Caught stealing home: Expos' ace Juarez arrested on immigration charges

Washington Nationals ace starting pitcher Carlos Juarez was arrested last night, following a federal immigration raid on his Miami home.

The sting at Juarez's residence led to the arrest of twelve illegal immigrants; Juarez himself is an immigrant from Cuba, and most of those found are believed to be his relatives. After being arrested near his home, Juarez was released last night on $250,000 bail.

According to FBI Special Agent Lawrence Malloy, "Twelve illegal immigrants, four laptop computers, and SUV and a yacht" were seized from Juarez's home.

Juarez, a perrenial all-star and four-time Cy Young award-winner, faced reporters in a press conference this morning.

"I wanted everyone that I care about to have a better life," said Juarez. "I brought twelve immigrants over from Cuba, whom were living in my home."






The unrepentant Juarez announced his commitment towards raising awareness about the state of affairs in Cuba, and noted that he plans on continuing to work with immigration lobbying groups.

"I'm an athlete, not a role model," said Juarez, when questioned about the apparent double standard of declaring respect for the laws of the United States, but then acting unremorseful regarding the charges against him. "Doctors, teachers, lawyers...They should be role models, said Juarez. "I play a game for a living. I don't see myself as a role model, but other people do...I've never had any runs with the law before."

It is still unclear what legal charges will be pressed against the talented pitcher, who is seen as the face of the Expos' franchise, or how his season will be affected.

"I want kids to be responsible," said Juarez. "But, if you have the ability and resources to help your family, I believe you have a duty to do so."


Credits:
Article - Nick Bush
Audio - Ryan Damon
Audio Slideshow - Kerriann Kelley
Video - Pamela Lawn

A Snapshot in Time

I really enjoy Hannah Allam's Middle East Diary as it captures the feeling of an incident from the ground up. It offers a snapshot in time of people in the battlefields instead of focusing on the military efforts.

Many of the blogs on this page offer a relatable human angle. The post on April 18 analyzes the work of a local stringer in Baghdad. Allam takes time to explain the importance of the photo, an opportunity often lost on the tight restrictions of other mediums. There is space on a blog to dedicate information about the newsgathering process.

This picture shows the devastation of war through faces. Grief is not a character that can be easily hidden and this is why I think this photo is more relatable to people than footage of fighter planes.

I also found it fascinating to learn the dangers local stringers are putting themselves under in the name of journalism. Fear of prosecution does not even put some of these people off and I think that is very courageous.

Blogging gives a voice to these people in a way not possible before. Although kidnapping of US journalists may be given air time, an Afghani journalist would probably not make the cut. But here I was able to read about these brave journalists living in another continent.

In my opinion, this is the best feature blogging can offer to journalism.

Picture by: McClatchy

Journalists in War

I liked the way the April 17 blog on Checkpoint Jerusalem The Last images of a Gaza cameraman captured the scene. The death of a journalist, or any citizen for that matter, is a sensitive issue and requires you to approach it with a level of respect.

23-year-old Reuter’s cameraman Fadel Shana was filming the violence in Gaza when he was hit by a shell and killed. In my personal opinion, I think it is important for people to see this video to understand the heroic work these journalists are doing and to highlight the dangers still present in places like Gaze.

Having said this, I understand that this video would probably not be suitable for the 6pm news as it captured the moment Shana died and then filmed the dead bodies of the other victims. This may be viewed as indecent for TV broadcast.

This is where blogging on the issue becomes important. There are fewer restrictions on the blogger.

This blog also had an "update" four days later. This was used to inform the reader on the progress of the formal investigation.

Updates are a useful method for bloggers because you have the ability to get the information up quick and inform the reader alongside the main article. This allows the reader to connect the context to the update.

Picture credit: Reuters
Picture of: Fadel Shana

UMass Students Study Local Climate

Geoscience student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst took their class outside last Wednesday to conduct a hydrology experiment.

Led by Professor David Boutt, the class prepared their experiment in the Crop Research and Education Center in South Deerfield, next to the Connecticut River.

“Today we have been doing a ‘stress test’ where we remove water out of the ground and measure how the system responds,” Boutt explains. “Whenever you pop a well next to a river, you will be drawing the river flow into the well. It is a nice site because the wells are shallow enough for us to do the experiment well.”

Mark O’Malley, an UMass student majoring in earth systems explained the importance of such experiments.

“If we are taking water out of here to use for drinking or to water the crops, this experiment will let us know how much water we can take out without damaging the surrounding areas.”

In addition, hydrology can also be used to measure climate change.

Timothy Randhir, an associate Professor of Natural Resources Conservation at UMass, has been researching climate change on the Connecticut River.

“Hydrological processes could be used as a mechanism to understand the before and after changes,” Randhir explained. It can allow scientist to document the shifting temperatures from climate change.

Randhir’s research was sparked off by the desire to localise climate change and create better understanding.

“My research attempted to downscale the global predictions. We get a lot of abstract talk about global climate change but it always comes back to ‘how is my water supply going to be affected’ and that is an important question.”

Randhir’s research took global data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and combined it with his research in order to focus on the Connecticut River fluctuations.

The 2007 IPCC synthesis report says, “warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level.”

An Interesting Response

The April 2 blog on Inside Iraq offers an example of interactivity at its prime. Leila Fadel wrote an article on April 1 based around the human effects of the latest violence in Baghdad. She went to the Imam Ali Hospital in Sadr City and interviewed several of the injured.

Fadel wrote in her article that the U.S. military was going after armed people in the area and that these people were not targeted, but victims caught in the battle.

There are, however always two sides to a story and this was voiced by "her friend in the military." He explained in his email the dilemna these officers face. They are under order to attack back if fired at. They have an obligation to do so in order to protect their troops.

