Homecoming week offers flu vaccine for first time

JOU 2100 Reporting

For the first time, USF College of Public Health offered free flu shots to students, staff, and local community during Homecoming week. The drive was held on Friday the drive at the College of Public Health (CPH) building.

“We typically draw more people from the community that come in and get flu shots,” CPH dean, Donna Petersen, said. “But, we’d love to see more students come over, so I hope that’s the case.”

Hillsborough County donated 1,500 flu vaccines for the event.

“The flu shot is a preventative measure to help an individual not obtain the very contagious flu virus that’s out there every year,” Student Health Services Senior RN, Dee Belangia, said.

Though, there were exceptions such as people who are allergic to eggs, taking antibiotics, or have a severe allergic reaction to influenza vaccine, everyone 18 and older was eligible to get vaccinated at the drive.

USF student…

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VSA Florida improves quality of life through the arts

JOU 2100 Reporting

VSA Florida is offering community arts classes to people with disabilities.

“VSAFL is a statewide organization on arts and disability,” said Wendy Finklea, director of programs at VSAFL. “We provide, we support and we champion arts opportunities for people with disabilities statewide.”

“My Art My Way” is one of the many programs the organization provides, which offers many types of art, from visual to literary. “VSA believes that creative expression through the arts is not only a way to enhance cognitive and social outcomes,” Finklea said, “but a true way to improve quality of life.”

Twenty-three-year-old Jillian Joyce joined the program a year ago. “My favorite thing to do is sing and play the keyboards,” Joyce said. “I love to sing.”

The classes are available to all ages, so individuals like Jillian, who has aged out of the public school system, now have a place to go to enjoy the…

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Campus speed limit changed

JOU 2100 Reporting

The USF board of trustees approved the proposal to implement a uniform speed limit of 25 mph on campus.

A study from USF’s Center for Urban Transportation found the average speed on campus is 24.57 mph.

The center’s program director, Pei-Sung Lin, directed the study from July 2012 until June 2013. “We conducted a study on the speed profile of 49 segments on campus,” said Lin, “and collected at least more than 100 sample sizes for each direction.”

Currently, the speed limits on campus vary from 10 mph to 30 mph.

“With more consistent speed limits,” said USF police Lt. Charlotte Domingo, “the hope will be to see a safer driving environment for all users of roadways.”

The center recommended a general campus-wide speed limit of 25 mph, with the exceptions of USF Banyan Circle, USF Health Drive and USF Birch Drive, which will have 15 mph speed limits. Also…

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Elsie’s Spanish Word of the Week

Abrumar: to overwhelm.

True Enough (second half)

The second half of the book “True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society” by Farhad Manjoo mainly talks about how we all have a natural instinct to think we are totally objective and also think that people who think different than us are biased. This concept is called naïve realism. I think this idea has much to do with the fact that we don’t like to be wrong, at least I don’t. This concept leads me to another idea Manjoo discussed, and I found it very interesting. Hostile media phenomenon explains how people “remembered more arguments and facts favoring the other side than their own side,” said Manjoo. We will not only pay more attention or remember more information about the opposing side, but what really catches my attention is the fact that we tend to think the media favors the other side.

Those of you who remember or watched the first 2012 presidential debate between President Barack Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, at the University of Denver, may recognize this phenomenon. After the debate, liberals believed Obama did an excellent job and won the debate. On the other hand, conservatives believed Romney was a lot better and won the debate. So, who won the debate? The media were saying Romney was the strongest in the debate. They argued Obama lacked enthusiasm and had weak answers. Even though the media were mainly favoring Romney, conservatives believed the media weren’t fair enough to them. And of course, liberals were very upset the media was “unfairly” favoring Romney.

In my opinion, I thought Romney’s performance was “highly expressive” but “low-content”, and Obama’s answers were “high-content” but “low-expressive.” Like Manjoo says “American society prizes style over substance.” But, decide for yourself and check out the video here: http://www.politico.com/multimedia/video/2012/10/2012-first-presidential-debate-in-denver-colorado.html
Also, here is a link where you can see the different opinions of both sides from twitter posts on the debate. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82501.html

True Enough (first half)

“True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society” by Farhad Manjoo is a book that analyzes how society has changed the way we access, perceive and react to information nowadays.

