43 Million People fell for fake Anti-virus Scam.

SUMMARY:

Up to about 43 million people could have given their bank account details to cyber criminals. 93 percent of the people scammed downloaded the program that was "supposedly suppose to fix their computer" The estimate is that some cyber criminals are making up to 1.4 million dollars a year from these scams. By downloading the software it will give the cyber criminals access to bank details and computer files. They say it is hard to track the criminals because the software may be developed in another country and the criminal may not be there. But they are ways to notice a fake site.

OPINION:

I think that this is absurd why would anyone believe somethings wrong with their computer be a pop-up screen. Criminals should not be making more money than a lot of people hence their criminals. But there are ways to know its a fake site but I'm not sure how anyone could believe that.

Baby Survives After Falling Under A Train

CNN

October 16, 2009

SUMMARY:

In Melbourne, Australia, a six month baby escaped his mother and rolled off a railway station platform into the path of an incoming train. It was a miracle that the baby survived with only a cut on the forehead. The mother and the baby were rushed to the hospital and soon released.

I think that this was a superior miracle! The baby only suffered a cut on the forehead thats amazing. But you never should let go of your stroller in a train station or face the stroller towards the platform.

Ford Recall Hits 4.5 Million Vehicles

Summary:
Tuesday was when Ford issued the biggest recall in its history. Because of a faulty switch, which was a fire hazard 4.5 million vehicles were alerted. This is said to be the eight recalls, involving a total of 16 million Ford vehicles. Ford is notifying their customers to take there vehicles to get a complimentary fix on the switch.

Critique:
I honestly would never buy a ford mainly because my family has had three fords and they all were no good. They have an Acronym for Ford. Found On Road Dead. Which happened to our last ford explorer; we had it for four years. I’m not surprised that Ford is having that many recalls. I personally think there cars stink.

The Backyard Prisoner

Summary:
Jaycee Dugard was abducted in South Lake Tahoe, in 1991 on her way to school. She was accidentally discovered in the bay area in 2009. Phillip Garrido, a registered sex offender still on parole. Dugard was imprisoned for nearly 20 years in Garrido’s backyard. He raped her and fathered her children. His neighbors said he was a creep, not even his own family had anything good to say about him.

Critique:
People can be so disturbing, creepy, and it can be so shocking. He was on parole and would get visits from the parole officer. No one knew what was going on in his backyard. It’s crazy how her hid her back there for more nearly 20 years with no one even noticing, It’s so astounding that she lived like, was raped, and on top of that had his kids. It’s amazing how disgusting some people can be.

Military Sees Histoic Recruting Success

Summary:
The U.S. has met all of its annual recruiting goals. This is the first time in 35 years. Over hundreds of thousands of young people have enlisted in the military when they know they will most likely go to war. The military hasn’t seen something like this since the all volunteer was established in 1973. Most think the main cause of so many recruits is because of the economy, and the unemployment rate. The defense department brought in about 168,900 active-duty troops, or 103 percent for the year. For the National Guard and the reserve the goal reached over 104 percent.

Critique:
This sounds great for us because it means fewer jobs will need to be in demand. It’s great because the military pays for your schooling. It actually surprises me because I didn’t know that the military wasn't meeting it’s recruiting goals every year, but know that I think about it that must have been why there were so many commercials for the national guard.

DNA leads to suspect after 19 years

Summary:
Jennifer Schuett was sexually assaulted in 1990, at the age of 8. It has been 19 years and the FBI has finally found the assaulter. Dennis Earl Bradford, a 40 year old Welder was arrested Tuesday in Little Rock Arkansas. He was found due to a DNA date base from when he was arrested in Arkansas. Schuett was abducted from her bedroom, raped, and left for dead. She woke up in his arms; he had told her he was an undercover cop and knew her family. He later took her to a field near her elementary school and raped her. Then her cut her throat from ear to ear. It was said by doctors she would never talk again, but she did. She went on CNN to tell her story; she wanted to tell all the little girls out there to fight back.

