Economic Recession Effect

The recent Economic Crisis America faces has forced businesses to make adjustments and it has increased fear among people. People are making changes to their lifestyles and worry more. While some businesses have seen a huge increase in unemployment or profit decrease, other businesses have seen little change.

Janet Cooper, the Office Manager at an Orthodontic Business in Milford, said, “We have seen a small decrease in production and people cancelling the start of their treatment because they lost their jobs”. She said this was only a small number of people but they also have adjusted to people’s needs by making their down payment less. Janet said for instance many times they will split up a 20% down payment over a few months.

Dr. Pete Haggenjos, a Chiropractor in Cincinnati, said that the recent state of the economy has increased people’s awareness of insurance coverage and costs. He said there have been two cases where the father has lost his job, because of this they have come in for care less frequently.

“No matter what the economic conditions people are always looking for strong leaders in every field and that a lot of the economic issues are a matter of perception,” Dr. Pete said. He said that he must be a strong leader and get people through these tough Economic times. He does not want people to become overly negative to the point where the crisis is more of an internal problem.

Dr. Pete said that the trend in Chiropractic during this recession is an increase in headaches and neck pain among patients created from more uneasiness among people. Theye have more stress to pay bills and keep their jobs. Another trend he has observed is Chiropractors are putting in more hours whether it be treating patients or advertising and marketing to maintain production before the crisis. He said they have to work harder to market their business because their patients no longer do because they know money is tighter with their friends.

Janet said she is fearful that the upcoming production review will result in freezes in employee pay. She said they more than likely will not experience any raises. There is uneasiness in her office about how much employees will get paid.

“Of all the different fields when there has been a downfall in the economy, the health and medical fields are not affected as much because people need care in order to be productive at work,” Dr Pete said.

There have been larger numbers of unemployment in the business AK Steel and Rogers Jewelers shutting down a store and Circuit City completely shutting down their business. Jim Wainscot, the president of AK Steel, said 1,000 out of 6,500 employees have been laid off according to The Journal. Rogers Jewelers shut down one of their stores in Middletown because “it was profitable but not profitable enough,” according to the Middletown Journal. The thousands of workers at Circuit City are now unemployed.

These numbers show that people value health and appearance over luxury materials and forms of entertainment. The current state of the economy has affected all businesses.

Blogosphere Journalism.org Analysis

This article compares bloggers top news stories of the week to the associated press top news stories. They both had the same top two stories in terms of coverage but after that they had 3 different top news stories. The traditional press was more U.S. focused and Blogger had more of a global audience. The top new stories on blogs had more interaction and focus on the global aspect of how the stimulus bill. The tradtional press concentratied only on the problem America is expierencing.

The expansion of News Media Index and more use of blogs has shown how Americans interact with national news. This serves to help people understand how republicans or democrats view everything that is happening in the news. People are becoming more active in news by having discussions, writing what they think, and posting websites or videos. People are also talking about how news stories are unworthy just based on where they live and how relvant it is to them which makes that news story more of a news story. News Media Index also keeps tabs on the most popular clips of the week and it groups based on categories.

Interactive Online

My story could be made interactive online through the pictures I posted. I also want to post a follow up story that talks about wild species in wild places and how we are creating all these endangered species. I wanted to include that people can make a difference in terms of awareness for animals by becoming a member of the zoo.http://www.cincinnatizoo.org/plan/membership.html

Animals Encounter Weather?

Cincinnati- Cold weather and windstorms oddly enough have not put many animals at the zoo in danger. One employee, Linda Cascaneda, from the Cat Ambassador Program, says a crucial aspect to survival is adapting to the environment. Ticket sales continue to remain steady according to gate admissions and Cincinnati Zoo President Gregg Hudson.

Hudson said 40,000 less people attended the zoo in December 2004 compared to this year. The bad weather that year influenced this drop in attendance, but he says his zoo has become so high demand this year that people will visit no matter how nice it is outside.

Mike Edwards, a member of the zoo from St. Bernard, still goes to the zoo despite the weather. He understands that most of the animals will be inside but still enjoys taking pictures of the animals in an arctic environment.

"The cheetahs are from Africa, so they are used to 32 degree freezing weather at night and 100 degree heat during the day," Cascaneda said. Cincinnati's climate posed no threat to their health.

There are even more animals at the zoo that can handle ice storms like Polar Bears, they thrive in Artic environments, the Eurasian Lynx, a cat, hunts in snow, the Snow Leopard has a five inch coat that keeps it warm, and the Canada Lynx that lives in Northern North America.

The windstorms had more an effect on animals than the cold. Bears and some of the animals from the cat family were brought inside for precautions, the gatekeeper said. There have been no reported deaths of animals from the weather by zookeepers.

An anonymous park ranger said that the cold weather has only kept people away last Wednesday when we had severe wind. He said that people take into account that animals are going to be indoors on these days. According to the park ranger that sells tickets, the cold weather has not brought sales down during January and February because the zoo is in an off-season for sales.

The Cheetahs Environment at the zoo that
mirrors their African Environment.

10 News Websites I recommend

Wall Street Journal
www.online.wsj.com

I use this website daily and I am a regular subscriber to stay up to date on what is happening in our ever changing economic world.

Cincinnati Enquirer
www.news.cincinnati.com

This website has the latest and updated information about events happening in the tri-state.

USA Today
www.usatoday.com

This gives you the best national news coverage and analysis. I enjoy reading about national news that effects every one in our nation.

New York Times
www.nytimes.com

I read from this website everyday and enjoy getting updates from the big apple and from one of the most important cities in our nation. This website also has a more national centered audience.

Yahoo News
www.news.yahoo.com

Yahoo has updated news stories every hour and has the most current breaking news.

Fox News
www.fox19.com

Fox 19 has breaking local news and feature videos.

Macintosh Apple
www.apple.com/hotnews/

This website gives you updated information on the state of technology and how to keep up with technology.

The Economist
www.economist.com

This is a website that gives you information on international politics and business news and opinion.

MSNBC
www.msnbc.msn.com

One of the top news websites in the world for national and international news.

9 News
www.wcpo.com

Cincinnati's most active and interactive website for news. It has many feature news videos and gives insight to events that do not get a lot of attention.

Snow Storm Shuts Down City

Cincinnati- The city closed every business and school on January 28. Ice and snow covered the tri-state. A level three snow emergency kept everyone except police, weather forecasters, and ambulances off the street.

Public safety officials told local citizens to remain in their house until the ice storm blew over. Many houses in Northern Kentucky lost power. Local High Schools had 4 snow days. The University of Cincinnati had one snow day on Wednesday January 28.

Many reporters were quoted as saying this was one of the most severe winter storms in city history. As it can be shown in the amount of car wrecks, businesses closed, schools closed, and power outages.

Vesta Cox, a secretary at First Christian Assembly of God, said the offices were closed Wednesday. She said the head pastor at her church makes the call based on how the facility manager feels about the road conditions around the church. There were a few people that took a vacation day during the other days of the week she said because they watched their children who were out of school.

"I love having my own business," Dr. Pete Hagenjoes replied when I asked him about going to work in inclement weather. He went on to say that he feels lucky that he is running his own business and decides if he can make it to work. Dr. Pete is a Chiropractor in Mt. Adams.

The bad weather hit the city pretty hard because public workers and police rarely see this type of weather. "People in our office put in longer work days on Friday to make up for lost time," Vesta commented. She like many other workers and students had deadlines to meet before the weekend.

This storm shocked many citizens and it shows them that Mother Nature can strike at any moment.