In the first chapter, “Reality is Splitting,” Manjoo introduces the phrase “media fragmentation.” This phrase refers to the different ways information can be spread. Many years ago people would get information from newspapers, radio or TV. Today, people can access information from the Web, cable TV, Podcasts, blogs, pictures, to name a few. Because of media fragmentation, it is now easier to manipulate more people and more effectively than before, he calls this issue modern infosphere. The fact that information can be spread more easily, indulges society’s biases and preexisting beliefs. For example, the majority of Republicans prefer Fox because of their conservative ideology, and the majority of Democrats prefer CNN because they are more liberals. Although it is true that society shares truths like the earth is round, people are also living different realities. My grandmother, for example, believes that a tattooed person has been in jail at some point in his/her life. She lives in Ecuador, and the only tattooed people she knows have been in jail. This belief is her reality and truth. Because we all have different preexisting beliefs, reality is different for each person.

Chapter 2 discusses the idea of selective exposure. This idea explains that people choose information that will support their beliefs. To understand this idea, Manjoo said the word dissonance refers to arguments that contradict your views or beliefs. A weak dissonant message is an argument that challenges your view and lacks evidence. On the other side, a strong dissonant message is an argument that contradicts your views but is difficult to disprove. So, Manjoo states “if we’re given a message that we find strong and consonant- one that supports our views, and that is easy to prove- we consume it.” A good example is the issue with Obama’s place of birth. In 2008, some conspiracy theories were stating Obama’s birthplace is Kenya instead of Hawaii. Donald Trump, a significant person in the Republican race, said Obama’s grandmother said Obama was born in Kenya. Politifact.com confirmed Trump’s evidence is false. But, who believed this theory? Probably Republicans and anyone who didn’t want Obama to be the U.S. president. Even though there was no real evidence that proved Obama was born in Kenya, people still believed it because they would access information that support their beliefs and views. Please follow the link for the complete story: http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2011/apr/27/leo-berman/state-rep-leo-berman-says-kapiolani-medical-center/
Here is also a link for a video of Obama in response to media inquiries and copy of Obama’s birth certificate http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/27/president-obamas-long-form-birth-certificate

So, now we know that selective exposure enables you to choose the information that best suits you. In addition, there is what Manjoo calls selective perception. This concept is discussed in chapter 3, and it refers to the fact that people see things different. People perceive one same thing in totally different ways according to their ideology and beliefs. I think the most recent example will be the accreditation issue at USF’s School of Mass Communications. There is one main issue: USF’s decision to drop accreditation. The interesting thing is that while some people such as students and faculty think that was a wrong move, there may be other people who think this same issue is the best thing for USF right now. Each person has arguments for or against this issue, and it is because each person has different beliefs, ideas, interests, ideologies, etc. Two people can see the same thing, but each will experience something different depending on the way it affects them and their beliefs. Here is a link for the story from the USF’s student newspaper, “The Oracle” http://www.usforacle.com/eisenberg-announces-changes-for-school-of-mass-communications-1.2817916#.UV4msi3D_rc

Manjoo said something really important. Although it may be beneficial that society has new and different opportunities to get information, it has become more difficult to believe the information that is out there. He mentions Photoshop as an example. I think it is a shame that a program like Photoshop is used to manipulate images. For a long time pictures have been a way of telling stories in a way that words cannot. The problem is people don’t know whether the picture is original or not. This issue is making society suspect whether the information we are getting is real or not. Look at this United Colors of Benetton ad for example, pretty real, huh?

In conclusion, people care less about the facts and evidence, and care more about listening to what people want to hear, and watching what people want to see.

