Traveling Miles

WUFT/ABC News: Guantanamo Bay 9/11 Anniversary

After logging and writing on the drive up from Ft. Lauderdale Thursday, our first piece from Guantanamo Bay aired on September 11th on WUFT. You can watch it below.

Earlier that day, ABC News took the same piece and ran it on their early morning program, World News Now. Click below to see that version.

ABC's World News Now runs flooding PKG

Covering the floods in Columbia County, FL

This is probably my favorite tease I've ever done for WUFT. Too bad we forgot to rescue the caterpillar. Woops.


And here's the package Patrick and I shot for WUFT. It was supposed to run yesterday, but because of a computer crash it got pushed back to today.

Missing UF student's body found

Unfortunately, it is a sad Easter weekend for many in the University of Florida community. As soon as I woke up this morning I looked at my BlackBerry and saw the bad news: Thad Owen's body was found in Africa. I typed up an updated version of the story for ABCNews.com with the limited information I had:

UPDATE at 5:50 P.M. EDT: Added updated information from family spokesman. Click here for the original article on ABCNews.com

Florida Student Dies in Africa River
Man Was Part of Wildlife Study Abroad Program

By MILES DORAN
GAINESVILLE, Fla., April 12, 2009 5:50 P.M. EDT

The body of an American student who was swept away while swimming in a river in southwest Africa has been found.

University of Florida student Thad Owens, 27, went missing April 9 on the Kunene River, which borders Namibia and Angola, UF spokesman Steve Orlando said.

"They were at an area next to a river and he decided to go swimming," Orlando said.

Owens, of Orlando, Fla., was caught in the current and swept downstream.

An intensive search effort was mobilized including local villagers, the Namibian police, the Namibian military, Angolan officials, private search and rescue teams and the U.S. embassy.

Florida Student Swept Away by River in Africa

I've been working the phones all day on this story breaking out of Africa. A UF student went missing there yesterday afternoon after being swept away by a river. Here is the article I wrote for ABCNews.com: 

Florida Student Swept Away by River in Africa
Man Was Part of Wildlife Study Program

By MILES DORAN
GAINESVILLE, Fla., April 10, 2009

An intensive search effort is underway for an American student who was swept away while swimming in a river in southwest Africa.

University of Florida spokesman Steve Orlando said Friday that 27-year-old Thad Owens went missing Thursday afternoon on the Kunene River, which borders Namibia and Angola.

"They were at an area next to a river and he decided to go swimming. He got swept down the river and they haven't seen him since," Orlando said.

ABC: FBI Raids University of Florida Nuclear Institute

This is the article I wrote for ABC News earlier today:

The University of Florida’s Innovative Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Institute was raided by FBI agents and officials from the office of NASA’s inspector general Wednesday morning. Agents spent several hours searching the institute and the office of the institute’s director, Samim Anghaie.

Law enforcement officials told ABC News the investigation involved a criminal matter that had nothing to do with terrorism, technology transfer or espionage.

“We did have federal agents on campus and we have been fully cooperating with federal officials on their inquiry,” said University of Florida spokesman Steve Orlando.

No arrest warrants have been issued.

“When you throw together all those elements, words like ‘Iranian’ and ‘nuclear’ and ‘FBI,’ people get kind of worked up about it,” Orlando said. “I don’t think it’s nearly as sexy as people would guess from all those elements.”

Students who arrived to Anghaie’s Wednesday morning class were greeted with a message written on the classroom chalk board reading: “Class Canceled.”

One student, who did not want to be identified because of the close-knit nature of the university's nuclear community, reported seeing agents putting items in boxes. He said he and his peers were shocked to learn of the investigation.

“He is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met,” the student said.

Anghaie, who was born in Iran, has been employed by the University of Florida since October 1980. He has been placed on administrative leave with pay, which is consistent with university policy.

Click here for the original article.

And the winner is...

Keri Lyttle! She got bombarded by the press afterwards...

Skulls & Knuckles

Some people take this pretty seriously...

From the RPS Tournament...

About 50 people have registered to play in tonight's Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament...

Rock, paper, scissors... shoot!

I'm shooting a story with Josh Wucher tonight on the annual Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament at the University of Florida. The tournament starts at 7 p.m. Reminds me of this Super Bowl ad from a year or two ago...

You can bet I'll be blogging and twittering throughout tonight's event!