Slow Summer News Days

As the end of June approaches, the slow summer dog days are kicking in, which was apparent this week, as I did not have much to do in terms of assignments. The weather was very warm this week, further creating this atmosphere.

While Juneteenth was observed on Monday, I still had to come into the office, as part-time employees and interns do not receive holidays off nor do I accumulate paid time off, which was fine with me, as I got to start working on a story dealing with one of my greatest interests, mental health. A press release was sent into the newsroom last week about our local state senator co-sponsoring legislation to create a school-based mental health professional internship stipend program. I research the bill and read through its proposal, taking notes and preparing questions, as the office was closed for the holiday. I also worked on my internship portfolio page.

Tuesday was interesting to walk into, as the moment I stepped into the newsroom, I had a phone call from a former local resident about my story on the school's tax increase, asking why the superintendent's raise was not in the story. The paper publishes online only on Tuesdays, and I had not even had the chance to look at that yet. I had written a separate story on the raise, which was slugged to be published the next day once I checked our website. It was interesting to see that the raise was in print but the tax increase was online only, a choice that I would not have necessarily made if I was the editor. Also, I continued to work on my mental health legislation story, reaching out to the senators co-signing on the bill and their offices. Then, I ended my day with writing some police news from local criminal complaints that we received.

On Wednesday, I began my day with reviewing a local school board's proposed preliminary budget for the next school year, as I will be attending the meeting next week where the final budget will be passed, being three days away from the deadline. Then, I tagged along with a reporter and the photographer to cover a local summer camp program. I also worked on some police news and reached out again to the local senator's office for my story on their legislation that they co-signed on. We also had our weekly staff meeting where I was given an assignment to cover an event tomorrow.

I began my Thursday with attending a public safety event at a local rest stop that educated visitor's on a variety of topics, such as impaired driving, work zone safety, litter pickup, etc. I then came back to the office to write the story. Check it out here! I also finished my story on proposed legislation by a local senator on school mental health professional internship stipends. I ended my days with working on some court news.