MM 2003 - Sydney Wader

  Feature News in Africa: In the past I have looked to Africa for presentation and paper topics. Once again I find myself intrigued with the events happening there. Now more than ever I think it is important that young people are aware with things happening around the world whether it be how they are battling Covid-19 or major government decisions. For my feature news stories I turned to CGTN Africa which does online coverage of major events across Africa.    On Saturday October 10 the African Union announced their plan to launch a 300 million dollar fundraiser that will aid in Covid-19 recovery. The fundraisers will be a webinar that will be hosted with the AU and the Afrexim Bank and will take place on October 24th. The Pan African bloc released a statement "Expected to inform and solicit support and contributions from the African private sector, public and other partners, in order to ensure that the continent can respond effectively to this unprecedented global crisis...

  COVID-19 and Numeracy: These days it's hard not to relate any news to the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic. One thing I know many people around the world are struggling with is trying to decipher the fake updates from the real dealing with the virus. It seems like everyone is trying to find someone or something to blame for instances occurring during the pandemic. The Guardian recently released an article titled "Poor Numerical Literacy Linked to Greater Susceptibility to Covid-19 Fake News"  This article covers exactly what the title entails, surveys were done across five different countries to support the data. Research was led by a group at Cambridge University who believe improving people's analytical skills would change the way many are viewing fake news surrounding Covid-19. "The study found the most consistent predictor of decreased susceptibility to misinformation about Covid-19 was numerical literacy - the ability to digest and apply quantitative informa...

The World of Civics: It has been a very long time since I've discussed and learned about the topic of civics. I remember taking the course back in 9th grade. We learned multiple duties that involved important things to know as a citizen. We even had a mock trial where everyone was designed to teach us about the court system and your role in the judicial system. I believe that teachers should continue to teach students major points in the topic of civics. Civics is defined as the study of rights and duties of citizenship.  I wanted to take a look at the link that Professor Reppert sent out on the young activist who is pushing to lower the voting age to 16. Tyler Okeke is 19 years old and is among a group of young people who have taken the initiative to protest lowering the voting age. For the longest time people ages 18-29 were one of the lowest voting groups but recently that has been on the rise. Especially throughout the past few months these young people (Gen Z) have been pushin...

  Listening Posts: Everywhere Around You  When thinking about listening posts I think of anywhere or way you can gather information. Living on a college campus makes for a broad range of listening posts. Being a student athlete I gain a lot of information from my fellow teammates and friends. Our teammate is very diverse as we have many girls from different cultures Hawaiian, Hispanic, and Samoan. Also looking into some of the student ran blogs that we have access to through the University. I mainly get my information through my friends, teammates, and fellow students for my listening posts.  I spend almost every single afternoon with my teammates and we are constantly talking about things going on around the world. We discuss politics and the recent protest against racial injustice. We have many teammates that are in interracial relationships they often discuss issues like police brutality and issues that affect the African American community. It's interesting for me to ...

  Public Records: Texas Around the United States having access to public records is a way for citizens to stay up to date on arrests, court meetings, etc.. For the second public records assignment I chose to focus on the state of Texas. I wanted to pick a bigger state compared to Arkansas and see if it was just as easy to access their public records. It turns out it is easier to find and access their public records than it was for me to access Faulkner county local records.  On October 6, 2020 a Texas Police Officer was charged with murder after shooting and killing a African American male. The shooting occurred after a disturbance call was made at a local convenience store. Johnathan Price was walking away from police officer Shaun Lucas open fired on Price killing him on scene. He was placed in the Hunt County Jail with a bail set for one million dollars. Upon further investigation his only work experience was working as a jailer and had only been working for the department ...

  Faulkner County Public Records: For my public records blog I decided to focus on somewhere close to home. Faulkner County makes looking at public records a breeze going to their website for easy access. Going to arkansas.staterecords.org allows you to access state, county, and municipal public records. They list some of the basic information for the county like the average income is $43,204.00. Faulkner county is 84.1% caucasian and 11.3% African American. Over 22.8% are homeowners, 49% are married, and 11.80% are divorced.  Having access to public records makes it easier than ever to find information. For instance, you can view the county's budget for the year which includes new grants for COVID-19 relief. They discussed the $62,000 grant given for the election fees. "County Clerk Margaret Darter applied for Faulkner County's funds in mid-September from the COVID Response Grant Program through the Center for Tech and Civic Life."  The grant will aid in early in pe...

  University of Florida COVID News: For my campus hard or feature news I decided to look at the University of Florida. They have a whole website dedicated to their campus news and things happening around the University. Has been operating in Gainesville, Florida since 1906. With a 39% acceptance rate with a 87% graduation rate averaging a cost rate at $8,057 after financial aid. Unfortunately we are still in the middle of a pandemic. This means scientists and people around the world are looking for solutions. COVID-19 does not seem like it is going anywhere soon. So this means news sources even University News will continue to cover the changes happening around the world.  The University of Florida has a group of students and professors that belong to the Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World. They decided to turn their focus towards technology to aid with Coronavirus. The group has created ideas with innovations for the pandemic including a wristband that tel...