Aliza Chasan, Pilar Desha, Maura Ewing

Proposed headline: Americans Care About Losing Weight Less Than They Used Too

News hook: The Nov. 27 release of this poll by Gallup and New Year’s – when many make a resolution to lose weight, exercise more or eat better.

Nut Graf: Americans are less concerned about losing weight, but not because they’re healthier. Slightly less than half of Americans care about losing weight, according to a recent Gallup Poll, even though obesity is a nationwide epidemic.

The Data + Description of Data:

1. Attitude toward weight – % who want to lose, gain or stay at present weight
2. % who want to lose weight vs % actually trying to lose weight
3. obesity rate by state + 95% confidence interval
4. Self Reported Weight – how people view their weight

All Data is located in this folder: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0By8Q-xiqQcUbT3lSMnAxUXN4bFk&usp=sharing

One Source you’ve spoken to or three potential sources:

1. Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom, director of the weight-management center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
2. Ali Mokdad, professor of Global Health, University of Washington and author of: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=192036, http://sph.washington.edu/faculty/fac_bio.asp?url_ID=Mokdad_Ali
3. Dr. Satcher, professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, http://www.msm.edu/about_us/FacultyDirectory/CommunityHealthPreventiveMedicine/DavidSatcher/index.php

Wireframe:

By Nuria Saldanha, Kat Long and Rai Chakravarty

U.N. climate discussions in Paris this week have touched on the need for cleaner energy technology to replace oil and coal, two of the most polluting fossil fuels that also contribute to global warming. The U.S. is the biggest consumer of fossil fuels and the biggest producer of crude oil in the world. According to data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, American crude oil production is at its highest level since 1985, at 13,973 barrels per day—more than Saudi Arabia.

U.S. production has increased in response to fewer imports of foreign oil. Yet overall, production has slowed in response to oversupply. Americans are consuming less petroleum and coal and more gas and renewable energy. This story will explore the different forces, such as abundant natural gas recovered by fracking, that affect crude oil production in the U.S. The piece will also look at how the current push toward developing cleaner energy resources might affect oil production and consumption.

Using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, this story will employ a map of the U.S. to show crude oil production by state. Users will be able to click on states to see the barrels-per-day rate for 2014, the last year for which current data is available, and the percentage increase or decrease in production since 1985. A possible second visualization will show U.S oil consumption since that year.

Data

Crude oil production
U.S. Energy consumption
Annual energy outlook

Sources

Jonathan Cogan
Press contact, U.S. Energy Information Administration
202-586-8719
jonathan.cogan@eia.gov

Rahim Jiwani
Crude oil analyst
312-594-7918
rahim.jiwani@bp.com

Christopher Kinney
Senior trading analyst, Statoil
203-905-7042
ckinney9@bloomberg.net

By Anthony Kane, Maria Arcel and Christina Jensen. 

Pitch: Is there a correlation between mass shootings and state gun laws?

Over the last few years it seems like there has been constant news regarding a new mass shooting occurring within the United States. As the U.S. presidential campaigns continue to pick up, gun control has been a hot topic throughout the debates, while constantly being discussed by officials.

http://www.easymapmaker.com/map/d161b7a6bf8bfae95f0b91245ccae94e

This story will discuss what states have what gun laws, while comparing it to where and when mass executions have occurred. Thus breaking it down if the there is a correlation between the two factors.

Sources to contact

Jeffrey Simon, expert at UCLA at who specializes in domestic terrorism and mass shooters.

Adam Winkler, professor of law and constitutional law specialist with an expertise on the Second Amendment.

Adam Lankford, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama

NRA Spokesperson

Visualization

Our visualization will be a map that shows the number of mass shootings in the United States from 2000 to 2015. The map will be interactive so you can click on the dots and get information about the mass shooting; such as the date, number of fatalities, and number of injured people.

We will be using three colours representing the different state concealed-carry laws.

1. unrestricted (no permit or licensing required, but there may still be regulations on where guns can be taken in public), shall issue and may issue.
2. States require a permit for concealed carry. There, local authorities are given discretion as to whether to issue permits.
3. State laws vary, from largely permissive to permits being difficult to obtain, unless the applicant provides considerable justification.

Description and link to data

The data shows the number of mass shootings in the United States from 2000 to 2015. The data is from Mother Jones’ Investigation.

US Mass Shootings, 1982–2023: Data From Mother Jones’ Investigation

The number of U.S. homicides has been falling for two decades, even though the number of guns has been growing every year.

Af Maria Arcel

Numbers from the FBI shows that there have been over 15% fewer murders by weapon from 2007 to 2011 in The United States. In 2007 the number of murders by weapons was 14,916 and in 2011 the same number was 12,664.

