Here is the entire General Motors Bailout story from this past Monday.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
GM Bailout
General Motors, a once great automaker, faces the possibility of bankruptcy. Forced to terminate dealers and cutback jobs to compete with its competitors Toyota and Honda, G-M's solution is to ask Congress for a bailout. The president of Bill Rapp Chevrolet in Syracuse agrees and said that it was Washington's responsibility to support the U-S auto industry. But some consumers think the money should be spent otherwise.
"If the government is willing to help anybody, it should be the healthcare providers They're the ones who need help." -Kat Coker, Chevrolet Owner
We surveyed the Waverly parking lot at Syracuse University to see how G-M fared with consumers and found that of the 82 cars parked there, 15 of the vehicles were G-M versus 13 of the vehicles that were Toyota. Even with 8 U-S brands, G-M only had a 2% greater presence than its competitor.
Chelsea Choi, NCC News
Weber Re-opens - Nassdja Valentin
Terrance Hoffmann has been coming to Weber’s German restaurant in north Syracuse for nearly 40 years, but he received an unexpected surprise Monday night.
“I came up earlier in the day to get a menu and make sure it was open since I was not sure and I had a great conversation with Mr. Peter Weber and told him I would be bringing in Mr. Hans Peter Krumk for dinner and we were all looking forward to it and we returned at about 6:30 Monday night, he and his wife my wife and I, only to find the place dark and closed up” says Hoffman.
That was because the nearly 70 year old restaurant was seized by the state last Monday for unpaid sales taxes. Business was a bit slow today after reopening on Friday, but relieved customers came back for more.
“On television they showed a picture of the restaurant and I’m saying to myself wait, I know that place, and then it hit me that it was Weber’s. When I heard it was a sales tax problem I knew they would be back open” says Robert Greenough.
And many hope it will be around much longer.
“I have another 20 to 25 years in me,” Hoffman jokes, “but whatever it is I certainly hope they will be around.”
Nassdja Valentin
GM close to bankruptcy
General Motors is close to bankruptcy because of the economic plummet the last couple months. The president of Bill Rapp Chevrolet said if the bailout does not come from Congress that G-M would not be able to survive and millions of jobs would be lost. Some consumers are trying to prevent this by sticking with the American cars.
"If you get more people buying American, it'll last. If you get your imports, your exports, you know. More people buying out of country."-Kat Coker, Chevrolet Owner
We did an unofficial survey in a local parking lot to see how GM was actually doing. There were only two less cars from foreign powerhouse Toyota than from General Motors even though GM has eight different brands within its company. And when trying to ask the people at Joe Romano Chevrolet what should solve the problem, we were met with nothing but harsh words and dial tones. Jon Erwin N-C-C news.
BREAKING NEWS: Snow in Syracuse
Snow is accumulating in Syracuse, and some people are getting ready for it.
"I usually prepare beforehand, but after seeing the news last night I figured I'd better get some salt because its going to be snowing for the whole week the whole week," says Michael Jones of Syracuse.
Large snowflakes have been falling throughout the day here in Syracuse, but many people are holding off on buying rock salt for the winter season.
Local stores have plenty of salt and shovels in stock...and customers will need these items eventually.
"We usually go throughout about 100 pounds a year usually," says Jones.
But there hasn't been enough snow to really disrupt anything in Central New York. Salt trucks are not out in Syracuse yet...and in fact, crews are still busy cleaning up leaves. Lottie Watts, N-C-C News.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Living without the "Living Wage"
There's just no way to sugar-coat this one...the city fell through on their promise to pay workers a "living wage". Full time employees for businesses that have contracts with the city should be making about $13.00 per hour. Instead, employees working for Murbro Parking are only making half that, about $7.50.
We talked to several parking attendants working at city garages, like the one on Fayette St, and Washington St. They refused to go on camera, sure that if their boss saw them or even had an inkling they were talking to the media, they would be fired. But they didn't seem surprised they were supposed to be making more money. They simply said to us, that they don't expect to ever get a raise.
But one brave employee, Patrick O'Halloran, had enough. The city passed the living wage law in 2005, so O'Halloran gave it a year and after not seeing his pay go up, he quit, sued Murbro parking for the money he never got, and won.