Visit to Channel 8: Steve Andrews

On Thursday March 28th, we went to WFLA-TV, Channel 8, and met Steve Andrews. Andrews is “8 On Your Side” senior investigative reporter and also fill-in anchor for Channel 8 since 1985. Click the following link for a full profile of Andrews http://www.wfla.com/story/20255349/steve-andrews

Andrews met with us in a conference room where he talked about his most relevant stories. He began with the story of Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance, a nonprofit agency that helps people find employment. The issue was that this agency was using the federal money, tax dollars, to pay for lunch. Right in a period of high unemployment rates, the agency spent $20,000 on food in one year only. Andrew’s job was to look at public records such as food records, pictures, videos, and all kinds of evidence. This story won an Emmy, and you can follow this link for the complete story http://www.wfla.com/story/20467330/tampa-bay-workforce-alliance-must-repay-state-55000

Andrews also worked on a story about HARC, the Hillsborough Association for Retarded Citizens. This agency, that provided care and service for disabled people, took $800,000 from its clients’ trust funds without their permission. What’s worst is the money was used for movie tickets, food expenses, salaries, car rentals, cellphones, etc. All this information was revealed thanks to public records such as financial audits, tapes, etc. He told us lawsuits are a great source of information. Also, we should always ask for a list of people who have been fired in the last year because they usually know about the company and have great stories. “If a reporter obtains a video legally, he/she can use it,” said Andrews. I think this is a great advantage journalists have. But, at the same time, journalists can go to jail if they don’t reveal their source. Andrews told us to say that information came to us, and we don’t know who left it there. I thought this is a great excuse! Andrews also said journalists must keep their promise. If you promise someone not to reveal their names, you are in a verbal contract, and it is no joke. I think Judith Miller, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, is a great example http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/07/politics/07leak.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

And finally, this last story was the most shocking. Steve Andrews found out that the Hillsborough State Attorney, Harry Lee Coe, was asking employees for money. Andrews investigated him and realized Lee Coe was a compulsive gambler, and was in serious debt. After Andrews asked for Lee Coe’s computer information as evidence, Lee Coe tried to erase the computer records, and that is illegal. Things got pretty bad for Lee Coe, and suddenly Andrews found Lee Coe dead. Lee Coe could not handle the pressure anymore and shot himself. Andrews had to abandon the case because he was too involved. What really saddens me is that Andrews received more than 1,000 emails blaming him for Lee Coe’s death. Andrews took the time to reply every email explaining what really happened, and it took him months. At the end, 90% of the people apologized. This is probably Andrews’ darkest experience, but he was just doing his job, and I think everybody learned from it. Here is a link of Harry Lee Coe investigation findings http://www.oranous.com/florida/prosecution/BernieMcCabe/hide.html

After the meeting with Andrews, I learned new things about public records. For example, a nonprofit agency will most likely receive money from the government, and therefore, its records must be public. YouTube is a great tool for stories, and the videos can be used by anyone. So, be careful with what you upload.

Andrews’ passion is to look out for the little guy, the public, and to be the voice of the voices. Lawsuits will be part of his life because that happens with good stories. Andrews said the difference between a good and a mediocre journalist is discipline. Few months after a story is published, Andrews always goes back to it and ensures justice is made. I think Andrews has a difficult job and a very important responsibility, and we should all respect him for that. You can follow him on twitter for more juicy stories https://twitter.com/sandrewswfla

Photo from wfla.com

Visit to the Medical Examiner’s Office

On Tuesday March 26th, 2013, we went to the Hillsborough Medical Examiner’s office. To be honest, the only thing I can think of is the disgusting smell of the dead bodies. But, I’ll get to that in just a minute. So, Mary Mainland is the Interim Chief Medical Examiner, and she gave us the tour. She has been in this office since October 2008. She told us a medical examiner is a highly educated person, has an MD, has at least three years in reference pathology, and one year of training. You can learn more about medical examiners in this link http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/index.aspx?NID=117

She clarify to all of us the main responsibility of a medical examiner is to identify bodies and investigate the cause of death. There are five causes of death: homicide, suicide, accident, natural, and undetermined. Actually, medical examiners are the only ones who can approve a death certificate for any other cause that is not natural death. When doing an investigation she would take information over the phone, make a report, take a look at other reports, decide if jurisdiction has been properly assigned, and decide whether the body needs autopsy or not. Mainland told us she deals a lot with law enforcement and health care facilities. Medical examiners usually have a good relationship with law enforcement because they exchange information. Although, there may be times when detectives question the medical examiner’s findings, but this is part of their relationship.

