5A - Identifying Local Opportunities

-
#1 Florida elementary school kids sent to ER after eating weed candy: by Cheryl S. Grant
https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AGSGB%21Gainesville%2BSun%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0910%21September%2B10&f=advanced&format=text&docref=news/175E485A39BDC4D0

Nine elementary students in a Broward county school accidently took THC-infused candy. One of the students brought to school what looked like a popular sour candy and offered to friends, not knowing what it contained. The students complained of stomach pains and were under watch for a whole day. No life-threatening affects were noted.

The problem: Children unknowingly eat weed candy because they thought it was normal candy. This created distress for them in their school, causing them to miss the rest of their studies. This also causes worries for families because they can’t control what their children receive food wise in school, and that the threat could have had much more adverse outcomes if it were a more potent drug or even if a child had allergies.

Who has the problem: Students who don’t know what is in their food, and worse accept food brought from home from a friend.

#2 Alachua County commissioners vote to repeal plastic bag and styrofoam ban: by Francesca Stewart
https://www.wcjb.com/content/news/Alachua-County-commissioners-vote-to-repeal-plastic-bag-and-styrofoam-ban-524378411.html

Alachua county repealed the ban on plastic bags and styrofoam, to a commision vote of 4-0 to repeal ban because of a recommendation from the court’s attorney. The commissioners believe there are bigger issues to solve than this one, even though they maintain that a sustainable environment is still a priority. They are worried about their taxpayers money if this ban were to pass, because of attorney fees, costs and potential lawsuits. 

The problem: Maintaining a sustainable environment would be greatly influenced if the ban on the “evil” plastic bags and styrofoam was appealed. But because of the worry of effectively using taxpayers money, the ban was repealed, and commissioners say they want to focus on other problems, putting aside sustainability. 

Who has the problem: everyone is affected by the health of our environment. Though this was a relatively small step to halt unsustainable practices IN THE SHORT TERM, this would have greatly helped the health of our environment long-term. 

#3 ADA compliance knocks sheriff's website offline: by Danielle Ivanov

The issue addressed is that the local police department website has been under scrutiny and with a threat of lawsuit for the last 9 months. THey are under scrutiny because they have not been complying with ADA regulations. IN 2017, Florida and New York ruled that websites must meet web-content accessibility guidelines, or it would violate Act III of ADA regulations. This regulation became more prominent after a blind man in Miami filed hundreds of lawsuits, with the lawsuit against Winn-Dixie setting the groundwork for ADA website regulations. 

The problem: There are two problems. One is the disturbance of a flow of information on the Alachua County Sheriff's Office website. People used to rely on the website for access to information. Now the police’s main source to transfer information is through social media. The second is since they failed to keep up with ADA regulations they lost access to their main site and had to use alternatives to provide information.

Who has the problem: People in need of the ADA to be able to use websites, and now the sheriff department who needs to update their website which have been under watch-out for more than half a year, and the people who use the website as a source of information, but had to switch media to continue having access to information. 

#4 Idea Brewing: Prairie View as “swing school”: by Sarah Nelson
https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190912/idea-brewing-prairie-view-as-swing-school

The issue addressed is the rescheduling of transportation for students because of the use of Prairie View, which has been closed since 2008, to be used as a temporary school as neighboring schools get renovated. A problem is students who would have to find other means of transportation because this is a different school in a different location. School systems are working with the bus system to make a smooth transition.

The problem: Families will need to figure out different means of getting their children to school. A worry is of the-up-in-the-air solution of using the public RTS bus system, as it presents safety issues for the minors. 

Who has the problem: Students who need public transportation to school

#5 Florida “psychic” gets prison time for scamming woman out of $1.6 million: by Cheryl S. Grant
https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190912/florida-psychic-gets-prison-time-for-scamming-woman-out-of-16-million

Addressed in this newsletter is about a Texas woman being spammed a large sum of money by a FLorida woman because of a false psychic readings. THe Florida woman gets sentenced 3 years in jail and has to repay the Texas woman $1.6 million dollars in repairs. The Florida woman told the Texas woman she had a curse on her family, and the way to solve this was to send her (Florida woman) sums of money for crystals and candles, etc to alleviate the curse. The victim used her family's inheritance as she wanted to solve this “curse”. The Florida woman then pleaded guilty saying the curse was false. 

