Allison Blood

• 12/10/2009: Radio Story - The Missouri Roundtable for Life filed litigation against MO Secretary of State and State Auditor
• 12/ 3/2009: Radio Story - A look at a few pre-filed bills for the next legislative session.
• 12/ 2/2009: Radio Story - Representative Cynthia Davis filled a resolution allowing Missourians to vote on the federal health care bill
• 11/19/2009: Radio Story - The Federal Government awarded Missouri $1.2 million to prepare for green jobs; which the Department of Economic Development says is indicative of Missouri's economy beginning to recover.
• 11/ 5/2009: Radio Story - This fiscal year has seen nearly an 11 percent drop in general revenue.
• 10/29/2009: Radio Story - Members of health care organizations are hesitant to predict how budget cuts will effect them
• 10/28/2009: Radio Story - Bi-partisan criticism of Nixon's budget cuts say the witholdings are not deep enough.
• 10/14/2009: Radio Story - Senator Brad Lager, leader of the investigation of E. coli at the Lake of the Ozarks, said he is sure there is a coverup underway.
• 10/ 8/2009: Radio Story - Amaren UE experienced losses of revenue this summer due to mild temperatures, so they're requesting a rate increase to recoup losses
• 10/ 1/2009: Radio Story - In response to ongoing controversy surrounding E. coli levels at the Lake of the Ozarks, officials say there was a cover up within the Department of Natural Resources
• 9/30/2009: Radio Story - In a news conference Wednesday, Gov. Jay Nixon blamed the Department of Natural Resources for not closing Ozark beaches, thus endangering Missourians.
• 9/24/2009: Radio Story - After Thursday's guilty plea by Representative T.D. El-Amin, some suspect there is a larger underlying issue to recent investigations
• 9/16/2009: Radio Story - State Auditor finds legislative slush funds fueled by lobbyists.
• 9/10/2009: Radio Story - Swine flu in residence halls
• 9/ 2/2009: Radio Story - Though opponents of the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the school funding formula say it is unfair, unequal distribution of funds is perfectly constitutional.
• 5/ 6/2009: Radio Story - Cigarette house fires cause about 800 deaths a year, and a House bill aimed at decreasing that number has reached the governor's desk.
• 5/ 4/2009: Newspaper Story - Missouri's first openly gay senator wed this weekend
• 4/27/2009: Radio Story - Recent outbreak of the swine flu has the Department of Health and Senior Services implementing their plan to respond to pandemic flu.
• 4/15/2009: Radio Story - Small business employees could see smaller pay checks because of a bill exempting some businesses from the minimum wage requirement
• 4/ 6/2009: Radio Story - The Department of Revenue says tax payers will likely see a delay in their refunds this year, maybe as long as two months after filing deadline.
• 4/ 1/2009: Radio Story - While Missourians are asking for more jobs, Senate dispute could kill a bill aimed at job creation.
• 3/30/2009: Radio Story - House members want to put out the number of house fires caused by cigarettes.
• 3/11/2009: Radio Story - Despite Governor Jay Nixon's opposition to anti-abortion legislation, the House passed such a bill to the Senate with over two thirds majority.
• 3/ 4/2009: Radio Story - A St. Louis area law-maker urged her colleagues Wednesday to let Motorcyclists run red lights.
• 2/23/2009: Radio Story - Missouri's unemployment rate is the highest it has been in 25 years. But new measures in the legislature would produce benefits for local small businesses.
• 2/18/2009: Radio Story - State Senators agree the amount of nuclear waste traveling through this state needs to decrease.
• 2/11/2009: Radio Story - Chairman of Senate Jobs Committee says strong opposition will kill a bill providing tax breaks for businesses.
• 2/ 4/2009: Radio Story - The state's Public Service Commission is split on the issue of AmerenUE's power plant proposal for Mid-Missouri.
• 2/ 2/2009: Radio Story - House Democrat's say military families are their priority this week.
• 1/28/2009: Radio Story - Missouri Supreme Court Justice calls for more money to defend accused criminals

Posted 11/03/2010: 

November 3, 2010

Election coverage was great. I enjoyed being at Carnahan's campaign and working with all the professional journalists. Balancing coverage for KMOX and KSMU was a challenge, but not too difficult. There were also troubleshooting issues with the Audacity files being converted to our lineup back here in Jefferson City, so learning to fix problems on the job was important, albeit stressful. I also took calls from the B1 students about technical difficulties. KMOX called me for two live hits throughout the night. The first was a Q and A about the setting up of the watch party right after Fox News called the race for Blunt with only one percent of precincts reporting. The second was after Carnahan's concession speech for 40 seconds of voicer. Overall, though I was nervous, I was proud of myself.

Today is time to look at what the effects of the election are on the House and Senate. With such a sweeping change from the left to the right, new leadership will need to take hold before the session begins in January. The next few weeks will set the stage for how much will get done in the next session, especially with the more moderate candidates being thrown out of their seats.

September 23, 2010

Making sure B1 students get election features done on time can be a tiring process. Features themselves are very involved stories; often natural sound is needed for the stories to have the depth they need. This requires students to leave the office and go into the world to talk to sources. This, for some reason, is difficult for our reporters to do. It's puzzling to me because this office has no windows and is often crowded. Still, they choose to stay here and do phone interviews. I saw a couple of reporters do interviews in Columbia today, and I was proud of them. Between the inherent change of scenery and the natural sound, I'm sure they'll have better stories for it.

Personally I have been trying my hand at editing. I don't always know if I'm helpful, because sometimes I have the attitude that I could just re-write their wraps for them and then everything would go much faster. I realize that is not teaching them anything, and it's only making me frustrated if they're not better week after week. I certainly hope this experience is as positive for them as it was for me; I learned so much in my first semester. I quickly became addicted to Capitol reporting, and I hope I've gotten better over the years. If I'm not a good teacher, I may as well be a fabulous reporter...

September 2, 2010

Today was the end of my first full week as a teaching assistant this year. Thursdays are crazy but great. There are so many reporters so I hope that allows us to cover absolutely everything. I am hoping once the B1 students get comfortable with story structure and using the equiptment, they will head out into the city to get stories with good natural sound. Our phones have been causing problems, so that's just another reason in-person interviews are always best.

I enjoy teaching, but find myself between doing my own stories and helping others. I absolutely don't mind helping out, but sometimes it's difficult to balance both. In talking with Brooks I think on Thursdays I will be more centered on my own stories because there are other TAs here. I am looking to do some stories about biomass as a possible fuel source and possibly also helping Scott Kanowski with his dog breeding story.