Broadcast Leads

You may want to think twice before eating pig this year. Three pigs at the Minnesota State fair are found to have tested positive for the H1N1 virus in August.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/us/17swine.html?hpw

The 6-year-old balloon boy was found hiding in his attic today instead of his helium balloon floating in the air.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/us/17blitzer.html?scp=1&sq=balloon%20boy&st=cse

There may some hope for us in this recession after-all. A bill aimed at regulating derivatives passed through the House of Representatives Committee Thursday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/business/economy/18gret.html?ref=us

Audio Story Idea

For my audio assignment I'm thinking of going behind the scenes of a thrift store. Thrifts stores are very popular right now because of the vintage and 80s fads. I will interview someone from a thrift store and get the inside scoop - find out who shops there, what's sold, have they been experiencing more business in the past year with the vintage/80s trends, etc. I would then interview someone who is an active "thrift shop goer" - find out why they shop there, what do they like better about thrift shops than malls, what do they buy, etc...

How to attack my feature story

I've decided I'm going to do the "purchase for a cause" topic. I haven't really seen articles done on this topic before and I like the whole idea of it. I want to link this topic to the recession and find out if it is motivating people to spend money and how this method of sale may help certain companies sales while others suffer. With the recession the average person doesn't have as much money to just spend on jewelry or expensive brands, like Juicy Couture, so maybe when it comes time to buy an expensive item they are going to buy the brand for a cause. Or I will just be writing about how to shop while also giving back - just give information about places to go/what to buy and ask opinions/get info from students and retailers