Critique:
I believe this article is basically showing that if you fight for what you know is right everything will turn out ok. This young lady was fighting for 19 years trying to find this man who did horrible things to her, and in the end she succeeded. I think they could of put a little more information about the actually case, but it was a pretty good story.

Juveniles laughed after setting 15 year old on fire.

Summary:
Michael Brewer was burned over 80 percent; he suffered form second degree burns. Five juveniles were in custody Tuesday after allegedly burning Michael on purpose. Michael supposable owed one of the boys $40, then one boy stole his dad’s bike. Michael had an idea of who it was and reported it stolen and one of the juveniles went to a detention center. Where then his parents brought him home. Michael was waiting for a few friends when the five boys come up to him. They threw rubbing alcohol and used a lighter to set him on fire. When arrested some boys laughed; only one felt remorse.

Critique:
This story was sad, how could someone set another peron on fire. The scary thing is that only one actually felt sorry. I know i wouldn't be able to live with myslef if i set someone on fire, especially if it was on purpose. Over all, I think the article was well written and had some good straight forward facts.

Man held in assault, peeping Tom cases—October 9, 2009—By: Keith Epps

Man held in assault, peeping Tom cases—October 9, 2009—By: Keith Epps

Summary: On Thursday, Mario Arcos-Gonzalez was arrested and charged with burglary with the intent to commit assault, two counts of being peeping Tom, and indecent exposure. All the incidents took place at Townsend Square, between July and Wednesday night. A resident saw him on the night of October 1, 2009 and called it in, including his license plate number. He was arrested, with his most serious charge being breaking into a house and choking a fifteen-year-old girl in the middle of the night. He’s currently being held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail under no bond.

Critic: One thing this article doesn’t do is explain the second charge of being a peeping Tom, though it is mentioned. Another thing wrong with this article is its need for spell checkin. In on instance, the author wrote “man man” is sequence, when only one “man” is necessary. From the context surrounding this occurrence, it would seem the author meant “the man,” not “man man.” At the end, the article includes a phone number, but not an area code. While locals are most likely the only ones to be reading this and calling in, it is bad form to leave out a phone number’s area code, especially considering the fact many cell phone require the caller to include the area code of their call.

Becky Walker

Free Flu Shots set for Tomorrow

October 9, 2009

By Portsia Smith and Jim Hall

SUMMARY:

Free Flu Shots are being given tomorrow in Fredericksburg Va at the fredericksburg health department 608 jackson St. Dr Roberto Canizares is sponsoring this event in memory of his wife that died from the Flu. He purchased 500 doses of the anti-Flu vaccine

CRITIQUE:

I definitely think that it was very generous of Dr. Canizares. He could be saving lives by donating to other less fortunate people.

Man held in assault, peeping Tom cases.

Title: Man held in assault, peeping Tom cases
Author: Keith Epps
Date: 10/9/09 (make up for last week)

Summary:
In Townsend Square, a suspect named Arcos-Gonzalez was charged with assault, peeping and indecent exposure. Apparently on August 17th a 15-year-old girl woke up and "found man man over her with his hands covering her mouth." The girl had scratches on her face, a torn shirt, and a throat bruise. A woman apparently reported about the man's car and they found Arcos-Gonzalez that way.

Critique:
This article should have properly been edited and looked at twice because they said "man man" and it made no sense and lost me, as the reader, while reading this article. Also, I don't think that sense they don't know for sure that it was this guy, they probably should have just said that there was a suspect. But I don't know how these things go. Besides the typo, the article was written well, but it really was straight information and most of it was the bare minimum and could have been layed out much better.

Good Samaritan deed makes woman a target.

