With my 1st story for The Basement Bureau finished, I'm already ready and excited for the 2nd! Something I definitely learned from this experience is to not be too ambitious and to focus in on a point. My ideas so far are just as wide as Story 1 (I hope to share soon) so I have some narrowing to do.

After news stories of another sexual assault report at an elite university fraternity gain attention, it's interesting to think about whether or not this story would have been considered a top one without the Cornell story (especially because none involved were students). Pattern recognition...

When there's no more reporting that can be done on the case at Cornell, journalists can made the wider story local and bring it home to local universities. Or they can make it even wider like The NY Times by publishing "The Crisis Playbook for Universities in Trouble". And it's extensive.

After the New York Times' story on Texas schoolchildren's misdemeanors resulting in criminal charges, parent readers may be reconsidering the environments their children are in. The Times spotlighted the story of a mother moving to another state to give her child a fresh start because of it all.

There are many education issues with stakes in the upcoming midterm elections, as well as openings on education boards everywhere. Check locally so you're informed before you head to the polls, and not just for who you're voting for on the federal level!

As midterm elections approach, college students are preparing to register to vote in the state they attend college instead of their home state based on how much they think their vote will matter. At the same time, students this year are facing more closures of voting near campuses, especially early.

New A.I. uses in schools (beyond students using it to write their essays or as a study tool) include creating custom tools to help solve common challenges, including tracking absenteeism. Education Week's new story focuses on administration application of A.I., and it's very compelling!

Coverage of a deadly shooting at an Oregon elementary school had a main point: calls for policy change and doubt/frustration over a lack of changes during the epidemic of school shootings. Education Week's story even included this in the headline. As these stories get repetitive, this theme may too.

According to a GAO report, severe school infrastructure issues disrupted learning for about 2 million students across ~20% of U.S. districts during the past school year. ABSS delayed the start of school by closing for 2 weeks for mold repairs. What could be the cause? Underfunding? Underreporting?

Such an important step in reporting! Even though results may be skewed by voluntary participation from the audience who keeps up with PBS News, which may likely overrepresent certain demographics. But much better than not trying at all to get a larger sample than a few interviews for reporting this.

Some may wonder why the "defiance" of President Trump was mentioned here, but it literally brings an important point home. We should be just as aware of how our country's leadership is reacting to these international events as the events themselves so we understand our role to hold them accountable.

After such a horrific tragedy occurs, it's so important to answer the biggest question the public has: "How many were killed and will the injured be ok?" And to not try to answer the questions that cannot be answered at this time, like why it happened. No speculation, just exactly what happened.

Universities have especially been a hub for warring sides on A.I., from young people coining the term "A.I. slop" and being vocal on campuses and digitally on refusing A.I. to universities rushing to integrate the predicted technology of the future into education. I wonder how that connects to this.

Research points to voter fraud having very little provable history of occurrence, so it's very interesting that stories like these are becoming more and more prevalent. When did politicians first start talking about voter fraud and when did people start distrusting all unfavorable results?

Congratulations on finishing your story, Pearson! It's been great to hear about this story throughout development. Excited to read it! It's interesting that a key element of the story is focusing on a lack of transparency from Elon and that that in itself makes reporting on it much more difficult!