Team 4 Rundown Rationale

By: Kimberly Caruba (NCC News)

October 27, 2010, 7:28 p.m.

National Grid

Our lead story was about the reaction to National Grid's request for a $361 million dollar electric rate hike. National Grid wants to increase the rate customers pay for electric delivery service, but was met with disapproval by 26 of the 27 speakers that spoke at the public hearings about the rate hike. I felt that this story was a good choice for the lead as it affects a large number of people, is controversial, and was the most timely, local and important story that I had. This story was done as a recorded reporter wrap by Kevin Belbey.

Cigarette Trial

Our second story was a reader about the continuing legal battle between New York state and the Indian tribes, revolving around the desire of the state to apply a more than four dollar-per-pack sales tax on cigarettes sold by the tribes to non-Indian customers. I felt that this story was important as a large number of people smoke, and it is a very controversial issue whether or not imposing such taxes on the Indian's products is legal or ethical. I also felt that this story was a good one to follow the National Grid story as both were state/local stories and both had to do with increasing prices.

Cuomo Lead

The next story was another reader, this time about a new political poll that shows Democrat, Andrew Cuomo with a 20 point lead over Republican, Carl Paladino. I felt that this was an important story, as the New York governor's race is days away. Politics has been all over the news the past couple months, and the fact that the poll shows that the Democratic candidate is doing better than the Republican candidate I feel is newsworthy, considering that Democrats are expected to lose big this election season. This story was a nice way to keep the thread on a state level, and both this story and the previous story were political.

Oswego School Board

The following story was a live wrap about the Oswego School board deciding not to remove one of its board members and was done by Tim Killian. Although somewhat of a nuisance, the school board decided not to remove Francis Hoefer, even though he has accused several board members of not paying all of their school taxes and has a history of releasing confidential information and disrespecting some of his fellow board members. I felt that this story was news worthy because of its timeliness, controversy and relevance to area residents. It was a nice way to bring the thread from a state level back to a local focus.

Police Department

The next story was an anchor actuality done by Chet Davis, about the town of Cicero's meeting tonight to decide whether or not they should eliminate the town's police department. Public safety is always an important topic, especially since the country is experiencing a tense time in regards to worldwide safety. The decision to remove a police department I feel is something that should not be taken lightly, and that viewers should know what the outcomes of the decision would mean. This story was also a nice follow up to the previous story, as it deals with controversy and possible dismissal.

Transportation Safety

The next story was a reader about the National Transportation Safety Board's examination the next two days, of the safety of "code sharing" agreements between airlines. Last year, Continental Airlines was able to book passengers on the ill-fated Colgan Air flight that crashed in Buffalo because of code sharing. I felt that this was a good story to come next because it was expanding the thread from a local level to a more state level, so as to help with the transition to the national story that is coming next. I also thought that it was timely, and air safety has been an issue in the news. We ended up killing this reader during the show.

Midwest Storm

The next story was an anchor actuality done by Chet Davis, about the tornadoes and strong storms that have been sweeping through the midwest. I felt that this was an important story, as residents and students have family members across the country, and national disasters always receive extensive coverage. This story brought the thread to a national level, which was a good lead in to the story that was next. This story was timely and contained a lot of emotional quotes, which was a nice change of pace from the harder news stories we previously covered.

Glaxo

The next story was a reader about the British drug company, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, and its $750 million settlement over allegations that its subsidiary manufactured and sold adulterated drugs. The company manufactures the popular antidepressant Paxil, which I thought made it a relevant story considering that antidepressants are being prescribed more often to the increasingly busier American. It was also a nice way to end the block, because it kept things on a national level and was a reader which could be easily dropped if need be.

Popular Costumes

Our kicker was about the most popular Halloween costumes this year, which I thought fit in nicely with Halloween being this weekend. It was light hearted, and showed the shift in American culture towards a more reality-based lifestyle, as the most popular costumes this year are reality TV stars, The Situation, Pauly D, and Snookie, as well as singer Lady Gaga. This story was timely and fun.

Weather

Next we had the weather, and Chet read today, tonight, tomorrow and the weekend forecast.

He got us out perfectly on time.

And that was our show!