Al's Morning Meeting

The story says:

The Internet and online social networking Web sites such as MySpace have added a frightening new element to the school bullying that once took place in crowded lunchrooms and school bathrooms.

"The students don't see any difference with the online environment and joking around, and what amounts to idle threats," said Doris Settles, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Center for School Safety, which consults with school districts on Internet safety. "They do things on MySpace that they would never consider doing in the real world because of the anonymity it offers and ease of providing access to a wide audience."

An online survey of 824 middle and high school students aged 13 through 17 conducted by Harris Interactive in February 2006 for the National Crime Prevention Council found nearly half, 43 percent, of teens have been "cyberbullied" in the last year. It happens more to girls than boys, the survey says, and the most common age of victims is 15 to 16 years old. The study says only about one in five of the "victims" was scared, and nearly half were not bothered much at all by the threats.

Al's Morning Multimedia

Fox in Dallas produced a fun interactive on the reliability of eyewitnesses to a crime. Watch the short video, and then take an online test.

Back in 2005, I told you that police departments were starting to use a more reliable photo-lineup system. Instead of showing you a preselected lineup, as you experience in the online test that KDFW-TV offers in the above experiment, police are showing victims/eyewitnesses only one photo at a time. They've found that the choices the witness makes are more reliable that way. See this Web site, chock-full of cases of guys who went to the cooler based on false eyewitness identifications.

In fact, a 2005 study showed mistaken witness identification was the No. 1 reason people were wrongfully convicted in Virginia -- more than prosecutor or police misconduct, more than bad judges, more than unprepared or outgunned defense lawyers.

My friend David Hazinski, professor at Grady College at University of Georgia, sent me this note and a bundle of story ideas from his students. I added some hotlinks to resources to get you started on these story ideas. David writes:

Since I know all of you are always looking for good stories, I thought I'd send along a list of some of the ideas my reporting class came up with this semester. Some might not work in your market ... some might. I'm attaching the email and phone numbers for the students who researched the stories in case you want to pursue them. They have lots more information and people who are examples. The students would be happy to work with you.

At the very least, the list might stir some ideas, especially since we're about to come up on the slow summer months.

• Nightclub Camera Ban: Some bars and nightclubs are beginning to bar cameras because of underage drinking, privacy issues and concerns for ... women. The increase in social networks means that pictures taken in clubs could end up ruining careers. As you might imagine, it is no easy thing to enforce with picture phones, but two clubs in Athens already ban them.
Reporter -- Erica Shaffer: eshaffer@uga.edu / 678-230-0511

• Skate-Shoe Ban: Some stores like Party City are banning those kid sneakers with the wheels in the heels, contending they are a danger to the kids and other shoppers. A Boston trial lawyer who directs a group called W.A.T.C.H. (World Against Toys Causing Harm) says there has been a significant rise in injuries with the skates.
Reporter -- Kelcie Chambers: kelcie@uga.edu / 706-951-8865

• Slacklining: A new hobby on campus and in other places is "slacklining," tying a rope between two trees and balancing your way across. UGA has begun offering it at the Ramsey Athletic Facility, but kids also do it in parks.
  
Reporter -- Tajma Rahimic: ajma87@uga.edu / 678-343-7943

• Hippotherapy Becoming Accepted: This unconventional form of horseback riding is helping a bunch of disabled kids cope with their problems. Thirty-thousand patients nationwide now are treated this way. They work on specially trained horses because their gait helps with mobility. Butterfly Dreams farms in Watkinsville is now working with 33 young riders who are autistic, have brain injuries, cerebral palsy and sensory integration disfunction.
Reporter -- Katie Brizendine: ktb6994@uga.edu / 434-942-8006

• Captive Advertising Spreading to Small Towns: You can't escape advertising on elevators anymore. Someone is selling that ad time. And you can't even pump gas in many rural or small-town stations without being sold to at the pumps via little speaker boxes and sometimes video screens. Some advertisers think it's the next thing.
Reporter -- Piara Rich: piara@uga.edu / 678-548-3777

• Children of Deaf Adults: Most parents think a child growing up too soon is a bad thing, but the children of deaf adults have to grow up fast anyhow. They have to pay bills, do taxes, buy plane tickets and do adult things. Technology is changing it, but there are still a lot of kids who come to college grown up already. Many end up studying deafness and view it as a culture rather then a disability and want to stay involved.
Reporter -- Jillian Capobianco: jillcapo@uga.edu / 321-626-3812

• Adderall Escalation: This drug thought to be harmless and a study aid by many students is now landing some of them in rehab clinics. The clinics are starting to see their first cases of adderall addiction, although it's hard to get a handle on this because of privacy issues. Like other addictions, it's often coupled with other stuff. At least one guy at UGA is in post-rehab.
Reporter -- Meredith Griffanti: mkgmere@uga.edu / 571-275-1495

• Adopting Squirrels: While some people are trying to get rid of squirrels scurrying around their houses, others are trying to adopt them as cuddly pets. They're ordering them over the Internet. As you might imagine, the Department of Natural Resources frowns on this for any number of reasons, but kids persist.
Reporter -- Liana Yoon: lianay@uga.edu / 678-428-1549

Who Has Time to Cook?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it has new data, which shows:

Regardless of income and marital status, women spend more time preparing food than men do.

Among women, time spent preparing food in the home falls with higher household income and more time working outside the home. Our estimates suggest that nonworking women spend just over 70 minutes per day preparing food, whereas women who work part-time spend 53-56 minutes per day and full-time working women spend 38-46 minutes per day preparing food.

Single women spend less time preparing food than do married or partnered women whether they are working or not. Single working women spend about 15 minutes less per day preparing food than do married or partnered working women. Single nonworking women spend approximately 30 minutes less per day cooking than do nonworking women who are married or have partners.

Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.