J310F Stories

These 6 stories are assignments from my Reporting: Words class at UT. All of them cover a different type of story. Enjoy!


Story 1: Event Coverage

People from all over the United States and Central America filled the Santa Rita room of the Texas Union where they passionately responded to speakers heavily involved with the immigration struggles, by applauding them for their sentiments that the refugees are “real lives.”

Experts involved in the political and humanitarian issues within the immigration crisis met Thursday evening for a conference, “Foro Urgente: Understanding the Humanitarian Crisis on the Border.” Many of the panelists agreed political action needs to be taken immediately because the number of refugees is far surpassing the amount of aid that is being provided.

“I’m very afraid that we’re going to be looking back at the moment right now with a great deal of shame in the future because the response that the administration in the United States has adopted for this humanitarian crisis is highly problematic,” said Denise Gilman, a University of Texas law professor and co-director of the immigration clinic.

The forum came two days before president Obama delayed taking action on changes to the immigration system. Despite the delay coming after the forum, Texas land Commissioner Jerry Patterson already pointed out what he believes is a problem current officials are facing.

“We’re at the point that if a Republican says it, the Democrat has to disagree. And if the Democrat says it, the Republican has to disagree,” Patterson said. “We are in really sorry shape to be very honest with you, and the politicians are not serving you well.”

Patterson said the increased border security, ordered by Texas Gov. Rick Perry earlier this year, is working against the wishes of many people by providing an incentive for working men to bring their families to the states.

“The illegal immigration scheme was working fairly well when it was circular; when someone could come here and work for two to three months and then go home to the family. That’s illegal transit in two directions, but it was working,” Patterson said. “So what we have done, we’ve taken that and made it no longer a circular, albeit illegal, immigration system. It’s a unidirectional system, in which if you can get here you can’t go home.”

Along with this incentive the current immigration system is providing, violence and poor conditions have also forced Guatemalan, Honduran and El Salvadorian women and children to flee their home countries.

In the past year more than 60,000 unaccompanied children have crossed the border into the U.S. The lower Rio Grande Valley area is where more than three quarters of the children have been caught crossing the border. Current legislation doesn’t allow the children to be deported immediately. Instead, every child must go through an immigration trial.

Marlene Chavez, co-founder of the Human Rights Coalition of South Texas works closely with the detained immigrants who are awaiting their trials.

“I did do some volunteer work with the shelter, and it’s very sad to see the circumstances of these families that are coming in,” Chavez said. “We find that a lot of these children aren’t given due process, and instead of investing in hiring more attorneys to represent those children in the court system they instead want to increase border security.”

No political action was taken at the forum, which Alfonso Gonzales, an assistant professor in the Mexican American and Latina/o studies department, said wasn’t the purpose of the discussion.

“I think the goal of the panel wasn’t to have the answer, but to walk away with a deep appreciation of the complexity the problem brings. There is no quick policy solution, there is only battles to be fought only struggles to be fought,” Gonzales said. “Some of these struggles will be immediate policy struggles and we see groups fighting those immediate struggles, but in the long run, I think beyond those short term struggles, there are long term structural transformations that need to happen.”

Story 2: Feature Story

The red flags were there as clearly as the bruises on her body. What was worse than the physical pain was what the eye couldn’t see – the emotional scars.

Graduate student Virginia Luehrsen thought she had found the love of her life with her fiancé.  He was what any girl could ask for: smart, supportive, and great with her friends and family. They got married, and took off on a road trip honeymoon around the country. Days after saying I do, he turned into a man she didn’t recognize.

“Four days after the wedding, it’s like a monster came out,” Luehrsen said.

The cycle of abuse began on their honeymoon when Luehrsen was involved in a minor car accident when another driver ran a stop sign. Her husband became livid.
            “He was yelling at me, saying things like, ‘I can’t believe you did that,’ while the police officer is telling him that it wasn’t my fault,” she said. “The rest of the trip was filled with him screaming at me any chance he got to say that I ruined the trip, I ruined his vacation, I ruined his life and why did he marry me.”

Luehrsen’s situation is one of thousands in the United States, where spouses are beaten down physically and emotionally. In honor of National Domestic Violence Awareness month starting in October, Voices Against Violence, a UT student organization will be hosting multiple events to spread their message about prevention. They will host small events inviting survivors to share their stories and fundraising for emergency funds, which will all lead up to their biggest event, Breaking the Silence, an annual event to empower survivors of abusive relationships.

As a survivor, Luehrsen said there were no warning signs, but she saw the pattern, suggested counseling, and tried to make her marriage work. Eventually she lost sight of who she was and being abused became her everyday life.

Lisa Lawrence, spokeswoman for the National Domestic Violence Hotline said victims of domestic violence will often live in the past.

