Month: January 2019

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/missouri-lawmakers-kick-off-new-legislative-session-with-pomp-promises/article_3c715f04-146d-11e9-acda-9f0f278a2aa8.html

I spent Wednesday down in Jefferson City with Mark to cover the first legislative session of the new year for Missouri’s General Assembly.

This was the most unique experience I’ve had in my young journalism career so far. Being mainly a sports reporter, covering this event seemed like it was outside my realm. However, I loved the environment. It was hectic, we were on our feet the whole time and the day flew by. It was an absolute blast.

The assembly didn’t go over too much considering that it was literally Day 1 and the majority of the day was just a recognition period by the Assembly’s family members and friends, we didn’t get too much into the thicket of legislation writing because there was no legislation. Part of the writing that I did was kind of “fish out of water” writing because it was interesting to see the beginning of what could be a very contentious or very civil relations between the Democrat and Republican senators and representatives.

I loved the experience, I’m glad I got to go and it’s something I would definitely do again.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/other_sports/cougars-upset-bid-upended-by-missouri-baptist/article_170f47cc-1552-11e9-bc5b-b79f23187c21.html

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/mizzou_football/okwuegbunam-returns-to-mu-football-for-redshirt-junior-season/article_fdc30908-1500-11e9-a4fe-1bd2c521c2d7.html

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/mizzou_football/brandon-palmore-to-represent-missouri-d-line-in-all-star/article_11a99a20-1517-11e9-91d0-278bac22036b.html

I was back to sports again on Thursday night. I covered the surprising contest that was Columbia College almost taking down the undefeated and No. 5 ranked Missouri Baptist Spartans. That would’ve been really cool to write about the upset but I had just as much fun writing about a near-upset because I got great interviews with some guys afterward and the story practically wrote itself because the game was so awesome.

The Albert O news was breaking. The moment I had read that on Twitter, Reed texted me and asked if I could write something up. I did but I didn’t go as heavy duty into it like I did with Crockett earlier in the week because there’s kind of a low risk, high reward for Albert staying at Mizzou. He can maybe get healthy and put out a great effort with a new quarterback and he won’t be gambling on an NFL career like Crockett is. So, let’s just say the Albert O story is still developing, obviously.

The D-line news was just a good little tidbit that Michael asked me to type up. It was good to see him back in the newsroom and this was just something easy to type up.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/innovation-entrepreneurship-highlight-th-agroforestry-symposium-at-mu/article_8573fd1c-129a-11e9-8b2a-b3011f7987a7.html

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/mizzou_football/missouri-running-back-crockett-to-forgo-senior-season-enter-nfl/article_bcee1120-12b7-11e9-b4ef-33aa0826dab1.html

I was introduced to Liz on Monday the 7th and realizing that I’m willing to do more than just sports, she got excited to throw stuff my way which was exciting for me too, considering it broadens my horizons and changes my pace up significantly.

That exciting change of pace started out with a brief on agroforestry, the least exciting subject, quite possibly, ever. But it was good to establish a base with her on my willingness to do stuff.

I then worked on the Crockett stuff for the remainder of the day. It was big news considering he’s very injury prone and hasn’t played a full season for Mizzou. So, I put a lot of time and effort into making sure that readers understood that this might not be the best decision for him. But that was a fun story to do because it was the most columny kinda thing I’ve written so far.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/mizzou_sports/local-briefs-mu-baseball-to-retire-scherzer-s-number/article_7e6ce83e-1390-11e9-96c4-17b45a5bef65.html

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/sports/other_sports/columbia-college-staves-off-late-effort-from-park-university/article_fa85c0fc-13af-11e9-8d20-7f1eb15cade2.html

Tuesday, I was back to sports stuff. I didn’t hang around in the newsroom much during the day because I was covering the Columbia College game that night. However, while I was in the newsroom about an hour or two prior to leaving for CC, I wrote up that baseball brief.

Covering Columbia College has grown special to me. They’re always really nice to me out there and they thank me for covering them. I can feel the genuine gratitude they have toward me covering the event. It’s become one of my favorite places to cover basketball games.

It was awesome to write about baseball, even if it was only for a brief. But during that time, I was asked by Liz to help Mark down in Jeff City on Wednesday to cover the first day of the Legislative Session. That took a majority of my focus for the rest of the day. You’ll hear more about that in my next blog.