For your practice story, write a complete news story on the information below. Critically examine the information’s language and organization, improving it whenever possible. The story should incorporate everything that you have learned so far, from a good news lead to proper incorporation of quotations and attributions. 

Your story should be submitted as a Word document or PDF. It should be 300- to 350- words long and should be broken up into multiple paragraphs. It should include a headline, byline and dateline, as well as a clear lead and nutgraph. You will be graded on lead, style, organization, writing and accuracy; keep in mind that your story must follow correct AP Style guidelines. You should also correctly incorporate quotations and attributions in your stories. (Only use the sentences clearly identified with quotation marks as direct quotes.) See the grading rubric below for details.

NOTE: The text you’re given is purposely wordy, its organization is confusing, and it’s just one long chunk of text. It also contains unnecessary details, as well as grammar and AP errors. It’s your job to decide what’s important and to organize it in the most newsworthy way­. Don’t just copy what the prompt says word for word, because it’s not very good the way it is!

STORY INFORMATION:

A bizarre situation finally came to a conclusion Wednesday. Minnie Cosby, 43, who lives on 487 Jamestown Drive in your city, is happy the episode is concluded. She wants to get on with her life. Local police are happy, too. Cosby was constantly calling the police. In fact, she had called them 163 times over the past six months. The calls to police were to complain about vandalism, crank calls or prowlers. Cosby also complained that someone was stalking her. Police could never find any evidence to arrest anyone in any of the alleged crimes. Cosby told police someone had turned her gas outdoor grill several times and left items burning on the cooking surface. Graffiti had been spray painted on the aluminum siding of her home and her driveway several times over the six-month period. The driveway also had been strewn with broken glass, nails and screws on several occasions. On several other occasions, litter and garbage had been strewn about Cosby’s yard. In another complaint, Cosby told police someone had sliced a 50-foot garden hose into pieces. Several times, Cosby complained to police that someone tampered with her car and she had to make mechanical repairs to the vehicle. Cosby also complained of numerous crank and harassing calls. Cosby complained about the calls to the telephone company, which put a trace on her telephone line. However, the calls were always made from pay telephones from around the city. Cosby told police she thought the vandalism was being done by her neighbor or her neighbor’s children. She told police that she has had strained relations with her neighbor for several years. Police staked out Cosby’s house on several occasions, but were unable to catch anyone. “This has been a case that has stumped the department for a long time. We spent a lot of time and effort trying to track down leads and didn’t have a lot of success,” said police Chief Barry Kopperud. Police didn’t have success until Monday night when patrol officers caught a man prowling around Cosby’s house. The man was dressed in black and wore a ski mask. He had a screwdriver, a utility razor knife and a can of spray paint in his possession. The color of the spray paint matched the color that had been sprayed on Cosby’s house on several occasions. When police arrested the man, he had allegedly flattened three tires on Cosby’s car and was attempting to flatten the fourth tire. Police charged Randall Reynolds, 47, of 5845 South Conway Road, with more than 150 counts of criminal mischief, loitering and prowling, harassment, stalking by communication, possessing instruments of crime, criminal trespass and defiant trespass. The suspect, Randall Reynolds, is the ex-husband of Minnie Cosby. They had been divorced for four years. Police said that Randall was angry with his ex-wife after she had requested money from him to make repairs to the house they once shared. Minnie said the repairs were supposed to have been made to the house as part of their divorce agreement, but Randall had refused to abide by the agreement. Reynolds is a 20-year veteran of the city’s police department. During that time, he was awarded several commendations for public service for his work as a patrol officer. Randall had responded to several of the vandalism calls and twice was on the stakeout unit watching his former wife’s home. Minnie Cosby said: “I’m just glad this is over. The police probably thought I was crazy making all those calls to them about the things that were happening to me. But I wasn’t crazy. I feel sorry for Randall. This wouldn’t have happened if he just would have done what he was supposed to do. Maybe some time in prison will let him cool off and think about what he’s done. I hope he goes to jail because at least in jail, he won’t be able to hurt me anymore.”