But there hasn’t been any more gun control in the same period of time – and therefor experts find it hard to explain, why we see this positive development.

Professor at New York University and specialist in criminal law James B. Jacobs says that nobody can answer the question with one hundred percent certainty.

“It is kind of a mystery why the numbers of murders has dropped so dramatically. Nobody knows exactly why this is. A lot of experts are trying to figure it out – but there is no clear answer to that question”, he says – but he still has his theories:

“One of the things we know is that the police has become better. They have more focus on violence prevention – they are concentrated on the hotspots where crimes occur and are one step ahead. Also more people are being sent to prison, so that’s another reason for the decrease in gun violence and murders – more of the bad guys are in prison.”

Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and expert in criminal justice, Dr. Alfred Blumstein agrees with the theories – but underlines, that nobody knows for sure, what the real reason is:

“This is a very interesting discussion. But it is very hard to explain why we are seeing this development” he says and continues.

“I know of no gun-control legislation enacted since 2001 that could account for the effect we are seeing. So this is definitely not the reason” – he explains.

In several polls we see that the American people believe that the number of murders are increasing – even though the opposite is actually the case.

Professor James B. Jacobs blames the media for this misunderstanding.

“They are not good enough to tell the positive developments – even though the gun violence is the lowest in 40 years.

And Dr. Alfred Blumstein agrees: “People always think crime is increasing, particularly since media play by the rule of “if it bleeds, it leads”

But despite the numbers of decreasing murders and increasing amount of weapons – research shows that where there are more guns there are more homicides. According to a report from The Harvard University – researchers proved through data from 26 developed countries, that where there are more guns available, both men and women are at higher risk for homicide and in particular firearm homicide.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/12/14/nine-facts-about-guns-and-mass-shootings-in-the-united-states/

And James B. Jacobs isn’t surprised by the research. He is not sure, that the lack of gun control in the US has anything positive to do with the decrease in the murders – but he acknowledge, that the two developments have been following each other:

“Every year the amount of guns in the US continues to grow, and every year the gun violence continues to drop. The discussion about how gun control may or may not affect the gun violence in a positive way – is a very difficult discussion. Because our logic tell us that of course there will be less violence with less guns, but at the same time we can see, that the amount of guns are increasing and the violence is decreasing – so there is no simple answer to the discussion” he says.

Dr. Alfred Blumstein isn’t only sure that the lack of gun control has no positive effects – he also thinks we would see even fewer murders if the US implemented more legislation.

“The Supreme Court decision and the Second Amendment of the US Constitution serve to make guns widely available – and yet we see the numbers of homicides by weapon drop. But homicide trends are affected by much more than legislation – and the trends over the last 20 plus years have been very interesting, mostly declining sharply – about a 45% drop – from about 1993 to 2000, flat until about 2008 and then declining fairly slowly again” – he explains.

According to The Guardian, the Americans have become more and more against gun control in the last decade. In 2004, 37 percent of the American people wanted to protect their gun rights, where 58 percent wanted more gun control. These numbers have changed dramatically over ten years – and in 2014, which is the newest numbers, 52 percent of the population wants to protect their gun rights and only 46 percent wants more gun control.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/oct/02/mass-shootings-have-no-impact-on-support-for-gun-rights-in-the-us

Data link:

https://www.quandl.com/data/FBI/WEAPONS11-US-Murders-by-Weapon-Type-2007-2011

Despite a record number of gymnasiums and health clubs popping up around the city, obesity for adults is at an all time high. In the seven-year span after the financial crisis of 2008, gyms openings across the five boroughs have increased by 125 percent and have yearly revenues of 955 million dollars.

However, mostly New Yorkers that are already fit are getting easier access to exercise.

“There are many more health clubs located downtown then there are in Flatbush, Bed-stuy or East New York, in the communities that are more impacted by health issues, that would actually be helped by exercise,” said Dr. Pamela Stracker, director of operations at Brooklyn Health Disparities Center. “

The amount of gyms in the Upper East Side increased by 48 percent since 2008, adding 23 health clubs and gyms in the past seven years to its previous 55. The Upper East Side also ranks the highest in healthy places to live. Last month, the City released comprehensive health profiles for individual community districts and analyzed obesity rates, life expectancy and fitness. The reports indicates that 92 percent of residents in the Upper East Side rate their health as excellent and have an 11 percent obesity rate among it’s residents.

This is not the case for the rest of New York City. The City averages that twenty-seven percent of its adult residents are obese. This is up from nine percent in 1990.

“The Department [of Health] is having meetings to discuss this issues,” said Dr. Stracker. The main focus is improving areas that don’t typically have access to exercise. This is being done in part by constructing bike lanes and pushing for an increased number of free exercise classes at community centers.