The problem: Getting schemed by false work orders. It creates a problem of people innocently getting used for large sums of money, wire fraud. This affected the mental and physical stability of the woman that got spammed because she believed her family had a curse and needed to resolve it to live a happy life. 

Who has the problem: people who can get unfairly spammed because of a seeming legit business.

Comments

  1. Michael PuskarSeptember 14, 2019 at 10:29 PM

    Hi Giovanna,

    It was interesting to see what news stories stood out to you compared to other students' posts in this class. I thought all five of the stories that you picked fit this assignment's requirements very well, and I enjoyed reading about them. I thought your fifth article was particularly unique, as I would've never guessed that someone would spend $1.6 million on psychic readings. I thought you did a great job on this assignment.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nick DiprimaSeptember 15, 2019 at 8:50 AM

    Hey Giovanna, I think you brought up some really interesting stories. The one about the psychic is hilarious! Since theres no proof any psychic actually works, I think its hilarious that she would be jailed and sued as a result of a false reading, when in reality most psychic readings are false. The story about the children eating the THC gummies is also a funny one, but it is problematic that these products are being marketed so well to children.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Liv WardSeptember 15, 2019 at 2:29 PM

    Hey Giovanna!
    The five local article’s that you chose to highlight vary greatly in topic but provide equally important examples of issues caused by outstanding problems. Your second article in particular, really resonated with me because environmental issues are becoming increasingly important, yet certain legislative offices are refusing to make steps toward solving the issue and are even choosing to repeal actions that were put in place to help the issue.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michael LombardoSeptember 15, 2019 at 2:29 PM

    Hey Giovanna,
    The stories you chose were very interesting and I enjoyed reading all of them. It's funny to see how many insane things happen around us especially in the state of Florida. The first one about the elementary kids eating weed candy is absolutely crazy. I also liked the one about the psychic who scammed a woman of more than a million dollars. Some people are just too gullible I guess.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

-
Who: Through my interviews I found a group of people that could fall outside the scope of my market. First it is people who don’t have thorough knowledge of sustainable architecture, and the second is people who don’t have the budget for it. Interviewer #2 from Fort. Lauderdale stated that he would only invest in something he knows would have a big impact, and he believes that sustainable architecture has very little impact. They fall outside the scope. In my interview #3 AND #4 stated that they would absolutely invest in sustainable architecture, but budget limits them. They would fall into the opportunity, but they have a limiting factor.  What: My need differs from other needs in the sense that it is still architecture and people have the need to build buildings, and so why not make it sustainable. Interviewer #5 said that if she easily found a sustainable architect that she liked and was not pricey she would go for it. So what I am gathering is that this opportunity is mor...
Read more

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

-
Fundraising Abilities: increase capital, in the larger scope of things it will involve maybe dealing with loans, but fundraising helps understand logistics of amount of money needed. Valuable: I need money for my project. It is large scale, and requires money to get money. Rare: Not super rare, a lot of people have fundraised in their lives. Inimitable: many people have done, but it takes a lot of will and energy to fundraise a lot. Non-Substitutable: could substitute somewhat with loans Technological Connections: keep innovation up, so I create an always growing product Valuable: super, don’t want to lag Rare: not super rare, but my team would be loyal to me Inimitable: sure, but still a loyal team is crucial for these connections to reap benefits. Non-Substitutable: I can’t think of something that would substitute the knowledge of technology (that I don’t have) Environmental Awareness + Connections: will provide new knowledge on the area Valuable: it is the ...
Read more

8A - Solving the Problem

-
Image
My product is to provide more sustainable alternatives to commonplace products to reduce climate change effects. My solution to decrease climate change is to have products and architecture with lower carbon emissions. This could be applied to governments, corporations, smaller businesses, and the common person; so everyone. The level of importance differs between the different sectors because of scalability (governments and big corporations could naturally have a larger impact by switching to sustainable buildings and products). Different solutions/products: From my interviews I found that the first important step to reduce climate change is to make more people actually aware of the problem. Most of my interviewees were not aware of the scale of climate change and the “close” effects it will have on us (most feel like it does not directly affect them yet). So a solution is to actually SPEAK UP and advocate for this problem. We don’t want big corporations, much less the government...
Read more