In California, a new bill named the 'Genetic Information Privacy Act' is currently being voted on. California Senator Alex Padilla believes that your DNA is your personal information, and "ought to be protected". The bill would only allow one's DNA to be accessed by individuals who are 'specifically named on a consent form'. On the other side of the debate, the University of California is objecting the bill because it would cost nearly $600,000 per year in order to sustain. This is money that the state of California simply does not have.

New research suggests that new behavioral and cognitive therapies may be more useful than traditional ADHD medicines. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is proven to be more effective in the long run, and helps by teaching children how to deal with this disorder instead of just prescribing drugs to suppress them. The science behind this article is not too hard to grasp. It is mainly based off of research performed by a Psychologist at LSU and members of the science department at UC, Davis. The article is mainly a correlational study, showing how these two treatments of ADHD differ.

While the shutting down of all nuclear power plants in Japan is a great thing for their environment and nuclear safety, it has been Japan's main form of electricity for the past four decades. This means that, without any nuclear energy, energy blackouts are becoming more common and carbon emissions are increasing.

The article is well written, and relevant to current issues in sports medical science. Given the recent increase of interest surrounding sports injuries, especially concussions and head/neck injuries, this article brings the issue to a new sport: cheerleading. Just as the NFL implemented new rules that encourage player safety, high schools in nearly 40 states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, have new regulations regarding concussed athletes.

Yes, this is a good journalistic piece. It is fairly timely, being written about a month ago. It is very current, because it is relevant to anyone that buys gas, which would be almost everyone in the U.S. The article mentions several prominent figures, mainly President Obama, Exxon (a large oil-gas company), and Solyndra, a large solar power company.

We have to take action against global warming before it's too late! As the article states, right now is the time that counts, and we have to limit all the warming that we can. A 6 degree Celsius increase worldwide will prove disastrous!

Has it seriously taken us this long to stop feeding our livestock artificial chemicals? I find this slightly ridiculous, but at last it seems the government is taking a pro-organic stance on this matter.

Timeliness: This is a very recent article, written today (4/3), but the cause of the dolphins' deaths was because of the BP oil spill in 2010. Impact: There is little that can be done about the dolphins' deaths because they are already dead. As scientists perform the autopsies, hopefully they will devise a way to prevent more deaths. Currency: Prominence: Proximity: Although California is some distance from the Gulf, I chose this article because it is about an hour's drive from away Houston, my hometown. Unusual/Surprising: I can't say that I didn't see this coming. Given the amount of oil that BP spilled, the only surprise to me is that it took this long for animals to start dying from the oil.

"Describe the news values that take precedence and why" Timeliness: The article itself is almost a year old, but the information it contains is still just as relevant then as it is now, if not more. Impact: Obviously, the extinction of any species worldwide would have serious impact on all the other species in the same food chain. Currency: As above, the article is old, but still applicable. Prominence: Proximity: Unusual/Surprising: As the title of the article suggests, having used a different mathematical formula, scientists more accurately track the decline of species' population.