“Abusers are not monsters all the time. They don’t meet someone and say ‘Hi, I am going to start beating you in six months,’” Lawrence said. “We frequently hear that the relationship deteriorated over time and then one day the victim wakes up and wonders, ‘How did I get here?’”

Being pushed, shoved, and dragged around were common occurrences, but one night Luehrsen’s husband took a swing at her face. To defend herself, Luehrsen shot her hand up leaving her face with minor marks, but her hand completely black and blue. She shoved him away when he came after her again.

“I was worried he was going to kill me, I was scared for my life, Luehrsen said.

Her husband ran after her into the living, but passed out on the floor leaving Luehrsen trembling in fear staring at his unconscious body. Although these moments were terrifying for Luehrsen, her situation was complicated as are many other cases. She got out of her abusive relationship, but can understand what barriers keep women from leaving.

Earlier this month, footage surfaced of NFL player Ray Rice knocking his then-fiance Janay Rice unconscious.

Erin Burrows, prevention and outreach specialist for Voices Against Violence, said she is concerned about how the media reacted in asking Janay why she stayed after the incident.

“People asking questions like that perpetuates a culture in which we’re looking at the behavior of the person who’s experienced violence, rather than at the person who is perpetuating violence,” Burrows said.

Although Burrows believes those types of questions are common, she’s pleasantly surprised at the NFL’s response.

“Before Ray Rice’s case resurfaced, they passed these new policies around the suspension and termination of somebody from an NFL team and that set the stage for them being able to hold him accountable,” Burrows said. “That is something that I think is so powerful.”

Similarly, Burrows said the university’s policies are shifting to hold someone who violates those rules accountable, no matter who they are.

“We set the expectation and we stick to that and we’ve seen two examples already this year,” Burrows said. “That is something the UT students can be proud of.”

Late last week, UT sophomore men’s basketball player, Martez Walker, was suspended from the team after being arrested on charges for dating violence. President Bill Powers released a statement afterward, in which he emphasized zero tolerance for physical violence.

“It is a big deal for public figures in the university to come out and make that statement. If you find something from 10 years ago where someone talks about this, I’d be shocked,” Burrows said. “We’re talking about a total culture shift in the way people are talking about these issues.”

Story 3: Crime/Public Safety Story

Calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline have increased more than 80 percent after recent incidents with NFL players, forcing half of all calls to go unanswered. To help the understaffed hotline, the NFL announced a five-year multi-million dollar commitment that will make part-time staff members become full-time employees,

Katie Ray-Jones, president and chief executive office of the hotline, said more than 77,000 calls were unanswered last year alone. As more domestic violence cases are reported within the NFL, the call volume increases with more people who are recognizing red flags in their own relationships.

“We have never had the funding needed to meet the demand for our services from those seeking help with domestic violence and dating abuse,” Ray-Jones said. “Recent domestic violence incidents involving NFL players pushed the capacity of our organization to unprecedented levels.”

On Sept. 8, multiple media outlets released elevator footage showing Baltimore Raven’s running back, Ray Rice, punching his then-fiancee, Janay Rice, knocking her unconscious. The video immediately went viral, prompting criticism towards the NFL and dramatically increased the level of incoming calls to the hotline.

The day the full elevator footage was released 1,051 calls were made to the hotline, but only 546 calls were answered. With the additional staff members, Ray-Jones said the hotline should be able to answer around 750 more calls a day helping them with their goal of answering every phone call. If the hotline had been fully staffed on the day the footage was released, every single call might have been answered.

Calls to the hotline have remained at abnormally high levels, even spiking to over 1,700 calls last Monday. 

Ray-Jones said the partnership has already allowed the hotline to transition 21 of the part time staff members to full time employees. Expecting to hire additional staff, Ray-Jones said the hotline will be able to answer approximately 750 more calls per day pushing them to their goal of answering every phone call.

“Because of this long-term commitment by the NFL to provide The Hotline with much-needed resources, our services will finally be accessible to all those who need us when they bravely take the first step to find safety and live a life free of abuse,” Ray-Jones said.  

            NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell toured the hotline facilities in Austin after the commitment was announced, to see first-hand the services the hotline provides.

Maury Lane, chair of the board of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, said the NFL’s recourses will allow them to “provide more education about domestic violence,” to the general public, but also said she is happy they could provide more education to Goodell.

“It was important to have Commissioner Goodell visit the hotline and learn how our organization works,” Lane said. “He listened to stories from survivors and stories that our advocates hear on a daily basis. We really appreciate him taking the time to help us highlight the extent of this national problem.”