Title: Good Samaritan deed makes woman a target
Author: Portsia Smith
Date: Friday 10/9/09

Summary:
This article is about a 66-year-old woman, Vanita Lemmon, that was getting gas when she overheard this man who sounded like he was out of money. She went over to offer him half of her money, but he said he needed all of it and gave her his GPS in exchange for the money. He also offered to do some landscaping for her, so he asked for her number and everything and called her one day. When she came home, she saw her house was broken into and that her jewelry was gone and later found out that the GPS was stolen from another lady. The man was caught, but now Mrs. Lemmon has bars on her doors because this man ruined the safety and sanctuary of her home. She went through all of this for doing a good deed.

Critique:
The man was obviously on the phone with someone who was bad people, or on the phone to pretend, but still. What if this man was into some bad stuff? The newpaper just put her name out there and his friends can find her. I don't think in cases like this that the name should be let out. The newspaper should make a conscious decision to leave it out. Also, I thought there was a good rhetorical ending of making the audience feel scared and cautious about helping anyone these days because they ended it with a scared quote from this woman about how she was duped. This quote can relate to everyone's who has been duped, because even as a teenager in Stafford, I've given money to someone that I thought needed help that ended up being a natural/regular at that kind of thing. Just shows you that you can't trust anyone any more.

'Billionaire clown takes big red nose to space station'

Title: 'Billionaire clown takes big red nose to space station'
Author: The associated press
Date/Issue: October 1st 2009 issue, The Free Lance Star

Summary:
In Bakionur, Kazakhstan a billionaire circus blown (Guy Liliberte) and two other astronauts traveled in to space yesterday. The russian rocket shot off from the Bikur launch facility with its funny passengers aboard and happy. Lilaberte is the founder of Cirque du Soleil, a circus show in Canada. He plans to help raise awareness to the constant shrinking of the world's clean water sources.

Critique:
I found that the article could have gone a little deeper into what the story was really about. To me, it seemed that it just skimmed the top.

Free flu shots set for tomorrow

Free flu shots set for tomorrow
October 9, 2009
Portia Smith and Jim Hall

Free flu shots will be offered from 1-3 p.m. on October 10th, 2009 at the Fredericksburg Health Department. Dr. Roberto Canizares is sponsoring the clinic in mermory of his late wife. These shots are meant for the protection against the seasonal flu and not the swine flu. The clinic is open to everyone and will serve the people on a first-come-first-served basis.

The article is very short, concise, and to the point. Because the purpose of the article was to inform people about the shots and their locations, the author should not have included the personal note about the doctor and his late wife because it detracts from the main focus of the article.

County school absences double

County school absences double
October 2, 2009
Tracy Bell

The amount of absences in schools have increased. Some of these absences can be attributed to the H1N1 virus while the rest can be accredited to various other things like doctor's or dentist appointments. Schoola however will not close due to a small amount of H1N1 cases but if the virus spreads vastly then closing the county schools will be considered. Parents should keep their children hom from school if they have a fever and are contagious. In the near future, the country schools will be hosting flu shot clinics. Hygenic practices should be observed to help decrease the spread of viruses and bacteria in schools.

This article is a little misleading because the title makes it seem like it would mainly focus on the absences but in reality the article mainly focuses on the N1H1 virus and the steps schools are taking to prevent it. The title should have included some mention of the real focus of the article.

Scammer given six months in prison--October 1, 2009--By Keith Epps

Scammer given six months in prison--October 1, 2009--By Keith Epps

Summary: John J. Frank pleaded guilty on Tuesday, receiving six months in prison. On July 16, he conned and 89-year-old resident of Stafford county out of $2,500, then returned the next day along with some friends. While he distracted the victim, two of his friends broke in. A struggle later ensued and the victim pulled a gun on the robbers, forcing them out of his house. Frank and his accomplices were caught later that day by police.

Critic: One thing this article doesn't mention is what part the third accomplice played. This article also does not use any exact quotes that require quotation marks. The article does not explain the charge of abduction by force, even though it is the first listed against Frank. Similarly, it does not list what Frank's accomplices are charged with.

-Becky Walker