Manhattan Borough President doesn’t like the DOE’s plan for overcrowded schools

Borough President Scott Stringer doesn’t like how the Department of Education is handling the problem of overcrowded public schools on the Upper East and Upper West Sides. In particular, he’s unhappy with the waitlist timeline. He says the plan allows for too much uncertainty for parents of children on waitlists.

Parents and community leaders in both neighborhoods are anxious about the problem. Several prominent community leaders hope that the issues of overcrowding the DOE has faced in the last year will spur the department to look for more long term solutions such as opening new schools in new buildings.

Check out my stories on the issue for West Side Spirit and  for Our Town.

The Current Political Climate

About a month ago, I interviewed NYU Politics professor Jonathan Nagler about the current political climate in the United States. It was originally going to air at the end of January but due to some technical difficulties on my part (my audio recorder broke) it didn’t. I’m posting it up here because I thought it was an interesting interview, even more interesting listening to it a month later. The interview took place just less than a week after Obama’s State of the Union address and two weeks after Scott Brown was elected to the Senate in Massachusetts. Check it out:

Download: ar3sr8rltf

I love the New York Times but…

…I also love when someone points out the metropolitan bias it has. Coming from a VERY rural area, I find it a bit offensive that the New York Times considers any area with a population of less than 5 Million people as “rural.” I also don’t like the presumed stereotypes about rural America that it tends to perpetuate. Apparently, those at the Daily Yonder agree: Speak Your Piece: Since When is Dallas Rural? | Daily Yonder | Keep It Rural.

No One at the Polls

The New York City primaries and the subsequent runoffs had some of the lowest turnouts in history. No one in the city is paying attention to local politics. Why?

Click here to read the New York Times article.

The Post Office is in Trouble

The post office is dealing with major budget shortfalls, which means that many branches arcross the country are going to be closing and services to customers cut. Check out the story I contributed about a few branches in Brooklyn that are being considered for closing. Neighbors aren’t too happy.

Neb. Senator Nelson on the 60-member majority in Senate

Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson was on NPR’s All Things Considered yesterday discussing what the 60-member Democratic majority means for the Senate. As one of the Senate’s most conservative Democrats, he is not expected to vote along party lines as often as many Democrats would like. Check out the interview.

An Answer to the Safe Haven Law?

Nebraska Gov. Heineman signed LB 603 into law today. This bill provides for increases in mental health services for children and their families, including a 24/7 hotline and more followup assistance programs. You can read more about the new bill here.

Will this bill solve the problems that were made apparent by the Safe Haven law last year? I don’t think it will solve them all but it is a step in the right direction at least.

An Explanation.

I am a journalism and politics student at NYU but I am originally from a small town in southeastern Nebraska called Beaver Crossing. I grew up on a small farm outside of town. Since I was 11 or 12 I have wanted to be a journalist. I have always had a huge respect for the reporters who work tirelessly to give us accurate information about what is going on in the world. A desire to be a part of the world of interviews and deadlines and a strong interest in politics and how it affects our daily lives has led me to New York City for college. I am currently a junior and I am finally starting to stretch my journalistic muscles. This blog is an experiment for me. I have had a personal blog for nearly a year where I mostly write about my observations of my world and my life, post pictures, and generally share experiences and thoughts. However, with this blog I have a different plan. I want this to be a more journalistic type of blog. A place where I can do some actual reporting on my own. I am starting to feel comfortable with my skills and I want a place to showcase them. The future of journalism is on the internet and in order for me to be a competitive journalist in the future I need to put my roots down here. My plan for this blog is to write about the politics of Nebraska from my point of view as a native living outside of its boundaries. I hope that I can be interesting, inquisitive, and enlightening with my writing and I hope anyone who reads it will have a better understanding of how people in Nebraska and the Great Plains view the world in comparison with the rest of the country. Thanks in advance for reading and I hope you enjoy.