Alyson Olson, member of UT organization Voices Against Violence said that NFL contributing funds and dedicating time to see who they’re affecting meant the league was taking a “step in the right direction.”

“I think it’s important for such an influential league to show they care about issues that affect so many Americans,” Olson said. “For the hotline, which could always use more help, this was invaluable to them, I’m sure.”

            Lisa Lawrence, spokesperson for the Hotline, said the details of the commitment have not been worked out yet, but said aside from monetary support the hotline will receive “promotional and operational support.”

Story 4: Liveblogging Assignment

For Story 4, my team and I live-blogged the Texas Book Festival. Together, we tried to cover as many events as possible while also capturing the atmosphere of the event. Our work can be found on this tumblr page.

Story 5: Government Story

The doors, walls and even the dishes sitting in his cabinet clattered against each other as his entire house shook from the low vibrations. He could feel the low hum, but he couldn’t stop it.

David King, a resident of Zilker neighborhood, loves going to live music events near his house, but dislikes having his days disrupted by the excess noise coming from nearby concerts.

King, who has been pushing for a solution since the issue was first brought to the board in early July, will now see benefits from his actions. On Thursday, the Austin City Council passed a resolution changing city code for amplified sound, to allow the use of a new sound mitigation tool for live music events, which will be used alongside the current method. These changes are the kick start of a new pilot program to monitor sound level to take place immediately.

 “I’ve lived in Zilker for over 20 years and over time the music festivals have gotten longer and louder,” King said. “It’s not about changing the event for the music-goers, but for the neighbors who feel the vibrations.”

Previous code only used A-frequency measurements to control excess sound, which works for 90 percent of sounds, but is less accurate in measuring bass frequencies than decibels in the low bass C-frequencies. With the both methods in effect, low bass sounds will be better controlled and less disturbing to other businesses and residences near live music venues.

Jennifer Houlihan, executive director of Austin Music People, said she considers the compromise a “win-win” situation. Houlihan said the music community has been working hard to find the right balance between live music and neighboring areas.

“I think really good progress is being made because a couple of years ago, before there was a music office, those music venues around town would have been shut down because nobody would be there to negotiate on the other side and find a compromise,” Houlihan said. “The answer would have been to shut off the rock and roll, but we were saying ‘no, we can make this work.’”

During early negotiations, neighbors of music venues pushed for a maximum 85 decibel limit, which Houlihan said would be too restrictive because, “you could slam a door and pass 85.”

 During South by Southwest earlier this year, an experiment showed the area to be “bass heavy” and officers set a 105 decibel-C limit to curb complaints. The limit almost eliminated complaints while still allowing the audience to fully enjoy the music.

 “We’re pleased to see that the pilot program during SXSW required only minor adjustments at the board and did not disrupt the experience of the patrons or the musicians,” Houlihan said. “We wanted to make sure that neighbors still had a good quality of life, that their kids could go to sleep at night, but also wanted to solve it in a way that won’t close down the music venues.”

Houlihan said the resolution will mostly impact dance clubs and EDM music events because those rely heavily on bass, rather than a concert featuring an acoustic guitar show. A maximum decibel level has not been set in the resolution, but if a level is set, Austin Music People hopes it will be reasonable.

“Most of the clubs we’ve worked with were right around 105-107 [decibels]. If [the council] decide[s] to put a number, we’re going to push for 110 because we’ll know that the people we’ve worked with will sit comfortably below that number,” Houlihan said.

The music council partnered with Austin Police Department to measure sound enforce the new code. Sound enforcement officers will use devices which can measure both types of frequencies to determine if an establishment is being excessively loud.

City Councilmember Laura Morrison said she is hopeful this pilot program will work for everyone on both sides of the issue.

“I think this really has a great chance at being successful,” Morrison said. “We’ve done a lot of good work over the past years trying to find a good balance and put tools in place so that we have a better overall community [in which] we all enjoy music and folks can actually enjoy it when they want to.”

One thing both sides of the issue agree on is to keep music a key part of Austin’s culture and identity, and to also keep Austin a place where the music industry can thrive. In 2012, Austin Music People collected data and concluded that the music industry was a $1.6 billion business and showed no signs of slowing down.

“The last time we ran the numbers was before the amphitheater opened up and before ACL went to two weekends, so it’s probably close to a $2 billion impact now,” Houlihan said.

Because of the large impact, Houlihan said it was crucial to find a compromise between music venues and neighborhood residents.

“If we want to keep being the ‘Live Music Capital of the World’ we have to make sure it’s easy to make music and there are plenty of places to do it and that there are plenty of people who want to hear it,” Houlihan said. “If we mess with either one of those things, we’re in trouble.”

Story 6: Business Story

Story 6 is still in the process of being written! Will update as soon as possible