Murbro parking says the city told them not to pay the living wage, and I saw the person who drafted the living wage sent to Murbro saying exactly that.
The letter said that since Murbro's contract with the city was made well before the city adopted the living wage law, they did not have to give the employees a raise, but if they did enter new contracts with the city, then they would have to. Here's the catch....Murbro didn't consdier their monthly verbal agreements with the city, as legal contracts....but the judge did. So Murbro owes O'Halloran at least $8,000, that's how much he lost out on since he wasn't paid the living wage.
But it's the taxpayers who are footing the bill. You see, Murbro parking gets reimbursed by the city for all of it's expenses, including paying employee wages and paying O'Halloran his $8,000. Murbro parking manager told me it didn't matter to him if he paid his employees $8 per hour or $25 per hour, because they ultimately get reimbursed by taxpayers anyway!
O'Halloran's lawyer agreed but pointed out that it's the taxpayer's burden either way, but it's certainly easier to foot the bill over time, rather than pay $8,000 in a lump sum. But he warned it could be more than that if other employees follow suit and file a lawsuit against Murbro. He said we would just have to wait and see.
Later this month, the judge will decide exactly how much Murbro, and thus taxpayers, owe O'Halloran.
We talked to several parking attendants working at city garages, like the one on Fayette St, and Washington St. They refused to go on camera, sure that if their boss saw them or even had an inkling they were talking to the media, they would be fired. But they didn't seem surprised they were supposed to be making more money. They simply said to us, that they don't expect to ever get a raise.
But one brave employee, Patrick O'Halloran, had enough. The city passed the living wage law in 2005, so O'Halloran gave it a year and after not seeing his pay go up, he quit, sued Murbro parking for the money he never got, and won.
Murbro parking says the city told them not to pay the living wage, and I saw the person who drafted the living wage sent to Murbro saying exactly that.
The letter said that since Murbro's contract with the city was made well before the city adopted the living wage law, they did not have to give the employees a raise, but if they did enter new contracts with the city, then they would have to. Here's the catch....Murbro didn't consdier their monthly verbal agreements with the city, as legal contracts....but the judge did. So Murbro owes O'Halloran at least $8,000, that's how much he lost out on since he wasn't paid the living wage.
But it's the taxpayers who are footing the bill. You see, Murbro parking gets reimbursed by the city for all of it's expenses, including paying employee wages and paying O'Halloran his $8,000. Murbro parking manager told me it didn't matter to him if he paid his employees $8 per hour or $25 per hour, because they ultimately get reimbursed by taxpayers anyway!
O'Halloran's lawyer agreed but pointed out that it's the taxpayer's burden either way, but it's certainly easier to foot the bill over time, rather than pay $8,000 in a lump sum. But he warned it could be more than that if other employees follow suit and file a lawsuit against Murbro. He said we would just have to wait and see.
Later this month, the judge will decide exactly how much Murbro, and thus taxpayers, owe O'Halloran.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Missing the story entirely
Nassdja and I were covering a story about the increase in voter registration in Syracuse's 4th district.
We stopped and talked to a young man in his car. He didn't have much to say about voter registration. In fact, he was preoccupied with his cat, who stuck in a tree.
I talked to him for awhile and told him I hoped his cat got down. Well, about an hour later, The Post Standard and News Channel 9 reported that a man had been electrocuted when he climbed a ladder trying to rescue his cat. It was the man who we had talked to just an hour earlier.
Other than that, we had some difficulty trying to get people to talk to us about voter registration. We asked a group of young men if they were voting, and one replied "I'd vote for you for President!"
We stopped and talked to a young man in his car. He didn't have much to say about voter registration. In fact, he was preoccupied with his cat, who stuck in a tree.
I talked to him for awhile and told him I hoped his cat got down. Well, about an hour later, The Post Standard and News Channel 9 reported that a man had been electrocuted when he climbed a ladder trying to rescue his cat. It was the man who we had talked to just an hour earlier.
Other than that, we had some difficulty trying to get people to talk to us about voter registration. We asked a group of young men if they were voting, and one replied "I'd vote for you for President!"
