On the agenda today...

The Government has released new information when it comes to mammograms.

A government task force now says most women don't need a mammogram in their 40s and should wait until they turn 50, at which point get one every two years. a government task force said Monday.

The government panel of doctors and scientists concluded that getting screened for breast cancer so early and so often leads to too many false alarms and unneeded biopsies without substantially improving women's odds of survival. And, of course many worry about the risks of exposure to mammogram radiation - which some say could lead to cancer.

This comes in conflict with the American Cancer Society's long-standing position. The ACS has been recommending annual mammograms beginning at 40.

Joleen Ferris will be catching up with hospitals as well as a rep from the Cancer Society to talk about the two forces being at odds.

The task force also said breast self-exams don't do any good and women shouldn't be shown how to used them.

Election night is always an interesting and crazy time in a newsroom. But the 2009 Election Night might very well be remembered as the night a Utica Common Council Candidate angrily asked "You wanna dance?!"

Problems with the Utica Common Council First Ward will be looked into throughout the day after a large number of votes appeared to go to candidate Ned Smajic, whose name was recently taken off the actual ballot after an appeals court decision.

Was it a computer glitch somewhere along the line that read a line as Smajic instead of a different candidate? The Board of Elections Commissioners said something is amiss, but it will take some time to sort out what. Those votes COULD possibly go to the man who won the appeals decision to get Smajic's name off the ballot - Frank Vescera.

Vescera was certainly no stranger to the WKTV newsroom on election night 2009. Earlier in the evening, Utica Police sent out the following press release:

"On Tuesday November 03, 2009 at approximately 5:30 PM, Utica Common Council candidate Ed Hill and incumbent Frank Vescera were engaged in an argument while at a polling station located at 2 Kennedy Plaza. According to witnesses; the two had a brief argument when Hill became angry with Vescera and accused him of congregating in close proximity to the polling table. During the confrontation Hill allegedly "chest bumped" Vescera. At that point, Poll Watcher Michael Colon intervened in an attempt to separate Hill and Vescera. Colon stated it was then that Hill turned his attention to Colon, shoved him and punched him in the face with a closed fist. The police department was contacted, both Hill and Vescera left prior to the officer's arrival. Colon filed a harassment complaint against Hill with Officer Ryan Kelly of the Utica Police Department Patrol Division on scene. Colon suffered no injury as a result of the incident."

Now, with that said, a story was then posted on our website regarding the incident, and mentioned in the broadcasts before the results of the race.

Shortly after 11 p.m., the newsroom phone rang...and I just happened to pick up. I was greeted with a curt "who's this?" and I explained that it was Dave. My greeting was then met with a very angry Mr. Vescera, who chose to use the opportunity to yell at me for the story and demand an immediate retraction - that it was all false.

When I explained to Mr. Vescera that the information came from a Utica Police Department press release, he responded "I don't care. I want it retracted."

I explained that how, when it comes to an incident where charges are filed, we check with those agencies in which the charges were filed - in this case, Utica Police Department, who sent out an official release on the incident. He continued to tell me he "didn't care."

I explained that if he wanted to contact UPD and explain to them that he felt their description of events was inaccurate, we would be glad to run a correction based on a clarified press release from UPD. Mr. Vescera responded accordingly:

"No. I'm not going to do that. Why don't you do your job?" he said, in an unfortunately very loud and angry tone.

I responded as best as I could, saying "Frank, don't yell at me. I'm trying to explain to you. If you think UPD got it wrong, tell them so they can tell us."

"No, I'm telling you to do your job and get the facts straight," Vescera said.

"And I'm telling you these facts came right from the police, Frank. Are you saying the police are lying?" I asked.

"Don't put words in my mouth, David. I'll have you know that I'm recording this entire conversation and I will sue you guys," Mr. Vescera told me.

Hopefully Mr Vescera's recording of this conversation will surface so that I can get some of these quotes tightened up, as they are coming from my memory the following morning after the incident.

