Education

Schools teach the basic classes. Math, history, English, and science. Of course those are good to learn. It is knowledge that is always a bonus to have, however; most of what students learn in those classes are soon forgotten. Sit through the class, take notes, study the notes, take the midterm/final, and then forget. Most of what is taught may come in handy down the line, but not always. Knowing these subjects does not guarantee a succesful future. One can be a high school drop out and be able to run a sucessful buisness or major coorperation, just based off general knowledge of the world. Such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. This is not to say that one should not go to school, they should because there is no guarantee they will be successful like a few others are. But high schools should teach more practical things that will be needed once the students graduate. Such as how to buy a home, taxes, keeping track of savings/spendings, and how loans work. Those are the things that no doubt everyone will need to know after high school. In the recent years, schools have started to teach this practical knowledge. These new lessons will help students a great deal down the line.

Bronx Fire

- http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/26/us/bronx-deadly-fire/index.html?hpt=us_c1
- October 26, 2013
- Laura Ly and Tom Watkins

Friday, around eight at night, the power to an apartment was shut off do to unpaid bills. As a result a twenty-five year old women turned on candles to provide light for her and her five children. The lit candles caught the home on fire. Tashika Turner, owner of the house that caught on fire, called for help through her window. Her neighbor came to rescue, however; the fire was too heavy to get in the apartment. The neighbor heard the hollering of the children in the home, but had no way to enter. It took 100 firefighters and ninety minutes to tame the fire in the six story apartment complex. But it was too late. Three young boys had passed. Elijah Artis, 5; Jeremiah Artis, 2; and Michael Turner, 4 months. They were declared dead upon arrival at Lincoln Medical Center. Tashika Turner survived the fire and was released. Her two daughters, ages 4 and 4 months, are still in the hospital in stable conditions. The city tries to avoid turning off the power by putting struggling owners on a payment plan. But Turner owed well over thousands of dollars, this forced them to take greater measure by shutting her lights down. The question is, whose fault was this fire? Tashika Turner's for not paying her bills or the city for turning off her lights? 

Child found in Greece

-Carol J. Williams
-October 18, 2013
-http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-greece-gypsy-camp-girl-found-20131018,0,5255487.story

News from Athens has reported a four year old child was found during a Roma camp raid in Greece, during a search for weapons and drugs. The Greek police are looking for the biological of this child, who goes by the name of Maria. This child was spotted by a women who accompanied the police during the raid. The Ekathimerini news site reports that the women became suspicious of Maria's origins because she looked nothing like the couple who claimed to be her parents. A DNA test was performed on the child and the couple, proving that they are not her parents. The couple have been arrested under charges of suspicion of child abduction and child smuggling. The couple had registration of fourteen children, but only four were found in the camp. Many of the documents turned out to be false. The couple gave different stories on how Maria came into their custody.  The couple said she was handed to them by strangers and that she was found under a blanket. Marietta Palavra, the couple's lawyer, states that the couple took Maria out of kindness when she was just a few days old. Palavra says this child is loved and cared for by this couple. This does not make the couple kidnappers. The lawyer also pointed out that Greek families often register their children under multiple names to receive more welfare benefits. Maria is now being taken care of by a Greek charity, A Child's Smile. 

Reopening Utah's National Parks

- Lesile Bentz
- October 11, 2013
- http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/11/us/utah-parks-reopen

Unfortunately because of the government shutdown the national parks have been closed. But Utah has found a way around the shutdown, which allows them to reopen their national parks. Five national parks and three other nationally run locations will reopen by October 12, 2013. Gary Herbert, Utah's governor, announced this news on Thursday. He states that a deal had been reached with the U.S Department of the Interior Secretary, Sally Jewell. An official press release states that Utah will pay the National Park Service up to $1.67 million to reopen eight parks for no more then ten days, if the shutdown ends before these ten days then the state will receive a refund. Herbert states that Utah's national parks are the backbone on many rural economies and the Utah locals are paying a heavy price for this shutdown. He wants the world to know Utah is welcoming visitors once again. The month of October is an especially profitable month for Utah because the weather attracts the tourists at this time. Normally, $100 million are the estimated profits of October, for parks to be closed at this time would cause a negative impact for the state. The process of reopening parks after receiving the money to do so takes time, but they are all expected to be open on Saturday. Utah is expected to be reimbursed for the money spent, but Congress is under no obligation to refund the money. This means Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, Zion, Natural Bridges, Cedar Breaks, and Glen Canyon will all be open for visitors.

Jacqueline's Speech Project

Jacqueline's project was on William Faulkner's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance. Faulkner's speech is on what he encourages young poets to write on. He encourages them to be original, honest, and strong voiced. He believes that writers should write on things that lifts the human spirit, not brings it down, they should bring hope and courage to the soul. Faulkner also advises to not write about lust but love, victory not winnings, and on human spirit not revenge. I think Jacqueline did a good job on her project. She met almost every requirement on the project and transferred the content of the speech to the power point well. There are two things I believe she could have done better. The first, and biggest thing that stood out to me were all the transitions that were placed in the project. The project requirements clearly stated not to use transitions. It took away from the overall project, distracting the class from the project content and turning our attention to the cool transitions. The second thing that could have been improved were a few of the images used in the project. They seemed to be irrelevant to the content being discussed. Other than that, Jacqueline's project was well done and presented nicely.

Little boy on his way to Sin City

-  Emma Lacey-Bordeaux
- October 6, 2013
- http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/06/us/vegas-flight-child/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

A 9 year old boy traveled Thursday on flight 1651, a Boeing 757 from Minneapolis to Las Vegas, without a boarding pass and completely alone. How did this little boy get through security and onto the flight? Transportation Security Administration has been investigating this unusual event. Patrick Hogan, spokesperson for the Minneapolis International Airport, said that during the flight the crew began to wonder of the child's circumstance. In Hogan's statement, he says that upon arrival in Nevada the boy was turned over to Child Protective Services. Fortunately, the crew was able to take appropriate action of this situation, ensuring the child's safety. Delta is working with authorities and has taken the incident extremely seriously. Delta's normal procedure for children between the ages of 5 to 14 can travel alone, but they are well supervised by a Delta  employee. The airport officials have reviewed the footage and believe that the boy had no ticket to board the plane, he also spent a lot of time in the airport before boarding the plane to Vegas. This young boy spent over a day in the airport, passing his time by picking up luggage from the carousal and taking it to the food court, later ditching the bags by asking a worker to watch it while he went to the restroom. A young boy, all alone, ditching luggage, failed to grab any workers attention. Hogan says, the fact that the fact that the child's action was not detected until he boarded a plane is very concerning. This may have been a first for Minneapolis, but it is not something that has never happened before. For many, the biggest question is, where are this boy's parents and why did they not notice his disappearance?