As a college freshman back in 1984, I became a first time voter, when I cast an absentee ballot from my dorm room in the Reagan/Mondale presidential election. Now, 28 years later, my daughter will be voting in her first election, also as a college freshman, also in a presidential year. To get Megan registered as a voter, I consulted the Virginia Board of Elections website, where I found this advisory about an erroneous viral e-mail.
The Virginia Board of Elections is telling people to ignore a mass e-mail that suggests registered voters have to re-register if they haven't voted in a while. Officials say voter registrations are not canceled just because a voter has been inactive.
According to the release from the State Board of Elections, a voter may be shifted to inactive status if election mailings to their address are returned undeliverable. In such cases, the voter may still cast a ballot if they sign a statement at the polling place. For that reason, the SBE recommends that people who haven't voted since 2008 check their registration status. It can be done online here.
I find voter registration issues to be tricky to write about sometimes. For example, the deadline to register to vote in the November elections is Monday, October 15th. To the casual listener, that could sound as if anyone who wants to vote in November has to sign up by 10/15. The truth is, the deadline is only for people who have never registered to vote before, or who have moved in the last year.
Essentially, a voter's registration is good for life, but it's up to the voter to make sure their records are up to date. That means notifying the local registrar's office if you move.
For information on how and where to register to vote or on how to get an absentee ballot, visit the State Board of Elections website.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
A Listener's Response
I had an interesting listener response to a story I did today. The story involved a dog who had died when left in a hot car. A woman emailed my co-host, Jennifer Roberts, to complain about the report, demanding to know why the station would air such an upsetting story. The email was typed in all capital letters and was at least three times longer the story itself, which read...
"Newport News police have charged 24 year old Julie Elisma with felony cruelty to animals after she allegedly left her boyfriend's dog locked in her car for several hours. The dog died from heat stroke."
What I find interesting is that in a month in which I've talked on-air about a baby's death in a hot car, torrential downpours, and a triple murder in Norfolk, it was a sad story about a dog that elicited such an anguished response from a listener. Jennifer forwarded the email to me, and I wrote back with an apology and an explanation.
Stories such as these, while disturbing, are informative. On the surface, they inform the public about a tragic event. But they work on a deeper level, as well. The fact that a dog died in a hot car illustrates that there are still people out there who don't know the dangers of leaving an animal in a car in the summertime. The story I wrote also included the fact that the suspect is facing a felony charge, illustrating that there is a consequence for such an act.
Certainly, I would rather there weren't stories like this. But I remain hopeful that my editorial decision to research, write and air the two lines of news copy listed above (it aired exactly once on 92.9 The Wave and Star 1310) will cause a pet owner or a pet owner's friend to think twice before a pet is left in a hot car for any length of time again.
"Newport News police have charged 24 year old Julie Elisma with felony cruelty to animals after she allegedly left her boyfriend's dog locked in her car for several hours. The dog died from heat stroke."
What I find interesting is that in a month in which I've talked on-air about a baby's death in a hot car, torrential downpours, and a triple murder in Norfolk, it was a sad story about a dog that elicited such an anguished response from a listener. Jennifer forwarded the email to me, and I wrote back with an apology and an explanation.
Stories such as these, while disturbing, are informative. On the surface, they inform the public about a tragic event. But they work on a deeper level, as well. The fact that a dog died in a hot car illustrates that there are still people out there who don't know the dangers of leaving an animal in a car in the summertime. The story I wrote also included the fact that the suspect is facing a felony charge, illustrating that there is a consequence for such an act.
Certainly, I would rather there weren't stories like this. But I remain hopeful that my editorial decision to research, write and air the two lines of news copy listed above (it aired exactly once on 92.9 The Wave and Star 1310) will cause a pet owner or a pet owner's friend to think twice before a pet is left in a hot car for any length of time again.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
A Trip to the Virginia Living Museum
Here are some photos from the family trip to the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News. I post these photos not as an analysis or commentary on a news story, but simply as a way of testing out the synthesis between Picasa, my photo organizer of choice, and Blogger. Enjoy.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Explaining the New E-Z Pass Fees
The Virginia Department of Transportation has announced its long awaited fee structure for the E-Z Pass automated toll system. It's a little confusing; it took me three readings this morning to figure it all out. Here are the details.
