Editorial Note: This story was produced as part of a mock exercise. There has been no accident at Hilbert College

by Duncan Schiff

A student was struck by a car in a hit and run at Hilbert College Monday.

At 9:15, an unnamed female student at Hilbert was struck by a maroon Honda CRV, owned by an unnamed University of Buffalo student with no known affiliations to Hilbert. At the scene, a blue life preserver was found on the hood, as well as a hockey stick on the ground about a foot away from the victim. Police have released no further information.

“The driver, described as a white male, approximately 6 feet tall, fled on foot, leaving the vehicle behind in the parking lot” Joseph LaRosa, assistant director of Hilbert Campus Safety, said at a press conference.

A witness attempted to give chase, but gave up after the driver got too far into the woods. The victim is possibly the witness’s friend, a student from Amherst. It is believed to not have been intentional, but that may change as the police investigation progresses. Hamburg Police and the Erie County Sheriff’s office with helicopter and k9 units are searching for the perpetrator at the moment.

Curiously, LaRosa, claimed medical service and campus security arrived immediately on scene, but even nearly 5 hours later, medical service operators were not on scene. The student in question was still there, baking on asphalt under a white sheet, with LaRosa refusing to comment further than this after being pressed. “I can’t answer that. That’s something you’d need to talk to emergency medical.”

by Duncan Schiff

The Newspaper, a declining art, being taken over by Electronic based media.

According to the pew Research center, the circulation of daily paper circulation was 24.3 million, Sunday being 25.8, in 2020, a drop of about 6% for both. For Electronic news, daily circulation has gone up 27%, while Sunday’s have gone up 26%. Many newspapers stand defiant, still running their papers, still making news on other platforms, and still helping the people.

The Investigative Post is a Watchdog journalism press exclusively, one of the current 330 non-profit newsrooms in America, revealing private and governmental scandals affecting people.

For example, the Investigative Post’s reporting caused Mayor Byron Brown to start dealing with the lead crisis in the city, in which lead in homes and buildings have been poisoning children for decades. Jim Heaney, the executive director of the news outlet, is determined to undermine shady political and private goals.  It has come under heavy flak, especially from those the outlet has investigated. They were accused of systematic racism by Brown, though, according to Heaney, they have done more help for the African American communities of Buffalo than the mayor. “He refused to answer, instead attacking me and Investigative Post, saying we’re guilty of ‘systemic racism,’” Heaney said. “He went on and on, in an unhinged kind of way.”

They continue to defy the decline of papers, as well as the harassments by those they cover.

The Buffalo News is a large daily newspaper, based in downtown Buffalo. It was originally a Sunday paper, formed in 1873. By late 1880, it began selling daily newspapers as well, and by 1914, it was fully a daily newspaper.

It delivers papers to much of Western New York, as well as Ontario, alongside some in Wyoming and Pennsylvania. In Early 2020, the News was sold to Lee Enterprises. It was believed by many that the news would collapse multiple times, yet it is still reporting on and printing the news, those times mainly being the great depression and the news being sold. It has many prominent members, most notably Adam Zyglis, the Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist. Members of the news have in total been nominated seven times, winning four Pulitzers.

Though in an inevitable decline, newspapers are still informing the public, much to the anger of disgruntled politicians.

by Desmond Schiff

Columnist Sean Kirst will soon write his final column for The Buffalo News.

Kirst, who wrote many heartbreaking stories during his long career, was valued by many readers for his ability to evoke emotion in their hearts.

He had to write about heart breaking things like people with cancer and knew the exact way to put it so it would hit the sweet spot of emotion.

Kirst said he has always found writing to be a helpful tool in understanding difficult situations.

“To me, what writing has been, since I’ve been a kid is that the idea that you can stick a stick in it,” he said. “When you’re upset, when things don’t make sense you can stick something in your gut, and you can put it on paper and you can sort it out. That’s how writing really changed my life.”                          

Kirst said he has always appreciated the freedom that opinion writing has offered to him.

“I’m writing a column about it, I can say oh it’s the most beautiful banner in the world,” pointing to a Buffalo News banner outside the paper’s downtown offices to explain the difference between news writing and opinion writing. Kirst spent 27 years as a columnist at the Syracuse Post-Standard before joining The Buffalo News in 2017.After his retirement he will be teaching journalism at Le Moyne College in Syracuse.