Republicans. Wrong.

Monday, the Republican leadership of the state legislature came out and called for the Attorney General to sue the federal government. Click here to view my story on Monday's press conference.

Well, that was only the start of it. Attorney General Drew Edmondson, Democrat and governor candidate, issued a statement that he would look into it and that it was just to early to sue. U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, Republican and governor candidate, started accusing Edmondson of being disloyal to what Oklahomans want. The health care opt out bills got voted on at warped speed. A few lone Democrats spoke out against the majority. Sen. Randy Brogden, Republican and yet another governor candidate, got accused of being racist.

My head is spinning just writing this down.

Now, try putting that into a big story to come out next Wednesday. Yeah, you're head is spinning a little bit too now, huh?

Keep an eye out for next week's Gazette and read what these people had to say.

Week 8: Halfway through!

Wow. I honestly cannot believe it's going to be spring break next week, meaning this semester is halfway over. If you have been reading this blog, you know that I had the worst time trying to understand what I was writing about, thinking I put out one of the worst stories I have in the Gazette.

Well, that might be so, but I think that it also got the someone important to do something about it.

Click here to view the story.

The Oklahoma Gazette goes out on stands every Wednesday. My story was first viewed by readers Wednesday and by Wednesday late afternoon, Corporate Commissioner Dana Murphy came out and openly criticized this plan by the telecommunications staff and told them to stop.

Now, I'm not sure if my story did something or if it was just coicidence, I'm just glad that I was able to wonder if my story did make an impact on the community.

Week 7: Jargon

After a whirlwind week that was last week (writing one big story for the book and two small stories for the Web as well the regular floaters), I was preoccupied with things going on with my bank statements.

During our editorial planning meeting Tuesday morning, Rob Collins, the editor, gave me a story about a new proposal by the Oklahoma Corporate Commission's staff to have a new fee for each phone number to make all calls in the state toll-free.

As I started to look into it, I started confused. As I'm writing the story, I'm even more confused. Why? Since it is a proposal, nothing is final. It's actually a living draft that may or may not come together. Then talking to the people involved, I got more confused. Why? Because of the telecommunications jargon.

I honestly hope that my story this week makes sense and that whatever is ailing my bank statement will be fought away.