E-Z Pass transponders (the little devices in your car that are read by automated toll gantries), if acquired after July 9th, 2012, will include a 50-cents per month access fee.
E-Z Pass Flex transponders, for use in Northern Virginia on I-495 Express Lanes and future I-95 Express Lanes, will cost $1.00 per month if acquired after July 9th, 2012. There is no monthly fee if used exclusively in HOV-3 mode.
If, on July 9th, 2012, you already had an E-Z Pass transponder , there will be no monthly access fee UNLESS you replace the transponder you have or need a second one for another vehicle.
The $25.00 deposit will no longer be required for new transponders.
The new fee structure takes effect September 1st, 2012.
Why is V-DOT now charging a fee every month for E-Z Pass? The fees will pay for the cost of expanding the system, which is expected to double in the next few years. New toll roads, like the Jordan Bridge in Portsmouth and the I-495 Express Lanes in Northern Virginia, will open this year, while tolls will begin on the Midtown and Downtown Tunnels in 2014. There will no toll booths at these facilities. Tolls will be collected exclusively with E-Z Pass.
On the web:
http://www.virginiadot.org/newsroom/statewide/2012/vdot_announces_e-zpass_fee58773.asp
E-Z Pass transponders (the little devices in your car that are read by automated toll gantries), if acquired after July 9th, 2012, will include a 50-cents per month access fee.
E-Z Pass Flex transponders, for use in Northern Virginia on I-495 Express Lanes and future I-95 Express Lanes, will cost $1.00 per month if acquired after July 9th, 2012. There is no monthly fee if used exclusively in HOV-3 mode.
If, on July 9th, 2012, you already had an E-Z Pass transponder , there will be no monthly access fee UNLESS you replace the transponder you have or need a second one for another vehicle.
The $25.00 deposit will no longer be required for new transponders.
The new fee structure takes effect September 1st, 2012.
Why is V-DOT now charging a fee every month for E-Z Pass? The fees will pay for the cost of expanding the system, which is expected to double in the next few years. New toll roads, like the Jordan Bridge in Portsmouth and the I-495 Express Lanes in Northern Virginia, will open this year, while tolls will begin on the Midtown and Downtown Tunnels in 2014. There will no toll booths at these facilities. Tolls will be collected exclusively with E-Z Pass.
On the web:
http://www.virginiadot.org/newsroom/statewide/2012/vdot_announces_e-zpass_fee58773.asp
Friday, July 6, 2012
The Day the Towers Fell
Despite the fact that my newscasts are only one minute in length, I spend a fair amount of time each morning scanning every source imaginable for story ideas. This morning I spotted a story that brought back memories of my early days in radio.
WITN-TV in Washington, North Carolina reported this morning that a severe storm had snapped two support wires of a 180 foot radio tower in the town of Smithfield. The tower, which had not been used for some time, was leaning and in danger of collapse, so nearby Highway 70 had to be closed. Hours later, work crews intentionally brought down the tower.
The story from Washington, North Carolina is very reminiscent of something that happened to a radio station that I used to work for, 100.5 WCMS-FM in Virginia Beach, two decades ago. On March 19th, 1992 (I had to dig out an old WCMS calendar to find the exact date,) an intense storm knocked down the station's 500-foot FM tower and two smaller AM towers at the transmitter site on the Elizabeth River. The station was off the air for only six hours; another station allowed WCMS to use space on its FM tower. The first song that we played when the station returned to the air? "It's only the Wind" by Billy Dean. Amazing...I can't remember to pick up my prescription at the Rite Aid but I can remember that 20 year old fact.
