2025 Bronco Bash
2025 — Blackfoot, ID/US
Duo Podcasting Stories
Duo Podcasting Rules (Not a Draw Event)
This event combines the rules of Radio Broadcast Journalism, Duo Interpretation, and the imaginations of the BHS Debate Squad. The rules for the event are as follows:
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Time: 5:30-6:00 minutes, no “Grace period. No time signals provided Contestants may time themselves. A timing violation will result in being dropped one rank by the judge.
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Performance: This speech must include a minimum of three pieces of news. The speech shall be a news broadcast with an original commercial of no fewer than 30 seconds and an editorial commentary about 1 or more of their news items. Commentary for this event will be defined as: comments about their chosen news articles. This may include an impact to their podcast channel, interest their character(s) may have in the story, why this story is on the show, etc.
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Procedure: Students shall enter the room. Contestants shall sit with their back toward the judge and audience. Contestants must inform the judge which news article that they used for their commentary after completing their speech.
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News Events: There will be 3 news events posted on the tournament webpage. Students are required to select 2 (minimum) to utilize in their speech. Students are allotted the use of 1 news article of their choice outside of the designated 3 that fits their team's podcast. The news article should account for no more than 1 minute of the speaker’s time. Competitors using an “original” news article are not allowed to provide the required commentary time using that article.
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Expectations: Emphasis should be placed on the presentation of the news stories, commercial, and editorial commentary. Multiple characters may be used, but there should at least be 1 clear host and 1 clear guest/second host.
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This is not a Draw Event, competitors will prepare their speeches for this event ahead of time!
This is not a comprehensive list. You are allowed to do outside research to extend the news story. However, should you link it to another event, that will count as your additional news story. For instance, you can look up more details about the murder story to flush it out, but if you include another murder that counts as a different news story.
Story #1: Mysterious Googly Eyes on Oregon Art
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Googly eyes have been appearing on sculptures around the central Oregon city of Bend, delighting many residents and sparking a viral sensation covered widely by news outlets and featured on a popular late-night talk show.
On social media, the city shared photos of googly eyes on installations in the middle of roundabouts that make up its so-called “Roundabout Art Route.” One photo shows googly eyes placed on a sculpture of two deer, while another shows them attached to a sphere. It’s not yet known who has been putting them on the sculptures.
“While the googly eyes placed on the various art pieces around town might give you a chuckle, it costs money to remove them with care to not damage the art,” the city said in its posts.
The Facebook post received hundreds of comments, with many users saying they liked the googly eyes. “My daughter and I went past the flaming chicken today and shared the biggest laugh,” one user said, using a nickname for the “Phoenix Rising” sculpture. “We love the googly eyes. This town is getting to be so stuffy. Let’s have fun!”
Another Facebook user wrote: “I think the googly eyes on the deer specifically are a great look, and they should stay that way.”
Others said the city should focus on addressing more important issues, such as homelessness, instead of spending time and money on removing the googly eyes.Over the years, the city’s sculptures have been adorned with other seasonal decorations, including Santa hats, wreaths, leis. The city doesn’t remove those, and views the googly eyes differently because of the adhesive, Bend’s communications director, Rene Mitchell, told The Associated Press.
“We really encourage our community to engage with the art and have fun. We just need to make sure that we can protect it and that it doesn’t get damaged,” she said.
The post and its comments were covered by news outlets, and even made it on a segment of CBS’s “The Late Show withStephen Colbert.” The city regrets that its post was misunderstood, Mitchell said.
“There was no intent to be heavy-handed, and we certainly understand maybe how that was taken,” she said. “We own this large collection of public art and really want to bring awareness to the community that applying adhesives does harm the art. So as stewards of the collection, we wanted to share that on social media.”
The city has so far spent $1,500 on removing googly eyes from seven of the eight sculptures impacted, Mitchell said, and has started treating some of the art pieces, which are made of different types of metal such as bronze and steel. The “Phoenix Rising” sculpture might need to be repainted entirely, she said.
For some, the googly eyes — like the other holiday objects — provide a welcome boost of seasonal cheer.
“I look forward to seeing the creativity of whoever it is that decorates the roundabouts during the holidays,” one social media commenter said. “Brings a smile to everyone to see silliness.”
Story # 2: Luigi and GoFundMe
GoFundMe has shut down multiple pages created to support theaccused murdererofUnitedHealthcare CEOBrian Thompson.
A masked man fatally shotThompsonin Midtown Manhattan on December 4 before escaping out of the city, leading to asix-day manhunt for the gunman,which ended Thursday with the arrest of 26-year-oldLuigi Mangione. He has beencharged with murder.
The insurance executive’s death captivated the nation and sparkedserious conversations about the state of health care in the U.S., with some evencelebrating the execution as many shared stories of being denied coverage for care. Since his arrest, GoFundMe pages have cropped up in support of Mangione, and the fundraising site has been removing them. It’s not immediately clear how many pages the site took down.
A GoFundMe spokesperson toldThe Independentin a statement: “GoFundMe’s Terms of Service prohibit fundraisers for the legal defense of violent crimes. The fundraisers have been removed from our platform and all donors have been refunded.”
One page asked for funds to ensure thatMangione“gets a fair trial.”
“Legal defense for he who shall not be named wink, wink,” one page description said, according toLawyer Herald.
“I am supporting Luigi Mangione,” another read. “I hope to get him the help he will need in this upcoming trial. He will need all the help he can get and I hope he can be comfortable dealing with this hardship in life.”
Police had been on the hunt for Thompson’s killer for nearly a week. Footage captured the gunman waiting for the CEO outside a Midtown hotel, before he popped out from behind a car and opened fire, striking the CEO in the back and leg. He fled the crime scene by e-bike through Central Park, before heading to Port Authority in a taxi, leading police to believe he had left the city by bus.
For days, investigators, scuba divers, and K-9 units looked for additional evidence in Central Park, where they eventually found what appeared to be the suspect’s backpack. The bag and its contents were sent in for forensic testing.
In the hours and days that followed,masked and unmasked photos of the gunman went viralon the internet as authorities pleaded for the public’s help with finding the suspect.
On Monday, six days into the search, a McDonald’s employee inAltoona, Pennsylvania,recognized the suspected killer from the widely circulated photos.
Late Monday, Mangione, an Ivy League grad who comes from a prominent Baltimore family, was charged with murder in connection to Thompson’s death.
Story #3: Sasquatch Search Deaths
Two men from Oregon who went missing after going on a search for Sasquatch have been found dead, Washington state officials announced Saturday.
The men, both from Portland, were reported missing by a family member on Christmas Day and were set to return from searching for the legendary creature in eastern Skamania County on Christmas Eve,according to the county sheriff's office.
A search was launched and a vehicle associated with the two men was found off a road near Willard, Wash.
After a three-day search involving more than 60 people, the bodies of both men, 37 and 59 years old, were found in Gifford Pinchot National Forest, located in the southwestern part of Washington state, in a heavily wooded area, according to the Skamania County Sheriff's Office.
Their cause of death appears to be because of "exposure, based on weather conditions and ill-preparedness," the sheriff's office said.
The area had faced rounds of snow and rain with temperatures in the 30s across the Cascades in the days leading up to the men being reported missing. The search for the men also took place amid "difficult terrain and harsh weather conditions" as crews faced conditions such as "freezing temperatures, snow, high water levels," law enforcement said.
Sasquatch, commonly known as"Bigfoot,"is a large, hairy figure that resembles a human and is thought to live in northwestern parts of the U.S. and Canada. The existence of Bigfoot has been debated for decades and many have reported sightings of the creature. More than 700 reports of Bigfoot sightings in Washington state have been submitted to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,the group says.
In Skamania County, harming Bigfoot is punishable by a $1,000 fine and can include jail time,according to the county's chamber of commerce — a law meant to protect the mysterious creature and to prevent hunters with large beards from accidentally getting shot.