Neurological Disorder Triggered By Flu Shot

Story: YouTube video

A young woman in her mid-twenties went in for a simple flu shot and soon after her life changed dramatically. Though it's encouraged to get the flu shot, this story just confirmed my fears all along. Even though this disorder was present in her body it took something as small as a health precaution to lead to such a dramatic change in one young person's life. She can no longer perform the basic act of walking forward without experiencing uncontrollable spasms.

I think what also bothered me the most was that she recently got married and was hoping to fulfill her dreams of becoming a professional cheerleader. I really just makes you wonder how can we think we're preventing ourselves from one thing when something even worse (and in this case incurable) occurs.

'Balloon boy' incident was hoax, sheriff says

This case was really intriguing to me because I caught it as it happened early Thursday afternoon. CNN had state that a 6-year-old boy had floated away in his parents "storm chaser" balloon after the tether was mysteriously untied. It floated miles away from the home as the country watched in horror at the thought of seeing a young boy stranded inside this "UFO-esque" contraption.

Now the sheriff is stating that after interviewing the family again in addition to the recent statement made by the missing boy that this was indeed a hoax by the family in hopes of gaining publicity for a possible chance of getting a reality show in the future.

I found this development disappointing because this family fooled the entire nation into believing their son was in immense danger when in fact he wasn't. What I also found interesting was the claim made by the police that they had intentionally went with the Heene family's story in order to figure out just what their son was as well as their motive behind planning this.

The sheriff did mention that the family will be charged with a "felony including conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and attempting to influence a public servant, Alderden said. They also plan to recommend a charge of filing a false police report, which is a misdemeanor."

The parents wouldn't face jail time as the sheriff stated that space was better reserved for individuals who have committed more serious crimes.

Lora Pabst, Whistleblower

I was really impressed with what Lora has been able to accomplish since her start at the Star Tribune in 2007. She seemed to know early on what she wanted to do in life and that in turn became her passion. It's inspiring to witness what she's been able to do with Whistleblower and the amount of work that is required for this type of beat (i.e. to confirm the claims the public is making with regards to their problems/observations).

This experience was helpful in giving our class a firsthand look at the workings of a newsroom and how the first page gets constructed within a specific time frame.