By:
December 30, 2003

Lots of people bought or received new computers, TVs, and electronics for Christmas. It might be a good time to tell people where to recycle old computers, cell phones, batteries, etc..

Here is a state-by-state listing to help you get local. 


A recent study estimates that over 20 million personal computers became obsolete in the United States in 1998. Between 1997 and 2007, nearly 500 million personal computers will become obsolete –almost two computers for each person in the United States. Some studies predict that a large number of televisions will be disposed when high definition television becomes widely available. Many used televisions, monitors, printers, and other types of electronic equipment are finding their fate in attics, basements, and warehouses. Businesses and households keep these products because they believe that they may still be valuable, but the longer equipment remains in storage, the less useful it becomes.




A Big Week for Recycling Centers and Landfills



This is traditionally the second biggest week of the year for recycling centers and landfills, second only to the spring cleanup season. One-third of our garbage comes from packaging — boxes, bags, shrink-wrap, and plastic trays. Unfortunately, toys seem to be particularly bad for over-packaging. 



Al’s Morning Meeting reader Erin Dwyer, a freelance writer for the Telegraph-Journal in New Brunswick, Canada, says wrapping paper is a big problem for paper recycling. Some recyclers, he says, reject containers of white paper if they spot Christmas wrapping paper in the load. How busy is your local recycling center?




Where the Parts of the Cow Go

While trying to understand the extent of concerns about what happens to potentially infected cattle, we should understand where the parts of a cow that is slaughtered go. The answer is: they go all over the place. Here’s more from Newsday.




Top Technology Stories of the Year



Here’s a very interesting list from C/Net. 




Foreign Students and the Holidays (follow-up)



I suggested you take a look at what foreign students do during holidays. The Free Press did the story Sunday. It’s still worthwhile today.




U.S. Blurs Photos of D.C.

Here’s a weird little story from AP.


 



2004 to be Another Year With HIPAA Horror Stories



Attorney Alice Neff Lucan has written a first-rate explanation of what is and what is not covered by the HIPAA laws that so many of you have struggled with in the last year. This is the sort of thing you should pass around your newsroom.



Here’s a collection of HIPAA horror stories that Al’s Morning Meeting mentioned in 2003. Keep them coming.   


 



Getting Ready for 2004 Elections

Take a look at the Al’s Morning Meeting political resources collection. This is the sort of thing I hope you will download or link to from your newsroom Intranet.



Gary Price at ResourceShelf is most certainly one of our industry’s most important online gurus. Not only is he an amazing librarian/researcher, he is generous when it comes to sharing his brain with journalists. For example, he just sent me two items with tons of resources for covering elections.

Here is another rich installment from Gary.

Included in Gary’s collection:






Zoo Deaths Investigated


I always appreciate it when journalists look into stories involving institutions that the public loves. I think TV stations and newspapers get so cozy with zoos that we don’t investigate them as aggressively as we should. When animals die at your local zoo, do you ask for medical records and zoo reports?


The Washington Post did. Last month, the Post looked at what the paper called a pattern of mistakes that contributed to almost two dozen animal deaths. The paper said:



Neglect, misdiagnosis, or other mistakes have marked the deaths of 23 animals at the National Zoo in the past six years, and some veterinary records are incomplete or were changed after the fact, according to documents and interviews with current and former zoo employees. A review of thousands of pages of zoo reports shows that records were changed or were incomplete in files on eight animal deaths — including those of an orangutan, a lion, and a giraffe …


In three cases — involving the lion, a bobcat, and a rare bird — notations were deleted or passages were added in electronic veterinary records. No official veterinary record was filed after the death of a giraffe during an anesthesia procedure. The zoo said it could not provide keeper notes on the daily care of two rare zebras that died of hypothermia and starvation. Zoo euthanasia forms were not completed for the bobcat, a tree kangaroo, and an endangered black-footed ferret.

See the Post‘s collection of stories and follow-ups.


WRC-TV in D.C. also has a fairly extensive collection of stories they have covered about zoo deaths.



 We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.




Editor’s Note: Al’s Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, story excerpts, and other materials from a variety of websites, 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.

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Al Tompkins
Al Tompkins is one of America's most requested broadcast journalism and multimedia teachers and coaches. After nearly 30 years working as a reporter, photojournalist, producer,…
Al Tompkins

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