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Anchor Life with a Splash of Investigative Reporting

As I mentioned in one of my more recent posts, I have officially taken a break from being a weekly reporter for WUFT News at the University of Florida. Although I am in my senior year and need as many stories I can get for my reel, I just needed a break (mentally) and just couldn't fit it into my hectic schedule. So instead, I am filling my time by being an anchor every other Wednesday for WUFT as well as taking an investigative reporting class.

Sure, my investigative reporting class is something I need to take before I graduate as dictated by my degree audit, but it is also a class I have been wanting to take because it is an area of news I want to improve upon before entering the workforce.

My investigative reporting class meets every Monday night and discusses topics like how to develop or even find an investigative story idea, how to nail interviews, how to piece together an investigative story once everything is shot as well as what it takes to get the information needed to make an investigative story complete and comprehensive. Throughout the class, I must turn in two complete investigative stories that could be on any topic but is under 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

For my first project, I am working with one of my friends, Samantha Serbin, and we are looking at the number of sexual predators within a five-mile radius from UF's main campus. What surprised us the most and are the reasons why we went with this topic is the fact that 1) sexual predators/offenders do not have a residence restriction around a university or college like they do for K-12 schools, 2) there are 345 sexual predators and offenders that live within a five-mile radius of UF and 3) some of those listed use university addresses as their address of residency, with some using the same address as others.

Here is a map of Gainesville showing the number of sexual predators and offenders registered within a five-mile radius from the University of Florida. 
This not only is surprising but is also concerning. Why are sexual predators and offenders allowed to use the same address as another and on top of that why are they allowed to use a university address for their residency?

Within the next couple weeks Samantha and I will be figuring out the answer to those questions, so be sure to stay tuned as I will be posting an update soon. Until then, get ready because on Wednesday I'll be back for my second time at the WUFT anchor desk for another exciting night filled with news.

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