Now don’t get me wrong, Twitter can be very useful in the multimedia news realm. It just gets abused at times.

We discussed recently how (headline) “Demi Moore, Twitter save life of suicidal woman.” But as Kip noted, this is more a case of Twitter being a part of the news rather than being news itself.

Now a few months ago someone aboard a commercial flight kept “tweeters” (correct term I believe) updated about the Hudson River crash. This only spurred the networks to use Twitter in their newscasts.

Although its true that Twitter can be used to “make news”, it seems as though it is better applied to we-media than being a side-track during a broadcast.

In the end though, this is the first time that an online social network has been widely accepted by the older generations first. Most young people don’t see the point. More importantly, some believe Twitter is the definitive proof that we are so egocentric that we feel people actually give a crap about what we’re doing at every waking hour.

This has turned into a rant. That is all.

A couple of minutes in, the mood takes a turn. The narrator explains that this is the only place on earth where you can still find an elephant herd 1,000 ft. deep. Then he explains that the illegal ivory trade is still going strong, but that it has moved underground. As it turns out, the elephants are nothing but fish in a barrel for the poachers. They roam around outside the perimeter of the park, waiting for the elephants to leave its safety.

The stills are powerful. They show poachers standing next to waist-high piles of tusks. Then the pictures of the carcasses… it’s hard to imagine someone that could do such a thing to such an amazing creature. It looked as if a giant ice-cream scoop to the animal’s face.

The part of the video that really stuck out is when the narrator talks about Annie, an elephant that was collared with a tracking device for observation. A map traces her path (over a thousand miles) in three months. Then, the trail stops. Tragically her body was found the next day.

The video was very moving. Both narrators make you care about the hardships of these elephants without trying to be preachy. Their use of stills, mixed with videos and maps did an excellent job of supplementing the story, without getting distracting. More collaborative work from the two would be a welcome sight.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce passed new legislation that would allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate the Tobacco Industry.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act passed in a 39-13 vote today. The House of Representatives passed the same measure last July.

“Regulating tobacco is the single most important thing that we can do right now to curb the deadly toll of tobacco,” said Representative Henry Waxman (D-Cal.)

Former FDA Commissioner Andre von Eschenbach said last year that regulating tobacco goes against the agency’s mission because the products are inherently harmful.

Since 2002, four similar bills have failed because of the debate about menthol, the only flavor not banned under the current measure. The FDA could opt for a ban at a later date over menthol, but critics  say doing so would be a dangerous concession to the industry.

Destin Lairsey was in the prime of his life. At 17, he was an accomplished student-athlete and loved by anyone who met him.

Nicknamed by fellow football players “Tweeder” (after a gregarious teen from the movie Varsity Blues), friends of Lairsey say there was never a dull moment when he was around.

“You couldn’t get mad at him,” said 19-year-old Ethan Williams, who graduated two years ago. “…or you couldn’t stay mad at him.”

Almost 500 showed up to a candlelight vigil for Lairsey. Deweyville High has fewer than 300 students.

“We’re all together,” said Principal Jerry Gibson, “Here its personal.”

Flags were flown at half-mast at school on Monday. Students took time out of their day to write on memory boards and talk to councelors hired by the school.

The baseball team will adorn their uniforms with Lairseys number-9- for the rest of the season in his memory. A funeral was held today at 2 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Deweyville.

• Friends and classmates could send in photos of Lairsey
• video posts, saying goodbye to their friend
• a comments section for those who can’t do a video post or upload pictures

‘Significant’ crack dealer busted in Port Arthur

The Port Arthur Police Department arrested a man considered a ‘significant’ drug dealer Monday. The Jefferson County Narcotics Unit teamed up with the department in the arrest.

The man’s name has not yet been released. But Maj. Jim Singletary of the Narcotics Unit says that he is “one of the more prominent crack dealers in the Port Arthur area.”

The two agencies executed a search warrant on the 2900 block of 11th Street at 1 this afternoon.

Inside the house officers found 7 ounces of cocaine, 2 ounces of crack, and roughly $3,ooo in cash.

The man is being held on possession of a controlled substance, without bail.

Federal charges may follow, as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is also assisting in the case.

• a poll to see what locals think about the level of drug activity in Port Arthur 

James Young, Jon Jones, Mike Eli and Chris Johnson

This past Friday, the Eli Young Band played to a sold-out house at Rockin Rodeo. It all started here for the group, who is up for Top New Vocal Group at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

It started nine years ago, when lead singer Mike Eli and lead guitarist James Young would perform acoustic shows at RBar in Denton. Both were students at the University of North Texas then. Bass player Jon Jones and Drummer Chris Thompson soon joined, and the group became a staple of the Texas Country Music scene.

“I love their lyrics,” said 21-year old NCTC student Erica Rosenwinkle. “They sing about being young and growing up in a small town, and everything thats great about that. I’m so glad their back in Denton!”

The band’s first big single was When it Rains, about soaking up the misery of love gone wrong. During the show, Eli recounts coming up with the song when he was a UNT student. The idea came to him while stumbling home from the bars on Fry St. after being dumped; the perfect formula for a country song.

It’s been since September since EYB visited their old stomping ground. That time was for the release of their fourth album (and first with their new label) – another sold out show. The group has always had a slight twinge of pop-rock, but the release of Jet Black and Jealous left many fans wondering if they had sold out (i.e. turned into Nashville Country).

