Tag Archive | social media

How do we stop texting while driving?

Yesterday on Facebook, a story brought out a surprisingly large reaction from users.

We asked “How do we stop texting while driving?” while linking to a story about a woman who was charged with manslaughter for texting while driving before a fatal crash.

People had some good ideas.

I guess what struck me though, were those that said maybe it can’t be stopped.

They have a point: we outlaw texting while driving, drinking and driving, speeding, but that doesn’t stop people from doing it.

So can anything be done? Should technology take care of it?

I don’t know.

What do you think – can texting while driving be stopped?

Facebook reaction to treehouse story

May16

One of the stories that has really captured the public’s attention this week is the story of a little girl her treehouse in Selinsgrove.

Here’s a synopsis:

John “J.C.” Carlson was preparing to finish building a tree house for his daughter, Samantha, last Saturday when he received a notice from the borough zoning office informing him the structure is illegal.

He began building the eight-foot, by six-foot wood structure on a tree stump in the front yard of his 701 W. Spruce St. home a few weeks ago for his daughter’s 11th birthday.

Carlson didn’t give zoning regulations a second thought when he began construction.

“A tree house is a tree house,” he said. “What possible harm can it do to build one for an 11-year-old.”

Carlson’s tree house violates the zoning ordinance because it is located on his front lawn on a lot that doesn’t accommodate its large size, said deputy zoning officer Janet Powers.

When that story hit social media, it really took off, with people overwhelmingly on the side of the family wanting to build the treehouse.

It appears the borough is going to be receiving some phone calls and letters now that this story has gotten out.

I understand both sides of the issue: You have to enforce laws uniformly, no matter what a person’s intentions are. You can’t make exceptions for one person then refuse to help another.

But it’s really hard to stand up against a little girl and her treehouse. It’s going to be unpopular, no matter what she wants – which is, after all, only a treehouse.

What do you think about this situation? Which side are you on?

‘After Deadline’ comes alive once more!

Apr4

Yesterday, we at the Daily Item re-launched an old favorite: the daily video segment known as “Daily Item After Deadline.”

It stars reporters Francis Scarcella and Rick Dandes. I’m the executive producer.

It kind of a twist on the “newsroom reveals its budget for the next day” trend.

Here’s where you can watch the first episode.

The daily segment will feature all of the day’s major headlines, as well as include some cool features like special guests, on-the-street reporting and weather segments as time goes on.

It will be posted at dailyitem.com each day at around 5 to 6 p.m., depending on how the day’s going – for example today it was up after 6, wince it was a super busy day in the newsroom.

Hopefully you’ll be tuning in each day, and we’d love to hear from you what you think and would like to see! Let us know on our Facebook page!

Below are some still shots from behind-the-scenes of the first day of production, showing Francis, Rick and Dave Hilliard working the camera:

Would you tour the Northumberland County Prison?

Mar29

This week, it came up that the public can tour the Northumberland County Prison whenever they want to. After all, tax dollars pay for the prison.

But would you want to tour it, even if you could? We posed the question on our Facebook page:

My take: I want to tour the prison, I think.

I mean, I think it would be cool to see what the inside of a prison looks like. I haven’t seen one yet and hopefully won’t as an inmate anytime in the future.

But at the same time, prisons are miserable places. They’re designed that way and they should be that way – so why would you want to go into them voluntarily, as Judy points out above?

What do you think – would you tour a prison if you got the chance?

Picking the pope goes hi-tech

Mar13

Here at the Daily Item, we’re all fascinated by the hi-tech ways to be notified of the papal conclave’s status.

And there’s several ways to stay informed or get involved, believe it or not:

NEW YORK (AP) — White smoke or black smoke? Maybe it’s easier just to wait for a text message that a new pope has been elected.

A Catholic organization has set up a website, www.popealarm.com, that lets people register to receive a text or email notification when a pope has been selected.

While the process of selecting a new pope is as old as the ages, there are enough changes to the media to make the last papal conclave — in 2005 — seem like ancient history.

The text service was set up by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, or FOCUS, and had proven so popular with more than 40,000 respondents that the popealarm website said Monday it was accepting no new registrants. The site hopes to increase its capacity before the cardinals begin voting, said Jeremy Rivera, spokesman for the Christian campus ministry.

“When the smoke goes up, you’ll know what’s going down” is the website’s motto.

FOCUS paid nearly $10,000 to set up the free service, figuring it was good publicity. Now the group’s leaders are sifting through co-sponsorship offers from other organizations impressed with the amount of online traffic it has generated and hoping for their own exposure, he said.

Another new website, www.adoptacardinal.org, assigns interested people one of the voting cardinals at random to pray for him as he deliberates on a new pope. More than 450,000 people had signed up by Monday.

City editor Bill Bowman is signed up for the texts, while I’m following @papalalarm on Twitter.

I’m not particularly invested in the papal election, there’s just something exciting about the ancient tradition of electing someone who is still seen as a world leader.

Have you signed up for Papal text alerts? Why or why not?

Facebook feedback: What do you think about new TSA guidelines?

Mar8

There was some good Facebook discussion on the Daily Item’s page yesterday regarding the new TSA regulations which would allow for small pocket knives on planes.

Here’s some more info:

TSA Administrator John Pistole announced Tuesday that airline passengers will be able to carry pocketknives with blades less than 2.36 inches long and less than half an inch wide. Souvenir baseball bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment also will be permitted starting next month.

The agency said the policy aligns the U.S. with international standards and allows the TSA to concentrate on more serious safety threats.

Check out part of the discussion:

I really don’t know which way I lean, but I do know this: why can’t I keep my iPod on during takeoff yet? Even in airplane mode?! And why is my shampoo still considered a security risk?!?

Maybe those are the questions we need to be focused on, rather than whether or not knives should be allowed on planes.

Story goes Facebook viral

Feb25

If there’s one thing I know about the news, it’s that people love restaurant news – what’s opening, what’s closing, what’s even thinking about opening a new location.

And now with social media, it’s even easier to get people the news they’re dying to know about.

Take, for example, a story that broke this week, that Texas Roadhouse is planning to take over the former Ruby Tuesday site in Hummels Wharf. I posted the story on Facebook, and it exploded. It got something like 150 likes.

But that’s not the most impressive stat.

Facebook metrics tracks a stat that indicates how many “shares” a story has. It shares this data on your newsfeed when you like a page to give you an idea of what people with similar interests are talking about. If there’s a really exciting story, sometimes it will have 200 shares.

Here’s the stats that popped up on my newsfeed Friday:

847?! Amazing!

Just goes to show you – sometimes it’s not the investigative, hard-hitting news people want to read…..it’s just as simple as checking zoning applications.

Winter weather

Feb20

Yesterday, on the way to and from an accident scene, photographer Rob Inglis and I were caught in the middle of the snowfall that blanketed the area yesterday morning.

The roads in northern Northumberland County were terrible!

Here a shot (Don’t worry – I wasn’t driving!)