In regards to public records, the records are available to the public as soon as they are ready. These records can be death certificates, toxicality reports, autopsy, etc. Sometimes, the records will be available as quickly as the same day, and others, such as toxicality, may take six to eight weeks. What’s special about this office is that they do full toxicality reports, while other offices don’t.

She also told us how medical examiners are able to determine the approximate time of death only by seeing the body. She said there are different factors that help her determine the time. The body temperature is an important factor. If the body is warm, it means the body is fresher than a colder body. Lividity is another factor. This happens when the blood settles, so when you poke the body with your finger, it will leave a white spot if there is blood left. Mainland told us she usually investigates three to four bodies PER DAY. She wasn’t really sure about this, but she said Hillsborough County’s population is around 1.2 million, and that 1,200 bodies will come to this office every year.

We passed by the records and file room. Here, they had hundreds of folders and records by color code: black for traffic, red for homicide, yellow for suicide, and orange for pending. Then, we went to the place everyone was waiting for, the morgue. We first entered a room with double doors, and it was a drive-through. The main purpose of this room is to process the bodies and prevent the public, especially media, from watching what’s happening inside. It was really scary because the doors started moving out of the sudden, and the scariest thoughts came to my mind. Mainland said there are four coolers. These are all the same size. They are big and capable of keeping hundreds of bodies in case a mass disaster occurs. And you must know, I was inside one of them! I know, I’m crazy. This cooler had dead bodies inside, and I saw a foot and two skulls, OMG!! The worst part was the smell, it was disgusting. I had to hold my breath for few seconds, and then I left. But, that smell got stuck in my nose for the rest of the day. I couldn’t wait to get home and take a shower.

Finally, we went to the Specimen Receiving Lab, which is the toxicology lab. Here, they collect samples of blood, urine, fluid from the eye, solid tissues, brain, liver, stomach content, and others. Then, they screen all the samples to check if there is a positive result of a drug. If it is, a second evaluation method has to be used. In the instrument lab, blood and other specimen is cleaned and sampled. Then, the machine busts up the drug, and either the software or the doctor recognizes the drug. We ended our tour with the introduction of Dr. Julia Pearson. She is the Chief Forensic Toxicologist, and she is the one who identified bath salts when the software didn’t recognize it. I thought it was disturbing the fact that 1 of these pills can kill a person in only 55 minutes. This reminded me of the guy who ate the face of a homeless in Downtown, Miami, and I thought he had consumed bath salts. If you want to read more about this story follow this link http://www.tampabay.com/news/homeless-victim-of-cannibal-attack-stranger-just-ripped-me-to-ribbons/1245134

Guest Speaker: Wayne Garcia

On Tuesday March 5th, 2013, Professor Wayne Garcia came to visit us in class. He is an award-winning political journalist who now teaches at USF.

Wayne explained the three different levels of politics: Federal, State, and Local. At the Federal level, every person who runs for office has to report every dollar spent to the Federal Election Commission http://www.fec.gov/. Their job is to make sure you get punished if you lie or don’t report. Candidates may get their money from contributors like you and me. You just need to write a check. Of course, there are limitations on how much money you can give. To learn more about contribution limits follow this link: http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/citizens.shtml. The main point here is that politicians have to say where they got the money, when, and from whom. What’s most interesting is that all this information is public record. The only thing that I personally don’t like is the fact that the address of the people who contribute is also public record. Although there is a good reason, and it is to make sure it is not “dirty money,” I am a little skeptical of making a private person’s addresses public. Check it out for yourself http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/norindsea.shtml.

The FEC website is also useful for gathering and analyzing data about campaign finances. Just go to the Campaign Finance Disclosure Portal and have fun! This is a great source for getting and supporting stories http://www.fec.gov/pindex.shtml. For example, we found out Barack Obama made more than $40,000 from the University of South Florida only for his political campaign.
Another great source of records and stories is the website http://www.opensecrets.org. This website also allows you to track the influence of money on U.S. politics, and how that money affects our lives.
So, why care about this data and information?
“We can use this data to track the true exercise of power, to make sure power really works, to make the invisible visible and tell people about it,” said Garcia.

