Shorts5
The lead, as you know, is the roadsign for the story: It summarizes the most important elements and tells the reader where the story (and reader) are going. The following provides you with the 5Ws and H, plus additional info. Your task is to take this information and organize it into the first, second and, if necessary, third paragraphs of a news story.
Slug: plane crash
WHO? 218 people (212 passengers, six crew)
WHAT? Delta Air Lines flight 1021 between Denver and San Francisco crashed on emergency approach
WHERE? two miles north of the Salt Lake City International Airport
WHEN?
WHY? pilot radioed the tower, said there was smoke in the cockpit and cabin and he was losing power, asked emergency landing
HOW? plane lost power; pilot tried to guide in but nosed into marshes near Great Salt Lake at nearly 200 mph; plane cartwheeled, breaking into pieces and exploding.
Other info: only three survivors, undentified, all in extremely critical condition at SLC hospitals. Last transmission from pilot, still unidentified pending notification of family: “I can’t make it. We’re going down. Tell Candy and the girls I love them.” Info from National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Slug: Tuition increase
WHO? USU President Stan Albrecht
WHAT? Raising tuition by $12 per credit hour
WHERE? affects all students at USU main and satellite/regional campuses
WHEN? Beginning with Summer 2009 semester
WHY? global economic downturn and state budget cuts to higher education have resulted in a loss of $6.5 million in state funding and potentially larger losses in revenues from USU’s investment portfolios.
HOW? not applicable
Other info: Info provided by USU spokesman John DeVilbiss. Provided this quote from Albrecht: “We tried everything conceivable to avoid having to raise tuition, but have very reluctantly concluded that USU will not be able to weather this economic storm without a combination of deep cuts to programs and projects, along with this unfortunate but essential additional cost to our students. I wish there were another way, but there isn’t.” Statement from ASUSU President Bob Flathery: “This is totally bogus. There is no freakin’ way students should have to pay for the university’s poor planning, or for the Bush administration’s idiotic mismanagement. Hundreds of students will have to drop out.”
USU enrolls approximately 27,000 fulltime (FTE) students at its main and branch campuses. The increase of $12 per credit hour means that a fulltime student enrolled in 15 credits will pay $180 more per semester, and at current enrollment levels, USU will bring in an additional $3,960,000 per semester.
Slug: radioactive waste
WHO? Cache County Sheriff’s Office
WHAT? Released statement to the press about train traveling through Cache Valley and Logan carrying 20,000 gallons of low-level radioactive waste from the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory near Pocatello to a containment unit near Yucca Mountain, Nevada
WHERE? over RR tracks from Cache Junction in NW corner of the county, through Newton, Petersboro, Mendon, Wellsville, exiting the southern part of the valley west of Providence and Avon
WHEN? Train is expected to reach Cache Junction at 10 p.m.
WHY? first use of transportation links between Idaho and Yucca Mountain with actual high-risk cargo; first tested last summer.
HOW? the waste is shipped in specially constructed barrels made of an experimental alloy or lead, titanium and arsenic, designed to resist leakage for 120,000 years. Robots load the cargo on and off the train.
Other info: Sheriff’s spokesman Hugo Nutjob: “We will be monitoring the train closely as it passes through the valley, and will provide security as needed.” Local authorities work with federal DOE officials, who are overseeing the transfer. DOE statement: “The protective casks are virtually unbreakable, and pose no danger whatsoever to public health and safety, short of a catastrophic event that caused the barrels to be breached.”
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