I asked Mr. Vescera to calm down and stop yelling, and was told to "do something right for once in your life."

When I told him that a comment like that was not just insulting professionally, but quite insulting personally, insinuating that I had not done anything right in my life, Mr. Vescera then accused me again of putting words in his mouth and said what was, for my money, the most interesting election night quote of the year:

"You wanta dance with me, David?! Because we'll dance!"

"I don't want to dance with you, Frank," I answered.

At this point, my boss, Steve McMurray, then decided it was time to intervene. However, Steve was no more successful, it seemed, than I was. Steve read the entire press release to Mr. Vescera, who said the entire thing was not true.

However, it appeared Mr. Vescera wasn't any less angry with Steve, as there were several times the conversation was sprinkled with a "don't yell at me, Frank. I'm trying to talk to you."

Steve explained to Mr. Vescera that yes - in the script copy that ran during the 11 o'clock news, a line was left out that mentions that the charges stem from the poll watcher and not Mr. Vescera, as it read:

"The first ward common council race got a little heated this evening...with one of the candidates now facing charges. Ed Hill is charged with harassment following an alleged scuffle with his opponent Frank Vescera. Utica Police say the fight happened at the Kennedy plaza apartments...one of the polling locations."

Steve said that the line about the poll watcher SHOULD have been in there, and agreed with Vescera on that. He also noted that it was only at the 11 pm broadcast that it appeared as such - it was fully-explained in other shows as well as on the web. However, Vescera insisted to Steve that the entire incident was wrong and sensationalized.

Steve asked Vescera "The press release says you were in an argument with him - is that true?"

Vescera: "I'm telling you what happened."

Steve: "The police press release says Ed Hill chest-bumped you before swinging and hitting a poll watcher. Is that true?"

Vescera: "I'm telling you the story."

Steve: "You're a pretty slick politician, Frank. I've asked you several times and you still haven't given me an answer."

Vescera: "No, you're the slick one!"

So, after more than 30 minutes of conversation on Steve's end, Steve was willing to let Vescera tell his side of the story on camera. Although, even that seemed to be a hard sell.

"I just told you my side," Vescera told him.

Steve then explained that in order for it to get on the news, he'd need to be formally interviewed. Vescera agreed, and Pat Bailey and a photographer were dispatched. In order to know where they were going, Steve asked Vescera where he was.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Vescera angrily retorted to Steve.

Steve explained "Frank, calm down. I just need to know where they're going to meet you for the interview. Are you in Utica right now or Barneveld."

"Why do you have to go and make a crack about Barneveld?!" Vescera yelled back, noting controversy that has surrounded Vescera's residence over the years.

Steve again explained that they needed to know where Vescera was at that moment in order for someone to come interview him and tell his side of the story. Vescera then gave a location in Utica, and the team was able to meet up with him for an interview.

At the scene, Vescera refused to take any questions, stating his story, and nothing else.

Police say witnesses told them Vescera and Hill were arguing before Hill swung at Michael Colon, a poll watcher for Mr. Vescera. Vescera says that he was visiting with a bedridden woman at Kennedy Plaza before coming in to the voting area and finding Hill fighting with women working the polls.

According to Vescera, he was only stepping in to tell Hill what he was doing "was wrong" and break things up. His side of the story can be found here:

First Ward candidate Vescera disputes recollection of election night incident

Today, we've dispatched a crew to try and find out just exactly what happened on election night, talking with police, and if he can be found, Mr. Hill.

But regardless, Election Night 2009 was certainly a memorable one, if anything, for the night that Frank Vescera asked "You wanna dance with me?!"

Keep your dance cards open. Here's to politics in 2010.

Whoops.

I realized some time has gone by since I've sat down to update this blog. Apologies to any of those who've taken the time to check in.

Attempted several times the past few days to update, but just too many other tasks lied ahead, so it was just not meant to be. Haven't had time to sit down and jot out some thoughts - mostly because things have been so busy - all in a good way.

Wednesday was the kind of day that a newsroom looks for every day - the kind of day when every reporter's story could have been a possible "lead story."

By "lead story," we usually mean whatever is the top story of the show. I can say without hesitation that this is sometimes a very tough task - but I'm sure viewers realize that anyway.

But what goes into the consideration of a "lead story"?

When we sit in the morning or afternoon meetings to go over what's happening in the course of the day, discuss what needs to be followed up on, and hear what ideas reporters have that they're looking to pursue, one of the first questions is the relevance. Is this a story that has to be told? Does it have to be told today? Is there a story idea or event that is better off being covered today and that original idea put on the back burner?

The next question that often comes up is WHO it's relevant too. Who does it impact? If a story impacts one person, while another impacts an entire region or area of people, does the first one get overruled? And even that impact can change, depending on the context of the story, the people involved, and - even if it immediately only effects a handful of people - if it has potential to create repercussions or precedents for larger impact or changes down the line.

Wednesday was, as I said, a day where finding a lead was not a problem. We threw our newest addition - Emma Wright from a station in Elmira - into the thick of it. A quick introduction, no time for pleasantries and right out the door onto her first story about a teen persecuted because of his sexual orientation at Mohawk Central School. Prejudice and harassment is not about one person - even if they're the subject of it. It branches out to the environment and people surrounding that person...and opens an eye to possibly larger problems that persist even in the 21st Century.

Pat Bailey was at the first Town Hall meeting held by Congressman Arcuri on the health care controversy, which even by the time it began had already filled the MVCC Theater to its maximum capacity. Health care has been on the mouths and minds of just about everyone, despite which side of the aisle you fall on. It stirs a myriad of passionate questions, thoughts.

And when questions came up in our morning meeting about the lengthy time frame from the initial activation of the Amber Alert on Tuesday night to when the media received notice via fax that the alert had been placed into effect, Megan Koskovich was with New Hartford Police to find out why and what goes into the process of an Amber Alert. When children disappeared, everyone takes notice, and re-examines their own relationship and emergency procedures when it comes to their kids.

Each story a completely viable lead. Not bad for a middle of the week. Not bad for any day, for sure.

Every morning we have what's called, appropriately enough, "The Morning Meeting," where reporters, anchors, producers, Steve, Station Manager Ken McCoy, discuss the stories for the Noon news.

The meeting usually takes place around 8:45 or 8:50 in the morning, which, in theory, gives reporters about 15-20 minutes from their entry time of 8:30 to make phone calls and start organizing their ideas and contacts for the stories they plan to pursue.

We've begun bringing a list of the previous day's "web highlights" into the meeting to see what stories garnered the most attention from web users; had the most comments or led to the most discussion; and had the most video plays. While not always a "bible," it often helps work as a guide to see what stories are resonating with viewers and which ones, are, to be frank, "bombs."

The ongoing debate about a proposed $200 per child grant for school supplies to those on public assistance has been a big topic of debate on our site - an obvious sign that the story has legs and can be furthered.

Joleen brought up a good point about a similar debate going on with health care for those on public assistance. We decided after her morning trip to Oneida County Court, she should pursue the health care / public assistance issue further.

After she left to get to work on her stories, Evan said he had an interview setup with the President of SUNYIT about the proposed Nanotech partnership with SUNY Albany. He was going to meet up with President Wolf Yeigh in the morning and then head out to Albany during the Noon news to further the story for 5 and 6.

Just before the meeting we noticed that an Illinois woman we interviewed at Boilermaker who was running in honor of her son who is serving overseas was on the Today Show. I made a call to our liaison at NBC Newschannel and asked them if they could send down the story so that we could run it as well today.

Meanwhile, we sent Photographer Tom Geise and Intern Kari to Old Forge where Senator Seward is dedicating Point Park.

Some discussion was had about events and some court cases happening this afternoon, but much of that discussion will be fleshed out more in the afternoon meeting.

