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I am still working on my higher education piece. I have finished my two wraps for the story but I have not finished the main body itself.

I have two people of authority for the Missouri budget and I was able to interview Rob Mayer, the Education Chairperson in the Senate.

So far my story is going well, all I need now is a good human element to add in and I am all set.

It has been difficult to get a hold of her but once I do, I think my story will come together nicely. So hopefully I can get my story done and produced by next week.

There was a sheriff in Carter County MO who killed himself a couple of weeks before his election. And he only lost by two votes.

Now Phil wants me to see if it, first of all is true, and secondly since the vote is so close someone (obviously not the guy) can call for a recount.

However, even if there is a recount and the guy ends up winning who would be appointed sheriff? I doubt there will be a recount since the sheriff is dead he cannot call for a recount.

This was a tough story because it involved obtaining the correct figures to write and accurate story. I had received a press release from Blunt's office saying the rate had gone down in the month of September. When I went to check the numbers for September the Economic Department of Development did not have the numbers for September were not out yet.

So, after hours of calling I found out the press release had received the seasonal adjusted rate numbers (which is a rough estimate) and according to those numbers the unemployment rate did go down.

After verifying the number I was able to write a pretty good story, except for the fact that Blunt's media contact did not want to elaborate on the numbers.

I had one good quote from a Missouri Democratic spokesperson who still was not satisfied with the number saying the unemployment rate is still the highest it has been in years.

I have a midterm tomorrow on philosophical history. Plato and Aristotle and all those fun guys, I will be doing a lot of reading tonight.

But I am excited for the weekend because it is Mizzou's first conference home game, and it should be fun. I am looking forward to ending this week as soon as possible.

I am also nervous because I applied to study abroad in Brussels Belgium, but I found out that 17 people have applied. So now the study abroad advisers are unsure if they can get everyone to go.

The DOW dropped almost 700 points today even before the bailout bill was voted on. We have little to no plan on what to do because Congress decided the bail out was a no.

It is also my 21st birthday today (September 29) and what is weird is that the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929. A month and 79 years ago.

Good thing today is my birthday or this whole economic crisis would be somewhat depressing. I guess for everyone else it is just a bad bad day. So I should just be glad I am 21 and to try and forget today, but it will be hard to.

Writing stories for Missouri Digital News is very challenging, it is tough to write a story when people almost never return calls. Although this work is demanding in the end it will have many rewards.

I am getting real experience with top radio stations and learning so much from the experienced members of MDN. Each day I come to the Capitol I am challenged with something brand new. In this place you have to always be thinking to stay ahead and write a good story. Hopefully today I can deliver because it is getting tougher and tougher every time I come in.

Even though it can sometimes get stressful or tough I know that I am light years ahead of people who were afraid to try something new and different. I am not scared and look forward to my new challenges.

Thats all I need to say. People lose their minds during football season, maybe the cooler weather brings out more of the crazy people. One of them happens to be me. I played football in high school in Texas where they are even more crazy about the pigskin. I love watching football College and Pro teams are extremely entertaining and you never know what might happen. College teams are especially fun to watch because you know the players are out there for the pure enjoyment of the sport.

Well. There would be much less to talk about around the water cooler. People would find it hard to keep up with their favorite sports teams and the world around them locally and globally.

I bring this up mostly because of the Missouri School of Journalism's centennial. 100 years of learning and growing. It is hard to imagine life without walking outside every morning to pick up a paper or flipping on the TV set to watch your favorite news broadcast. Now, we even have the handy dandy internet to keep us away from doing real work and up to date with the real world.

So thanks Walt Williams and others for pioneering something that without it, we would be less aware of ourselves and our impact on others.