For those not familiar with the Texas Music scene, “going Nashville” is a highly reprehensible thing for a band to do. Remember Pat Green? Neither do most of his (former) fans across this state that built his career. The once figure-head of the genre has released two albums in the last two years, but record sales are dismal compared to when he was an independent artist NOT in Tennessee. Get the idea? Sidetrack over.

Jet Black and Jealous topped the Billboard Country charts when it released. It’s first single, Always the Love Songs is still on the Top 20 list, five months after it’s debut. The song takes listeners back to younger simpler times, when all that mattered was field parties, cheap beer, and that first love you never would have dreamed would break your heart so thouroughly.

There was a table set up by the American Country Music Awards. Since the award is decided by fans, Eli reminded concert goers to go vote several times throughout the set. This would later seem a bit ironic, considering that after the encore, the band exited the stage and left the building with their assorted loved ones. No autographs signed, No photo opportunities for the countless fans who waited in line for several hours that night. Nothing.

“I didn’t know what to tell the people waiting for them to come back in,” said Rockin Rodeo Security Staff Preston Fuentes, who had to guard the back door to make sure fans didn’t swarm the band. “Honestly I was surprised they weren’t gonna do anything for the fans afterwards. It’s kinda messed up man.”

No doubt many of the fans were confused and dissapointed by the move. So with national aclaim still fresh and a world of possibilities before them, will the Eli Young Band alienate and ultimately lose the fans that got them this far? Only time will tell. <script type=”text/javascript” language=”javascript”
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This is the first time I’ve actually checked out the website. Grew up a channel 6 kid. The set-up on the main page is visually simple. But everything is fairly easy to find. There is a good selection of top headlines, featuring video links from when the story broadcast on-air.

There is a poll, asking about letting Jehovahs Witness relief workers have temporary housing in Beaumont. Not sure I want to know the story behind this.

A stand-out for the site is the YouNews page, where locals can submit their take on the happenings of the region. There are several featuring the snowfall a couple months back. This being an extremely rare event, many people wanted to share how exciting it was for them. However, there are also people that think everyone wants to see their rooster. What the hell..

Another good feature is the archive of special segments, such as Athelete of the Week, or Ask the Nurse. The athelete section is great for mothers who want to gloat to co-workers and friends that their child is far superior. And the Nurse section is great for the elderly. Seriously, I don’t think anyone else actually calls in on this type of thing.

Again, the site is simple but easy to navigate. There is plenty of ways to get involved, and for a small-town gig these guys know what they are doing. Almost makes me wonder if I should have checked them out sooner.

The top section of KFDM (Beaumont) highlights several packages from the last few broadcasts. But then it turns into a giant clutter of headline links. It feels like the stories are just dumped onto the site. There are subsections for sports news, regional news, etc. And I’ll admit, I usually check on how my high school’s sports teams are fairing. Nostalgia I guess. Overall the site does a good job of making sure to cover everything in southeast Texas, but anyone without ties to the region wouldn’t spend much time there.

The FOX 4 page is a bit more cleaned up. The top section scrolls from top stories, to local, etc. My favorite would have to be the “Wierd” section. It’s pretty clever to have a section just for bizarre news, and whoever set up the page knew it would be an instant eye-catcher. Below that, each of the sections is given a bit more space if you want to explore further. Way better organized than KFDM, but probably because the site is catering to a much larger audience base.

Back to Beaumont. The Enterprise page is not nearly as cluttered as KFDM’s. Theres a scroll bar of several videos, mostly regional stories. I enjoy the events calendar section, remembering that there was always some community event to look forward to (i.e. crawfish festival, rice festival, etc.). Again, this site wouldn’t be very useful if you weren’t from the area.

The DRC site is pretty simple, but Denton is much smaller than Beaumont. It’s pretty well organized, but there are only a couple of video links. A great news source for “townies”, but not much else.

Peanut Corp. is under under fire for knowingly shipping salmonella-laced products even after some products tested positive.

The plant was not required by state law to divulge those test results. And officials say the outbreak could have been avoided if they’d known sooner.

“A red flag would have been raised,” said Republican state Sen. John Bulloch, who is sponsoring the new measure. “”I think we could have identified this plant had a problem.”

If the legislation passes, Georgia could be setting a precedent. Food safety experts, government groups and industry lobbies say they don’t know of any other state that requires food manufacturers to share data from internal testing.

Roughly 600 people have gotten sick from the recent outbreak. It may also be linked to up to nine deaths and caused one of the largest product recalls in U.S. history.

The pile of lawsuits is stacking up for The Peanut Corp., and a federal investigation has already been launched.

The bill is now being sent to the full Senate. It will allow agriculture officials to order plants to have their products tested at their own expense. It would exempt meat, poultry and other manu

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg)- Initial jobless claims soared from 35,000 to 626,000 last week. This is the highest jump since October 1982.

Macy’s Inc is announcing job cuts as more consumers are penny-pinching. JPMorgan Chase & Co. economist Michael Feroli says that “if jobless claims remained in this range over the next couple weeks, the would signal another large payroll loss in February.” Earlier today, Monster Worldwide Inc. said its employment index for January was 26 percent lower than a year ago.