Sweetland campaign: one day to go
Jon and i spent a few hours Monday afternoon with the Dale Sweetland campaign as they made one last effort to get votes. We caught up with him during lunch in North Syracuse. He told us he had been out at New Process Gear at 6 that morning, and made several stops after that. Then we followed him over to the county office building downtown were he was shaking hands with people as they left work.
He was a really easy person to interview - easy to talk to and very laid back. It makes sense, these are the qualities that a politician needs to get votes, but I was still surprised at how easy it was to talk to him (especially so close to the election).
You could tell that there was that sense that he was the underdog, which of course he was in this race against Dan Maffei. His campaign manager Bill Rapp admitted that they had entered the race late and had a lot less money than their opponent. As Sweetland greeting people passing by, he was saying "I need your vote tomorrow."
For this story, I really tried to minimize my own voice tracks in the story as much as possible. We got some really good interviews and I didn't want such great sound to go to waste. I probably could have only used one bite from Mr. Curran, but there were two things that I really liked that he said, so I decided to put both in. I like how he mentioned that he wanted to know what hte candidate had to say, and who he was as a person. This was of course the theme in my story - Dale trying to get that personal connection before voters cast their ballots. but he also talked about his skepticism of politicians, which has been an important factor in all of the races this year.
This was great preperation for my night of live blogging for the CBS affiliate in Rochester at the Sweetland campaign headquarters Tuesday night. He wasn't allowing media into his private room across the hall from the grand ballroom, so I ended up relying on this information in my post. As the night went on, it became clear that he was not going to make - Maffei kept pulling ahead more and more. He made a brief speech and the end of the night, wishing Maffei all that best.
He was a really easy person to interview - easy to talk to and very laid back. It makes sense, these are the qualities that a politician needs to get votes, but I was still surprised at how easy it was to talk to him (especially so close to the election).
You could tell that there was that sense that he was the underdog, which of course he was in this race against Dan Maffei. His campaign manager Bill Rapp admitted that they had entered the race late and had a lot less money than their opponent. As Sweetland greeting people passing by, he was saying "I need your vote tomorrow."
For this story, I really tried to minimize my own voice tracks in the story as much as possible. We got some really good interviews and I didn't want such great sound to go to waste. I probably could have only used one bite from Mr. Curran, but there were two things that I really liked that he said, so I decided to put both in. I like how he mentioned that he wanted to know what hte candidate had to say, and who he was as a person. This was of course the theme in my story - Dale trying to get that personal connection before voters cast their ballots. but he also talked about his skepticism of politicians, which has been an important factor in all of the races this year.
This was great preperation for my night of live blogging for the CBS affiliate in Rochester at the Sweetland campaign headquarters Tuesday night. He wasn't allowing media into his private room across the hall from the grand ballroom, so I ended up relying on this information in my post. As the night went on, it became clear that he was not going to make - Maffei kept pulling ahead more and more. He made a brief speech and the end of the night, wishing Maffei all that best.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Vote or Die
After multiple attempts at chasing a story at Our Lady of Pompei, various senior residence polling places, Circuit City and Starbuck's... I was turned down enough times to want to throw in the towel.
Paloma and I eventually landed on the popular story of the polling places on campus that were moved. We visited Schine, Goldstein and the Drumlins Country Club. We interviewed a few student voters and asked them what they thought of the change and how it affected them.
My story could be improved if I got an official for an interview. It was also difficult to tell the story and include all the HAVA (Help America Vote Act) information such as regulations and requirements as well as personal anecdotes about voting from students. There was too much information and it was difficult for me to pick and choose what was important enough to tell my audience.
Paloma and I eventually landed on the popular story of the polling places on campus that were moved. We visited Schine, Goldstein and the Drumlins Country Club. We interviewed a few student voters and asked them what they thought of the change and how it affected them.
