This story has a lot of factors of hard news. Relevance has a definite affect. Since September 11, 2001, the whole country has been on high alert, and this bombing, as small as it was, strikes much fear into the hearts of many. Proximity is also huge. As a current resident of New York, I know that this effects me in a huge way. Times Square is a huge place of life and interest. The impact is big too, everyone around the country is on alert, and uneasy at this point, seven years has gone by so fast, we're all thinking that this was on its way to remission.
The biggest week of the story to me has been the killing of an 18-year old boy in Los Angeles, California. The boy, Jamiel Shaw Jr., was a good student, didn't partake in gang activity, and hoped to go to college. Instead, his life ended and with two gunshots, all hopes, and future plans were gone. "I thought everything that I was doing was going to keep him from this" said the boy's father. The boy was shot late Sunday night, and according to the mayor, and chief of police, this is just one of numerous incidents of gang behavior. It has spiked dramatically in the past few months. This is horrifying to me, being in a neighborhood here in New York, that is infested with gangs and shooting, it really scares me, that this happens everywhere is not acceptable.
A bank heist in Brazil, leaves the accused with a 49-year sentence in prison (Newsday, pg 1). A broken gas line in a Pittsburg house causes an explosion that kills a man, and injures his child (Newsday, pg 1). New York City psychologists are recognizing that men in the city who do more house work and help out have better sex lives (Newsday pg 1). A school bus crash in South Carolina sent 32 kindergarten children to a local hospital for bumps and bruises (Newsday, pg 1). A teen in Alabama kills himself in school gym in front of 150 students after his recent charge of robbery (Newsday, pg 1).