This post shows the interactivity of blogs. Within a day of writing the article, the reader can view another point of view and also link back to the original article. They then have the opportunity to comment and offer their own viewpoint.

Campaign 2008: An endless cycle

Tibeten violence draws local reaction in Northampton

Photo by: Gurinder Osan/Associated Press


Protesters are uniting today for a global day of action in support of improving human rights in Tibet, which falls on the same day as the Olympic flame's arrival in Bejing, a symbolic day on the Olympic calendar.

Tension in Tibet has been ongoing since the outbreak of violence on March 10. This day has been described by many as the worst violence seen in Tibet since 1989. It fell on the forty-ninth anniversary of the failed uprising against communist rule. Beijing said 22 people have died in the clashes.

The Tibetan tensions have also hit close to home.

Following four days of protests in over 20 major cities around the world, local Tibetans and supporters gathered at Pulaski Park in Northampton to hold a protest in solidarity on March 18, beginning in morning and ending with an evening vigil in support of the continued uprising in Tibet. The protests continued into Sunday, March 23.

"Every day, we hear more disturbing news from the revolts inside Tibet," said Tenzin Dolkar, New England regional coordinator for Students for a Free Tibet in a statement. "We demand that the United Nations send a fact-finding delegation to Tibet to investigate the status of detained protestors and confirm the number of deaths caused by Chinese forces. We heard of school children being arrested and beaten in the revolts in Eastern Tibet as well as house-to-house searches, arbitrary arrests and killings."

Students in Tibet are also speaking up. On March 17, Tibetan students staged a sit-in at the National Minorities University.This is the biggest kind of event staged by students since the 1989 protests.

The students sat in a circle on the campus and made their presence clear in a peaceful manner: sitting with their heads bowed, surrounded by candles.

In a similar public display on March 24, protestors tried to block the torch runner carrying the Olympic flame into the Athens stadium as a sign of protest to China's involvement with Tibet.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has also voiced his opinion and recently called for China to open a dialogue with the Dalai Lama over the protests.

"Our Chinese friends must understand the worldwide concern that there is about the question of Tibet," he said to the media.

When asked whether he supported a boycott of the Olympic opening ceremony, Sarkozy said he would "not close the door to any possibility."

The Olympic Games is expected to attract 500,000 tourists this summer. China is eager to cap negative coverage and restore the confidence of major political figures like Sarkozy.

However, on March 26 through 28, Chinese authorities arranged a trip to Tibet for a selected range of international media outlets. This trip was intended to show journalists that calm had been restored.

It did not turn out that way. When taken to the temple, 30 monks started screaming about the injustices under which they felt trapped.

Emily Connell, a student majoring in sociology, thinks it will be interesting to keep an eye on the political movement in Tibet.

"I think it is only a matter of time before this issue will have to be addressed. The recent protests have shown a deep unrest among many Tibetan people."

With the lead up to the Olympic Games in full swing, journalists are setting up base in China. Faced with restrictions, many are aggravated by their lack of access to Tibet and have begun documenting their anxiety.

"None of us can enter Tibet, which is off limits to foreign reporters without a permit," wrote Tim Johnson, the Beijing bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers. "I know of only one foreign journalist, James Miles of The Economist, who had the good fortune to be in Lhasa as events unfolded over the past few days."

"The Chinese government must allow independent media access to all areas of Tibet," said Kunsang Kelden, a member of Students for a Free Tibet's International Board of Directors in a statement. "Tibetans and people of conscience worldwide will continue actions supporting the global Tibetan Uprising until the Chinese authorities withdraw military forces from all cities in revolt."

Boston is holding two events for "global day of action." One is on Park Street, and the other in Harvard Square. These marches are taking place worldwide, with 15 occurring in the U.S. alone.

Filtering blogs, is this the new "endless cycle?"

Jill Lawrence and Mark Stencel discuss the changes technology has brought to campaign 2008

The most interesting thing I got from the "Campaign 2008: An endless cycle" was listening first hand to those who had been covering the elections process for years have changed their journalistic practices.

A lot of technological advancements can happen in the four years between elections and I think the speakers really brought this point out well. Jill Lawrence, the national political correspondent for USA Today spoke of her political blog and the speed in which she can document events.

Blogs bring speed and audience interaction but they also pose dilemmas for some in the newsroom. I found it interesting to listen to a perspective from someone working inside the newsroom as it offered a fresh example to blogging.

Lawrence explained that there are now so many blogs on USA today it is impossible to have them all proof by someone other than the writer. There is just not the staff numbers or the time to do this. This means mistakes will be made and inaccurate information sometimes posted.

Lawrence argued that it is impossible for her to answer all of the questions blogged. Sometimes an article can generate over 2,000 comments; a reply number even superman would struggle to fit into his daily schedule.

It was also interesting to see the added pressure an election campaign can bring to a journalist. Mark Stencel, deputy publisher of Governing magazine, talked about the national narrative and the structural drive that journalists follow to stick to this narrative.

“If you are on a bus or plane and are following this candidate around, you have to file a story…and one of the first lessons that you got taught in your news class is that news is what’s new. So there is this narrative drive that takes over the process.”

During elections, Stencel argues journalists are on an endless treadmill to face the narrative.”

It was fitting that while these speakers spoke of their experiences with technology, Journalist students from UMass put their skills to the test. Journalism lecturer BJ Roche "really got a big kick out of it."

"All the students were either taking pictures or video taping it or using their audio thing so im really thrilled that students are going all in on the multimedia track."

Jennifer Jean-Baptise practices what she has learned in class


This conference was held on Wednesday March 26 and featured a panel discussion by Jill Lawrence, national political correspondent for USA Today, Mark Stencel, deputy publisher of Governing magazine, and Mary Carey, political reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette.