News roundup: Feb. 27 – March 13
Texas:
Corpus Christi school calendar – On March 9 Corpus Christi Independent School District (CCISD) officials drafted three school year calendar options to be decided upon later this month. The drafts all shorten the length of the school day but differ in the length of days lost from Thanksgiving and winter breaks. CCISD lengthened school days by 23 minutes last year without sacrificing Thanksgiving or winter breaks, leading to disruptions to tutor and parents’ schedules. Texas law requires public schools to provide at least 75,600 minutes of instruction.
Elon Musk at SXSW – Elon Musk surprised attendees at South by Southwest Festival in Austin with a question and answer session on March 11. Musk told attendees that SpaceX aims to have its Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) making short trips into space by the first half of 2019. SpaceX’s BFR system is projected to be capable of interplanetary travel and be completely reusable. Musk aims to have the system send a cargo mission to Mars by 2022.
Houston immigration hotline – The Immigrants’ Rights Hotline will extend its hours starting March 12. The hotline will operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each weekday. The hotline was created in the wake of the travel ban enacted last year. The Immigrants’ Rights Hotline – 833-HOU-IMMI or 1-833-468-4664 – is operated by non-profit staff and U.S. Department of Justice accredited representatives.
Houston woman sentenced – Paula Sinclair was sentenced to 35 years in prison March 9 after pleading guilty to several counts of causing serious bodily injury to a child. Sinclair was arrested in 2016 after it was discovered she and her husband, Allen Richardson, had abused and locked seven special needs teenagers in a room in their home. Sinclair and her ex-husband adopted the children in 2003 and 2004. Richardson is being held at Fort Bend County jail on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Austin serial bomber – Three bombings have Austin police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) searching for a serial bomber. The bombings began March 2 when the first explosion detonated outside a home on Haverford Drive at 6:55 am. Two more explosions occurred March 12 at 6:44 am and 11:50 am. The three explosions have killed two people and injured two others. Austin Police Chief Brian Manley has put a $100,000 reward out for any information that would lead to an arrest. Governor Greg Abbott has offered an additional reward of $15,000. Austin police anticipate the serial bomber wants to communicate and have said they are willing to listen.
United States:
Opioid epidemic – The White House issued a plan of action to combat the opioid epidemic afflicting the United States on March 1. Included in that plan will be stiffer penalties for high-intensity drug traffickers, including the death penalty when appropriate. The plan will focus on improving three areas: law enforcement and interdiction, prevention and education, and helping those impacted find jobs while fighting addiction. Congress has appropriated $6 billion to fight the opioid epidemic, with Trump’s plan outlining how that money should be spent.
Military base letter – 11 people fell ill after a letter was opened in an administrative building at Joint Base Fort Meyer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, on March 6. Field tests for harmful substances came back negative, but the letter has been sent to an FBI lab in Quantico for further testing. Three people who came in contact with the letter all exhibited symptoms of a burning sensation on their hands and face. The letter, addressed to a commanding officer at the base, contained derogatory language.
Bump stocks ban – The U.S. Department of Justice submitted a regulation on March 10 to ban “bump stocks,” a modification to high-capacity rifles that simulates fire like an automatic weapon. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum in February directing the department to make the regulatory change following the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The regulation must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget and does not require congressional approval.
Jobs growth – The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported March 9 that the U.S. added 313,000 jobs in February, the most jobs added in a single month since July 2016. Economists intend to use last month’s numbers as a baseline to measure the impact of Trump’s proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Those tariffs could impact job gains and security in areas such as manufacturing jobs, which doubled gains from January to February. Job gains are not consistent across the country, with areas like the Eastern heartland, which extends from Mississippi to Michigan, struggling to compete with the East and West coasts. The report will be revised at least twice by the Labor Department before the numbers are finalized.
International:
North Korea – North Korean leader Kim Jong-un invited Trump March 8 to meet for talks over its nuclear program. The White House responded by saying President Trump accepted the invitation. Chung Eui-yong, national security adviser to South Korean president Moon Jae-in, told reporters at the White House that Trump would meet with Kim within two months. The invitation from Kim came from talks between North Korea and Chung. If the meeting occurs, it would be the first time in history a sitting U.S. president has met with a North Korean leader.
China – China amended its constitution March 11 to remove term limits for its leader, effectively allowing Xi Jinping to remain president for life. The amendment was passed with 2,959 out of 2,964 votes. Xi was due to step down in 2023. Instead, the amendment elevated Xi to the level of the founder of the Communist Party of China, Chairman Mao Zedong. Online censors in China have blocked dissent and discussion of the topic, while state media applauded the change as much-needed reform. The amendment also includes a law creating a new anti-corruption agency and ratifies the inclusion of Xi’s political philosophy directly in the constitution. The philosophy will be required reading for schoolchildren, college students and staff at state factories.
Pacific trade pact – Eleven countries around the Pacific Rim signed a sweeping free trade agreement March 8 to streamline trade and slash tariffs. The plan, organized by the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), was signed in Santiago, Chile just hours before Trump announced plans to impose new tariffs on aluminum and steel. The CPTPP is comprised of members of the now defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership which the U.S. withdrew from last year. The pact covers 500 million people in Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, accounting for 13 percent of the global economy. The European Union said this week it was ready to enact counter-measures in response to U.S. tariffs and considers itself caught in the middle of a trade dispute between the U.S. and China.
Syria – Aid workers in Syria told the BBC that women in Syria are being sexually exploited by men delivering aid on behalf of the UN and international charities. The abuse has been widespread in Syria for three years, and in some places, women are refusing to go to aid distribution centers out of fear of having to offer their bodies in exchange. The United Nations Population Fund published a report that concluded humanitarian assistance was being exchanged for sex. The report, entitled Voices from Syria 2018, gave examples of women or girls marrying officials in order to receive meals. Allegations of sexual exploitation date back as far as 2015. The UN and charity organizations have set up mechanisms to file complaints against aid distributors.
Stephen Hawking – Renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking died March 14. Famous for his work on black holes and relativity, Hawking was diagnosed with a rare form of motor neuron disease at the age of 22 and given only a few years to live. Hawking survived another 52 years with increasingly limited mobility. Hawking was the first scientist to publish a theory of cosmology as a union of relativity and quantum mechanics and discovered a new form of radiation that leaks from black holes. Hawking’s last research paper was completed from his deathbed and calculated the math necessary to send a space probe to find evidence of a multiverse.
On the bright side:
1.5 million Adelie penguins were discovered to be living in the Danger Islands. Prior to the discovery, the Danger Islands, located off the coast of Antarctica below South America, weren’t considered a high priority for protection and conservation efforts. The boost to Adelie penguin populations is welcomed by biologists and brings more questions as to how they’ve survived than answers.
Also published on Medium.