My story could be improved if I got an official for an interview. It was also difficult to tell the story and include all the HAVA (Help America Vote Act) information such as regulations and requirements as well as personal anecdotes about voting from students. There was too much information and it was difficult for me to pick and choose what was important enough to tell my audience.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Schools as Polling Places
As people gear up for election day, they'll be heading out to their polling location. Many schools are on the list of polling places-- 54 to be exact-- in Onondaga County. This brings up an interesting concern: is it safe to have school when crowds of unfamiliar people will be walking through the halls? 5 states mandate schools to close on election day, and in other places, it's up to the individual counties and even the individual school districts. Some schools where I'm from (the Chicago suburbs) are closed for election day.
But here in Onondaga County, the schools remain open. And as I found out today, the schools have it under control.
At Lincoln Middle School in Syracuse, voters will enter through the front door of the school, which leads them directly to the polls. Students have already been told to enter through the side doors. The polls only take up a small portion of a hallway that Principal Dean DeSantis says won't interfere with classes in session, and voters won't be allowed to go beyond the hallway sectioned off for voting.
A similar idea is at work at Nottingham High School, where voters will enter through the pool entrance-- one that is rarely used.
Everyone we talked to said they didn't have a problem with school being in session on election day, because they said they do everything they can to keep their students safe. Interestingly enough, the teacher I talked to at Lincoln Middle School said they also do everything they can to keep the students out of the way of the voters; they need to be concerned about them too.
But the principal at Lincoln brought up a good point: with their school as a polling place, students get to understand firsthand what it means to vote. It should be an interesting lesson for the students, especially with record number of voters expected at the polls tomorrow.
But here in Onondaga County, the schools remain open. And as I found out today, the schools have it under control.
At Lincoln Middle School in Syracuse, voters will enter through the front door of the school, which leads them directly to the polls. Students have already been told to enter through the side doors. The polls only take up a small portion of a hallway that Principal Dean DeSantis says won't interfere with classes in session, and voters won't be allowed to go beyond the hallway sectioned off for voting.
A similar idea is at work at Nottingham High School, where voters will enter through the pool entrance-- one that is rarely used.
Everyone we talked to said they didn't have a problem with school being in session on election day, because they said they do everything they can to keep their students safe. Interestingly enough, the teacher I talked to at Lincoln Middle School said they also do everything they can to keep the students out of the way of the voters; they need to be concerned about them too.
But the principal at Lincoln brought up a good point: with their school as a polling place, students get to understand firsthand what it means to vote. It should be an interesting lesson for the students, especially with record number of voters expected at the polls tomorrow.
Worth the risk? Schools stay open in NY on election day despite safety issues
Here's an interesting (and alarming) fact for you - your chance of being in a fatal car accident increases almost 20% on election day. Now, I'm not saying curl up in your house and hide, because it's important to get out and vote. But the safety concerns are real - especially for schools used as polling places.
Five states in the US mandate that schools serving as polling places on election day don't hold class: Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, West Virginia, and Rhode Island; as you can see, New York is not on the list. We wondered about that, so we visited a few schools in Onondaga County to see what they thought about it, and I have to say I was pretty surprised. Most shrugged it off, saying they weren't too concerned because they have safety under control at their school.
One teacher at Lincoln Middle School on James Street said he was happy not to have the day off because that would mean one more day they would have to make up at the end of the year, and with all the snow days the schools have around here, they don't really want one more (an interesting note: all the states on the list have pretty warm climates and not many snow days...). Even a few parents we talked with weren't concerned, saying they trust their kids and their schools to take care of them.
Election day is tomorrow, and hopefully everything will go smoothly. Just watch out when you're on the road...
Five states in the US mandate that schools serving as polling places on election day don't hold class: Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, West Virginia, and Rhode Island; as you can see, New York is not on the list. We wondered about that, so we visited a few schools in Onondaga County to see what they thought about it, and I have to say I was pretty surprised. Most shrugged it off, saying they weren't too concerned because they have safety under control at their school.
One teacher at Lincoln Middle School on James Street said he was happy not to have the day off because that would mean one more day they would have to make up at the end of the year, and with all the snow days the schools have around here, they don't really want one more (an interesting note: all the states on the list have pretty warm climates and not many snow days...). Even a few parents we talked with weren't concerned, saying they trust their kids and their schools to take care of them.
Election day is tomorrow, and hopefully everything will go smoothly. Just watch out when you're on the road...
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