It took five months for the station to rebuild the towers and the transmitter building. I was there for the ceremony to christen the new towers, as you'll see in the incredibly dorky photo below. Good lord, I still have that tie in my closet ;) Can't believe it's been 20 years.
WITN-TV in Washington, North Carolina reported this morning that a severe storm had snapped two support wires of a 180 foot radio tower in the town of Smithfield. The tower, which had not been used for some time, was leaning and in danger of collapse, so nearby Highway 70 had to be closed. Hours later, work crews intentionally brought down the tower.
The story from Washington, North Carolina is very reminiscent of something that happened to a radio station that I used to work for, 100.5 WCMS-FM in Virginia Beach, two decades ago. On March 19th, 1992 (I had to dig out an old WCMS calendar to find the exact date,) an intense storm knocked down the station's 500-foot FM tower and two smaller AM towers at the transmitter site on the Elizabeth River. The station was off the air for only six hours; another station allowed WCMS to use space on its FM tower. The first song that we played when the station returned to the air? "It's only the Wind" by Billy Dean. Amazing...I can't remember to pick up my prescription at the Rite Aid but I can remember that 20 year old fact.
It took five months for the station to rebuild the towers and the transmitter building. I was there for the ceremony to christen the new towers, as you'll see in the incredibly dorky photo below. Good lord, I still have that tie in my closet ;) Can't believe it's been 20 years.
 |
| Eric Stevens and Jim Long, the WCMS Afternoon Team, in 1992. |
Thursday, July 5, 2012
And Now, the Jellyfish Forecast
This summer I have been finding and sharing webpages that provide forecasts on conditions at the beach: water temperature, rip current risk, water cleanliness, etc. The final piece of the beach forecasting puzzle may have just been developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...it predicts the chance of jellyfish.
No, the government isn't actually counting jellyfish. But with it's Chesapeake Bay Interactive Buoy System, NOAA forecasters can monitor water factors like temperature and salinity to find conditions that jellyfish like and predict where jellyfish will be most numerous. As of Thursday, July 5th, the northern Chesapeake Bay is looking at a bumper crop of Atlantic Sea Nettles, the most populous of the bay's jellyfish.
On the web:
http://www.chesapeakebay.noaa.gov/forecasting-sea-nettles
http://buoybay.noaa.gov/news-listings/109.html
No, the government isn't actually counting jellyfish. But with it's Chesapeake Bay Interactive Buoy System, NOAA forecasters can monitor water factors like temperature and salinity to find conditions that jellyfish like and predict where jellyfish will be most numerous. As of Thursday, July 5th, the northern Chesapeake Bay is looking at a bumper crop of Atlantic Sea Nettles, the most populous of the bay's jellyfish.
On the web:
http://www.chesapeakebay.noaa.gov/forecasting-sea-nettles
http://buoybay.noaa.gov/news-listings/109.html
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Where to Find Beach Conditions
Planning to beat the heat by heading to the beach? Here is a list of links that will provide you everything you need to know about local beach conditions.
Best Local Beaches -- The Daily Press ranks the Top 10 beaches in Hampton Roads. Includes open times, lifeguard hours and contact information.
Rip Currents -- This page, which I have featured on this site before, includes the current risk of rip currents and beach water temperatures.
Beach Water Quality -- Lists swimming advisories issued by the the Virginia Department of Health
Beach Water Quality -- Natural Resources Defense Council site with data on general water quality at area beaches.
Best Local Beaches -- The Daily Press ranks the Top 10 beaches in Hampton Roads. Includes open times, lifeguard hours and contact information.
Rip Currents -- This page, which I have featured on this site before, includes the current risk of rip currents and beach water temperatures.
Beach Water Quality -- Lists swimming advisories issued by the the Virginia Department of Health
Beach Water Quality -- Natural Resources Defense Council site with data on general water quality at area beaches.
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