News Briefs
• A train crashed into a crowd celebrating Dusshera, a Hindu festival that was
located near Amritsar, India leaving 59 people dead and 90 with injuries on
October 19. Part of the celebratory crowd moved onto the train tracks and
many family members as well as friends protested on the same tracks the
following day. Protesters have demanded action against the driver of the
train and answers from the state government.
• The Ocean Cleanup Foundation has been testing out a n
News Briefs: Pop, Politics, and More
POP NEWS John Legend Gains EGOT Title Over the weekend of Sep. 8, singer and songwriter John Legend, 39, became the youngest artist as well as the first African American man to achieve the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) title 12 years after winning his first three Grammys in 2006. Legend has won one Emmy Award, 10 Grammy Awards, one Oscar Academy Award and one Tony Award. Serena Williams Fined for Code Violations After Crippling Loss to Naomi Osaka in U.S. Open After a loss
News Briefs
• Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced April 12 that a new plan to increase teacher pay by 20 percent will be implemented by the beginning of the 2020 school year, according to CBS News. In 2018, teacher pay would initially increase 9 percent then an additional 5 percent for the following two years. The increase is said to boost the current $48,372 salary to $58,130. Many educators who have been protesting are skeptical if the plan will bring systemic change to the education sys
News Briefs
• Linda Brown Thompson, the renowned “Brown” in the Brown v. Board of Education case that turned America’s segregated schools into diverse communities, passed away at 75 in Topeka, KS, on March 25, according to NPR. • The U.S. Justice Department has issued new quotas for immigration judges that will evaluate their performance based on how quickly cases can be closed, according to the Wall Street Journal. The judges are expected to speed the court processes up to decrease back
News Briefs
• The next two weeks will feature unusually chilly temperatures from coast to coast, the Climate Prediction Center said. But by early to mid-April, temperatures should flip to warmer than average for most of the nation. “Odds favor above-average temperatures for the southern two-thirds of the U.S., extending from California across the central Plains and into the Northeast,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its spring forecast. The greatest likelihoo
News Briefs
• Illegal immigration from Mexico has fallen dramatically this decade, sending the overall population of unauthorized people in the U.S. tumbling below the 11 million mark, according to a new think tank study. As of 2016, the illegal immigrant population stood at 10.8 million — down from 11.7 million in 2010, the Center for Migration Studies said. It’s the lowest level since 2003. While there were changes among the populations from myriad countries, the nearly 1 million decli
News Briefs
• More teenagers are identifying themselves with nontraditional gender labels, such as transgender or gender-fluid. The research, published the Journal Pediatrics, found that almost 3 percent of Minnesota teens did not identify with traditional gender labels such as “boy” or “girl.” The study found that transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) youth reported “significantly poorer health”– including mental health– than cisgender teenagers. • District Court Judge Gonzalo Cur
News Briefs
• A 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit the gulf of Alaska on Jan. 23 early in the morning. There were no casualties reported, but the aftershock created a change in water levels all the way down in Florida. • The New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles won their division playoff games and will be advancing to the 52nd Super Bowl, which is to be held on Feb. 4 at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. • A finalization in the decision of relocating the American embassy in Tel Avi