He told us a story about someone who owned a business and told employees to give $500 for the campaign and they will get the money reimbursed in their next paycheck. Wayne called this flatout robbery, but the new Florida law on financial disclosure requires that you are aware that what you are doing is wrong. So in theory it would be ok if you killed someone because you “proved” you didn’t know killing was wrong. Hah! Yeah right!! Sounds crazy to me…

Wayne also introduced us to new terms. He said hard money is for example a physical coin, limited money given directly to the candidate. As opposed to soft money that is unlimited and hard to trace, this money is pumped into political campaigns through loopholes in the law. For example companies or people contributing with political speech, publicity, etc.

Overall, I enjoyed Garcia’s visit. I must say he is very, very funny! Maybe the funniest of all guests’ speakers we have had so far. So, if you want to know more about him follow him on twitter https://twitter.com/poho, and check out his interesting story http://cltampa.com/tampa/the-money-men/Content?oid=2024244#.UTlcSS0o7rc.

Visit to the Hillsborough Clerk Court

On Tuesday February 26^th, my classmates and I went to the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court located in Downtown, Tampa. We were guided by Dana Caranante, director of Circuit Civil, and Samantha Grahn, manager of the child support department. They both were very helpful, and even offered their phone numbers so we can contact them in case we need help.

The Clerk’s Office is a county-run organization; this means it only handles information of Hillsborough County. Grahn showed us the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court website www.hillsclerk.com. Pat Frank is the Clerk of the Circuit Court/Comptroller for Hillsborough County. For more information about Frank follow this link: http://www.hillsclerk.com/publicweb/meet_pat_frank.aspx. You can also check out her blog http://www.hillsclerk.com/publicweb/Blog.aspx.

Caranante and Grahn went over the duties of the Clerk of the Circuit Court/Comptroller. The Clerk of the Circuit Court is the official record keeper of the County courts. There are many duties from processing all civil and criminal cases to assisting victims of abuse through the Domestic Violence Program. For a complete list of duties follow this link: http://www.hillsclerk.com/publicweb/duties.aspx. The Clerk is responsible for safekeeping and investing over $1.8 billion in annually county collections as well as issuing marriage licenses, performing marriage ceremonies, etc.

Caranante said very clearly that all records filed with the Clerk are available for public inspection, with the exception of those records specifically exempt by judicial order or statute such as juvenile, adoption, and mental health records. I thought it was interesting the fact that they charge $1 per page for court documents as opposed to other agencies who charge $0.15. However, they do charge 15 cents a page for administrative documents. This link contains a complete list of fees and fines http://www.hillsclerk.com/publicweb/General_Services_Fees.aspx.

Grahn gave us important tips when looking for records online. She said the Clerk’s database is a great resource for court records: http://publicrecord.hillsclerk.com/oridev/criminal_pack.doc?pcSearchMode=NS&pnPidm=308665&pcCaseId=99-CF-006379&pnCnt=1&pcCourtType=%. In this database you can find all the information about a case from the people who were present at the court to the party’s sentence and date of birth. I think it is important to know how to read these reports, and Grahn did a good job explaining the different tabs of the database. For example, she told us that the first two numbers of the case number is the year when the case was filed. If the case is 99-CF-006379, the year would be 1999.

It is important to know that as of April 1^st anytime attorneys want to file an official document, they have to submit it electronically. This process is called E-Filing. “We receive over 4,000 pieces of paper a day,” said Caranante. For more information about E-Filing click the link: http://www.hillsclerk.com/publicweb/efiling.aspx.

Here are few recommendations if you are planning to go the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court. Don’t go on a Friday because people don’t like to stay working late right before their weekend, nor Monday because usually the jury duty meets in the morning, and it’s a busy day. Avoid wearing jeans or short, dress properly. Also, if you park in the street know that there is a 2-hour limit or just park in a garage nearby. Finally, don’t waste your time trying to look for the location of the building or department you are looking for. Because of security reasons you must go through the main entrance first, and then you will be directed to the specific department.

At the end, Caranante said juvenile hearings are open to the public. So, I am wondering, why would the juvenile hearings be open to the public if the records are not? I don’t know what you think about this, but to me this does not make any sense!

Anyways, I thought this visit was very helpful and a great learning experience. Next time I go to the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court I know where to park, where to enter, and who to call. Here is a picture from Google Maps of the Court.