The neighborhoods of Clinton and Chelsea and Midtown report that 90 percent of its residents have exercised in the past thirty days, ranking the highest of any community districts. These residents enjoy easy access to Central Park, the West Side Highway running path and the highest concentration of gyms in the city.

On the other end of the spectrum is East New York where 73 percent of residents say they had exercised in the past thirty days and report 31 percent of its residents as obese. Life expectancy for these residents is four years fewer than residents living in Clinton and Chelsea.

By: Anthony Kane

Everyone in the world has become stressed at one point or another. Oftentimes people don’t realize what the major factors are that are actually stressing them out.

According to a study, conducted by Canada’s University of Waterloo, there is a direct correlation between one’s commute time and their stress levels. The findings, which were published in World Leisure Journal, conclude that people with the longest commutes have the lowest overall satisfaction with life.

The study finds that commute lengths are linked to a sense of time pressure. People who spend the most time commuting experience higher levels of stress because they constantly are under pressure to be on time.

“When you look at Americans’ day-to-day activity … the top two things we hate the most on a day-to-day basis is, No. 1: housework and No. 2: the daily commute in our cars,” said Dan Buettner, in an interview with NPR. “In fact, if you can cut an hourlong commute each way out of your life, it’s the [happiness] equivalent of making up an extra $40,000 a year if you’re at the $50- to $60,000 level. So it’s an easy way for us to get happier. Move closer to your place of work.”

Average commute time in the United States is 24.5 minutes, per trip, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But commute times in NYC are much longer on average. Totaling 245 minutes spent commuting per week.

According to a report published by The Office of NYC’s Comptroller , NYC residents face the longest time commuting, compared to the nation’s 30 largest cities, spending an average of 6 hours and 18 minutes per week.

“Apparently it’s one of the most significant factors of overall life satisfaction, the direct correlation between the time you spend commuting & your level of content,” said Ilana Brin, a NYC Resident. “I’m a living example, I moved 10 blocks away from work. I got rid of any variable like train delays or cab traffic and it’s been so liberating.”

The U.S. trade deficit decreased in September as exports rose and imports fell, a sign that U.S. economy is strengthening despite the global meltdown.

Exports comprise about one-eighth of U.S. economic output and were instrumental in the recovery from the 2008 recession. The international trade deficit, the amount by which a country’s import costs exceeds that of its export costs, in goods and services fell to $40.8 billion down $7.2 billion from $48.0 billion in August, revised.

While the total export increased around $3.0 billion in September up from $184.9 billion in August, the import decreased around $4.3 billion.

The goods deficit with European Union decreased while that with China and Mexico increased. The plunge is an optimistic sign since Germany, U.K. and France feature in the top ten countries with whom U.S. has international trade relations.

The September report released by the census department says that export of goods increased $2.8 billion including export of consumer goods like artwork, antiques, stamps and jewelry. But the import of goods decreased $4.3 billion and the most badly hit sectors include crude oil and nuclear fuel materials. Caterpillar Inc., world’s largest construction and mining equipment maker, has announced that it would lay off 10,000 workers by the end of next year. The company said that it faced stiff competition due to the strong U.S. dollar and the plummeting oil prices around the world.

While some of the states like New York, California, Georgia, District of Columbia and Massachusetts showed an increase in export of goods through August and September; Texas, South Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin and Tennessee showed a decrease during the same period.

U.S. has taken a long time to recover from the recession of 2008, and its impact could be felt in the job market for a long time. But the latest job report, which came out on Friday, shows a robust growth in non-farm payroll which shows that the country has come out of the recovery phase and is strengthening.

There is a growing concern about the global economy especially with the economic slowdown in China and the strengthening of dollar. The well being of the U.S. economy has an impact on the global economy and so it is important to know where the nation stands with respect to the world.

This year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo granted four clemencies. “Today we are taking a critical step toward a more just, more fair, and more compassionate New York,” Cuomo said in a statement on the day he announced the clemencies last month.

Four clemencies—two sentence commutations, and two pardons—is an impressive number only when looking at Cuomo’s previous track record. During his first two years in office he granted zero, and since he was elected in 2011 has granted only nine.

“I think governor is afraid to do clemencies because he’s afraid of seeming soft on crime,” said Allen Roskoff, a longtime activist and president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club.

The tides may be shifting in New York, though. When Cuomo announced his recent grantees, he also announced a partnership with several legal organizations who will help review applications and provide pro bono legal assistance—but whether he will act upon these promises has yet to be seen.

There is no state where the governor is known for “handing clemencies out like candy,” said PS Ruckman, Jr., Professor of Political Science at Northern Illinois University and author of the Pardon Power blog. Rather, there is a spectrum that goes from, “no pardoning and normal pardon,” Ruckman said.

The extreme ‘no pardoning’ is most dramatically seen in Wisconsin where Governor Scott Walker’s policy is that so long as he is in office, there will be no clemencies in his state.