So with all three crews scattered, from Old Forge, to Albany, to right here in Utica, we disbanded the meeting, and headed back to the newsroom.

Newsfile On a side note, some people have asked me recently about the use of "old footage," or as it's referred to here "Newsfile."

There are a lot of times when a story happens, or information become available, and we either don't have the manpower to get somewhere for new footage, or don't have time enough before broadcast to do so.

In those cases, you'll often see what's referred to as "Newsfile," where we go through the library of old footage and stories and pull video of the scene, people, etc.

Example situation: Let's say we're talking about Hamilton College. You've got one photographer. Do you send them to get fresh footage of the college if it means the show may not get edited and make it to air?

If the file footage of Hamilton College is from the Fall and we're in the Winter, do we not run the story? Do we run the story and not show any footage of the college and just have the face of the anchor talking for the whole story?

It's not always the optimal situation - but when it comes down to either NOT being able to have the story on the show, or having nothing but a "talking head" anchor reading about it, I'm always one to lean towards the use of Newsfile so there is some sort of imagery.

But, heck, like it, hate it, or indifferent, it's just a choice that you make one way or the other.

I have noticed a lack of identification of "Newsfile" footage on the air as of late, and just addressed our staff today that they need to make a much more conscious effort to identify archived footage as such.

Well, off work for the next few days, but I'll check in again sometime next week.

Hey folks, Dave Dellecese here. Assistant News Director at WKTV.

I've decided to take over this blog from my boss, Steve McMurray, and do my best to blog about the daily goings-on of the WKTV NEWSChannel 2 newsroom.

Will it be interesting? Maybe not, and if it is, certainly not to everyone.

Will it always be good? Can't say for sure.

But the one thing I can promise - it'll always be honest.

There's a lot of things people don't consider when it comes to a news station of our size. Many have the visions of a large control room filled with people pulling levers amid hundreds of screens...not the one person at a computer directing the whole show of today.

Or they think of a multi-floor building filled with hundreds of people bustling about in various departments, many of whom never see each other - also, certainly not true.

No, in a market of this size, things are very small - be it the building, the technical resources, and the staffing. And that's always one of the biggest hurdles we run into here - just not enough resources.

Today is a prime example of that. On an average day, we have two reporters on during the day - not counting myself when I'm thrown into the mix - and four photographers to both shoot the material and interviews for the shows, as well as to do ALL of the editing of those shows.

This particular day is microcosm of the challenges we deal with to still get even a moderate amount of new material for the shows. And that's a lot of shows - 32 hours of news a week.

Today, I found out one of those four photographers was going to be in late due to a family issue. Not a problem, it happens. That particular photographer picks up the station's mail from the post office every morning.

So, that meant I'd be getting the mail on my way in this morning. Since I run the daily news meeting every morning, it meant a late news meeting this morning based on my entry time, thus resulting in a late start for our reporters to get out of the meeting and out the door. It also knocked one of our photographers out of the mix.

Another photographer was already placed out of the mix to shoot commercials for a local car dealership. So, that puts the number of photographers for today down to two. Two reporters, two photographers, and numerous stories that need covering.

So how do we get to them all?

The honest answer is, we don't. It's those moments when we hustle as best as possible to get those two crews to as many spots as possible in the morning, leaving shortly after 9 a.m. and try to get back what we can by 11 a.m. so that the Noon news can get on the air. It's not an easy task. It leaves several people upset you couldn't get to their event. And we're all a little grayer for the stress of it, I'm sure.

But, it's just one of those things people don't tend to think of when they tune in to the news every day.

Valentine's Day of 2007 was definitely one the NewsChannel 2 staff won't soon forget. With much of the area being blanketed with more than two feet of snow, almost every event that was scheduled ended up being cancelled. In addition, many couples had their romantic dinner plans scrapped because even restaurant owners had problems getting their staffs into work.
This year was much quieter with a little bit of sunshine. I'll take that any day over last year's "fun and excitement".