Identifying Local Opportunities ~ Assignment Five

Local Opportunities... This is a topic that I thought was going to be hard to find answers to but it was so EASY. I did not realize how many problems there were just waiting to be solved! Sometimes we just go through out day to day routine and forget to open our eyes and look outside of that routine.


Here are the five articles that I thought were the most interesting!

1. Snooty's Death 'Preventable,' Museum Says 
~ From the Tampa Bay Times on September 1st, 2017 ~

http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T004&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=2&docId=GALE%7CA502681854&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=GPS&contentSet=GALE%7CA502681854&searchId=R1&userGroupName=gain40375&inPS=true

*Crossing my fingers that the links work* 😟

When I first read this, I thought to myself... Who is Snooty? It caught my eye so I clicked it and it got even more interesting because GUESS WHAT! Snooty is a manatee, or should I say was because unfortunately, he passed away. Almost immediately after reading the first line, I was upset knowing that this manatee died and it's death was preventable as the newspaper and the museum stated. Reading this article was horrifying because museum workers KNEW that there was an issue within Snooty's tank for a week and did nothing about it. The panel that Snooty swam through malfunctioned and because it wasn't fixed, he got stuck and passed away. This is negligence and 100% preventable. The museum also stated that there were miscommunications with the employees. I would conclude that miscommunication is definitely the underlying problem. The museum has the problem because it is their job to make sure that these kinds of things do not happen. They should be the ones to fix it and improve their systems so this doesn't happen again.

2. Tampa Must Improve Sewer Response 
~ From the Tampa Bay Times on August 31st, 2017 ~

Sorry guys... This one might not be as interesting as the last but it is important especially with Hurricane Irma on its way...

http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T004&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=13&docId=GALE%7CA502540460&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=GPS&contentSet=GALE%7CA502540460&searchId=R2&userGroupName=gain40375&inPS=true

Apparently Tampa had a pretty bad storm (ironic because Hurricane Irma is coming to destroy Florida this weekend 😓) and they had problems with their sewage systems and it caused 329,000 gallons of untreated sewage to spill into the Hillsborough River. That is the problem in this area and the person who has the problem is ultimately the person in charge of Tampa's sewage and drainage systems. The infrastructures are apparently old but it would be very expensive to make a new one. In the article is stated that the reasons for the overflows directly relates to the amount of rain that they receive. Officials have fixed the problem by raising the capacity one one of the city's pumps and they have worked on reprogramming their systems. I guess we will see how well this works after the wrath of Hurricane Irma comes through.

3. Stop Cuts to EPA Water Protections
~ From the Orlando Sentinel on September 5th, 2017 ~

I really don't like to talk about politics but this was a story with an issue that needs minds like ours to solve! I am not putting my opinion in this article. I will merely state the facts.

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/166B9CD0A9985890?p=WORLDNEWS

President Trump brought up the idea of decreasing the amount of spending we do at the Environmental Protection Agency. Some of the things that the EPA does for Florida is listed below...

1. They take care of Florida's drinking water.
2. They keep Florida's waterways as clean as possible.
3. They also take care of our beaches.
and more...

The EPA currently has an $8 billion dollar budget and President Trump proposed to decrease that budget by 30 percent so the money could be used elsewhere. The person writing this article had a biased opinion but cutting the budget would mean that maybe our water wouldn't be as clean or our beaches and waterways be as nice as they are. It didn't state where the money that would be cut from the EPA budget would be used for but I would only hope it would be used for a good cause. The problem of this article is that the budget for EPA could possibly be reduced and the person who's problem it is, is the person in charge of EPA because they are not in charge of whether it is cut or not.

4. Football's Enjoyment Degrades as Brain Injury Evidence Increases
~ From the Orlando Sentinel on September 5th, 2017 ~

This story is also relevant because our football game was just cancelled on Saturday! If some of you comment, I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic! 😃 After reading it, it definitely puts it in a different perspective for me and how dangerous it can actually be even with their helmets and pads.

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/166B9CD2082FAC30?p=WORLDNEWS

The article starts out by stating exactly what the problem is. The issue is football players are suffering long term affects from basically running into people as hard as they can for years. Some are even dying! CTE (a brain disease) is only able to be confirmed after death and is caused by injuries (or as the article stated, blows) to the head multiple times. In the article, there are some pretty scary statistics. One being that Boston University evaluated 111 brains of deceased NFL players and found CTE in 110 of them! People defended the sport by saying the players know what they are getting themselves into and know the risks. The writer compared it to smoking. Generally, the amount of people smoking has decreased because we know the health risks. An even better statement was when they said that most football stadiums and college campuses are tobacco free so obviously there is some science behind it! The person that owns the football team would be the one with the problem because it is their responsibility to keep them safe. Also, the owners could lose a lot of money if people stop going to the football games.

5. Will My Phone Work During and After the Storm?
~ From the Miami Herald on September 7th, 2017 ~

TOPIC OF THE CENTURY RIGHT NOW! Hurricane Irma is coming at us fast and this article was written to help people understand how they can use their cellphones.

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/166C83C7FA487C88?p=WORLDNEWS

The article was meant to make people feel better about being able to communicate to friends and family that are not with them. What is the problem in this article? The problem is that people might not be able to use their cellphones! Who has the problem? The people who wouldn't be able to use their cellphones. Lots of cellphone companies stated that their towers are built to withstand a category four and a category five storm. If they do go out, backup generators are there to help. It seems like most of the phone companies have taken the proper precautions to make sure that we can still communicate with people or call for help if we need it.


THE STATEMENT BELOW IS NOT PART OF THE BLOG...

To everyone reading this... Please be safe this weekend and make sure you are prepared for Hurricane Irma. I am thinking of all of you!