Arkansas, Ruckman says, is a good example of a state where pardons are given at a healthy rate. “In Arkansas, the governors regularly pardon—not hundreds of thousands, but two here five here, ten there, that type of thing,” he said.

Cuomo’s recent actions are reflective of a changing of attitude across the country. President Obama received much media attention for granting the release of 6,000 federal prisoners, but that was the function or retroactively implementing reformed laws, not traditional commutations.

Ruckman’s home state, Illinois, has seen a bit of change in pardoning culture over the past few gubernatorial terms. Following the now-incarcerated former Governor, Rod Blagojevich who granted zero clemencies during his term, Pat Quinn (D) granted 1,752 requests, and denied 3,014 — a rate reported to be among the highest for any governor at that time.

The current governor, Bruce Rauner, a Republican, has taken steps to maintain a healthy clemency system. Rauner reviews applications on a regular cycle. Since taking office last January, he has granted 21 clemencies, in four batches.

“I have a sense that governors are pardoning more,” Ruckman said, “There is a trend in the culture.”

The number of U.S. homicides has been falling for two decades, even though the number of guns has been growing every year.

Af Maria Arcel

Numbers from the FBI shows that there have been over 15% fewer murders by weapon from 2007 to 2011 in The United States. In 2007 the number of murders by weapons was 14.916 and in 2011 the same number was 12.664.

But there hasn’t been any more gun control in the same period of time – and therefor experts find it hard to explain, why we see this positive development.

Professor at New York University and specialist in criminal law  James B. Jacobs says that nobody can answer the question with one hundred percent certainty.

“It is kind of a mystery why the numbers of murders has dropped so dramatically. Nobody knows exactly why this is. A lot of experts are trying to figure it out – but there is no clear answer to that question”, he says – but he still has his theories:

“One of the things we know is that the police has become better. They have more focus on violence prevention – they are concentrated on the hotspots where crimes occur and are one step ahead. Also more people are being sent to prison, so that’s another reason for the decrease – more of the bad guys are in prison.”

Political commentator and President of the Crime Prevention Research Center, John Richard Lott agrees that the police play an important role in the lack of gun control.

“There are two main factors for why we see such a dramatic decrease in the numbers of murders by weapons. The first is the police. The police have improved a lot in the last decades. But the most important factor is that more people are getting guns legally. And especially more and more women are getting private guns. That means that the criminals never know, if the one they want to attack have a gun on them – so they might think twice before they try to murder someone” – he explains.

In several polls we see that the American people believe that the number of murders are increasing – even though the opposite is actually the case.

Professor James B. Jacobs blames the media for this misunderstanding.

“They are not good enough to tell the positive developments – even though the gun violence is the lowest in 40 years.

And John Richard Lott agrees: “The media is covering crimes like murder very heavily – but they don’t cover how much less murders are actually committed. That means the Americans get a twisted picture of the reality.”

But despite the decreasing numbers of murders and increasing amount of weapons – research shows that where there are more guns there are more homicides. According to a report from The Harvard University – researchers proved through data from 26 developed countries, that where there are more guns available, both men and women are at higher risk for homicide and in particular firearm homicide.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/12/14/nine-facts-about-guns-and-mass-shootings-in-the-united-states/

And James B. Jacobs isn’t surprised by the research. He is not sure, that the lack of gun control in the US has anything to do with the decrease in the murders – but he acknowledge, that the two developments have been following each other:

“Every year the amount of guns in the U.S. continues to grow, and every year the gun violence continues to drop. The discussion about how gun control may or may not affect the gun violence in a positive way – is a very difficult discussion. Because our logic tell us that of course there will be less violence with less guns, but at the same time we can see, that the amount of guns are increasing and the violence is decreasing – so there is no simple answer to the discussion” he says.

According to The Guardian, the Americans have become more and more against gun control in the last decade. In 2004, 37 percent of the American people wanted to protect their gun rights, where 58 percent wanted more gun control.

These numbers have changed dramatically over ten years – and in 2014, which is the newest numbers, 52 percent of the population wants to protect their gun rights and only 46 percent wants more gun control.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/oct/02/mass-shootings-have-no-impact-on-support-for-gun-rights-in-the-us

And President of the Crime Prevention Research Center, John Richard Lott understands that development in the opinion of the American people.

“Gun control has become even more free in the last decades. It is easier than ever to get a gun. In ten states you don’t even need a permit to get a gun anymore – and that might make the criminals afraid. And the population understands that” he says.

Data link:

https://www.quandl.com/data/FBI/WEAPONS11-US-Murders-by-Weapon-Type-2007-2011

http://digitalstorage.journalism.cuny.edu/pilar.desha/public_html/health.html