Monthly Archives: October 2018

Ford’s credibility called into question

Posted on by

By NICOLE LEMBO

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the first woman to come forward and accuse Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, has been believed by many to be a credible witness during her hearing in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Now, her credibility is being called into question, as a letter from her former boyfriend, Brian Merrick, was released to the public this week.

The letter, written under penalty of perjury, contradicts a number of Ford’s claims from the hearing. If such claims are true, Ford may face the possibility of being tried for lying under oath.

The former boyfriend claims that he witnessed Ford assist a “life-long best friend,” Monica McLean, prepare for a polygraph test. Merrick stated, “I witnessed Dr. Ford help McLean prepare for a potential polygraph exam. Dr. Ford explained in detail what to expect, how polygraphs worked, and helped McLean become familiar and less nervous about the exam.”

This is contrary to Ford’s sworn statement that she had never assisted in a polygraph test. McLean denied these claims in a recently released statement.  

Other claims by Merrick include that Ford never admitted to having a fear of flying and that upon the ending of their relationship, due to her infidelity, she stole his credit card information and charged “about $600 worth of merchandise” to his account. In her sworn testimony, Ford claimed to have a fear of flying.

The letter has been largely overshadowed in the mainstream media by President Donald Trump’s disbelief of Ford while at a campaign rally in Southaven, Miss. He stated, “How did you get home? I don’t remember. How’d you get there? I don’t remember. Where’s the place? I don’t remember …. But I had one beer. That’s the only thing I remember.”

The vote on whether to confirm Judge Kavanaugh is scheduled this weekend in front of the U.S. Senate.

Miami airport gets a furry flyer

Posted on by

By JENNIFER HUDAK

Miami International Airport unrolled a new plan to relieve stressed travelers. The new therapy dog program, the Miami Hound Machine, began service on Sept. 24.

Located in Concourse D, five trained therapy dogs — Abbey, Belle, Dash, Donovan and Pico — will be available to passengers. This new plan unfolds as the busiest travel time of the year approaches.

Airline officials hope this will impact travelers’ decisions to bring their own therapy pets onto flights during the holiday season. In recent years, many airports and airlines have seen an influx of travelers bringing emotional support animals on flights. After numerous complaints, companies like Delta, Southwest and United Airlines have followed through with an overhaul to their pet policy.

“Therapy dogs are a no-brainer for airport customer service. If a passenger is having a bad day or under stress, what’s better than a loving, happy dog to put you at ease? They’re known as man’s best friend for a reason,” Miami-Dade Aviation spokesman Greg Chin said in a statement to the Miami Herald.

The Miami Hound Machine program will be using dogs through the Alliance of Therapy Dogs, a separate program that works internationally to certify and train K-9’s to become therapy dogs.

Man dies from ‘brain-eating’ amoeba

Posted on by

By ISABELLA VACCARO

Fabrizio Stabile, 29, died from an amoeba found in fresh water that can infect people by swimming up through the nose and into the brain. The deadly infection is extremely rare, but the Centers for Disease Control is investigating samples of water from a Texas surf resort where Stabile had been just days before he died.

The story, covered on CNN.com by Michael Nedelman, is a good example of a basic news brief with a summary lede and a limited number of solid facts. The topic definitely meets the criteria for a compelling news story, as it is a rare and tragic occurrence, and the author does a good job of capitalizing on this aspect of the story without having all the information.

The CDC is still in the process of investigations at the surf resort to see if the amoeba is present in the water. It is not confirmed that Stabile ingested the amoeba at the surf resort or somewhere else, but it is probable that it happened there.

With some missing pieces to the story, the author decides to delve into some past cases of the infection as caused by the amoeba, even referencing CDC data and the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District. However, most important is the statement he includes about swimming precautions, warning everyone to try and keep water out of their noses while swimming in freshwater by plugging their noses or using a nose clip when going under.

The only criticism I have for the story is that there are no personal quotations included in the article. Nedelman quotes the GoFundMe page that was created in honor of Stabile, and he has quotes from Brittany Behm, a CDC spokesperson, which were written in an email. It would have been better if Nedelman had spoken to Behm on the phone at least, because email quotes usually sound too formal.

Overall, the story is a solid news brief that gives the reader as much information as the author knows, while at the same time providing background research and precautionary advice to prevent the tragedy from repeating itself.

Amazon entering mattress business

Posted on by

By ADAM SPECTOR

Despite the seemingly infinite number of mattress brands, Amazon has just released its own mattress, creatively named “AmazonBasics Memory Foam Mattress.”

The newly released mattresses are currently sold exclusively by Amazon. The selling point is their impressively low prices, making them some of the least expensive memory foam mattresses on the market. Costs range from $130 to $350 depending on size.

In addition to there being countless mattress brands, there is a strangely large number of mattress retailers in the United States. In one area of Austin, for example, there are a reported six Mattress firms within a square mile of one another. In High Point N.C., there are two Mattress firms within less than 250 feet of one another.

If that’s not enough for you, there’s been a rising number of online mattress retailers such as Purple, Casper and Leesa. The selling point of many of these online retailers is that they are able to sell them for lower prices than those found at stores because they are being sold directly by the manufacturer.

While many of these online mattress retailers have lower prices than better-known brands, AmazonBasics prices are even lower.

Amazon is covered on the news on a near-daily basis. Even though Amazon is billions in debt, its stock price remains high and news coverage is almost always positive. Amazon has changed their perception of an online department store to a maker of everything in the last few years. Very few appear to be worried that Amazon seems to be putting everything out of business.

Very few news and review sources seem to mention that a negative aspect of buying a mattress online is that buyers cannot simply lie down on several mattress and pick out their favorite, they have to buy one without trying it and hope for the best. There’s a return policy, but it’s still a much more binding decision than lying down on a store sample for several seconds.

To add to this, very few news organizations have attempted to explain how all of these mattress retailers stay in business. Very few people actually buy a new mattress every five years as retailers recommend. Who is buying all of these mattresses? Are there mattress connoisseurs that buy new mattresses every week? There have been many conspiracy theories, but no definitive answers as to how they stay in business.

Mushrooms could cure depression

Posted on by

By ANDREW FRATTAROLI

“Magic mushrooms” are frequently considered to be a staple of counterculture because of their mind-altering potential. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine believe that it could be a huge breakthrough in the fight to combat mental illnesses like depression and anxiety.

In an article for The New York Times, Laura M. Holson reports on the effort to get psilocybin, which is the psychedelic element in hallucinogenic mushrooms, changed from a schedule I drug to a schedule IV drug, a process that goes through the Federal Drug Administration. A schedule I drug is one that has no medical value, while a schedule IV drug does have medical value, like sleeping pills, which is the example Holson uses in her article.

This article did a good job trying to buckle down the key talking points on an issue that can be confusing and very controversial for a lot of people. Of course, there is more to this issue that can be discussed. One of the things that I wish Holson did a better job of explaining was how exactly that this drug can help cure anxiety and depression. The reason is that it gives the user a chance to introspectively evaluate their life in a very deep and meaningful way, which she does not mention.

The other thing I wish she wrote more about is how the research is done and how they exactly monitor the results. Do they see an increase in serotonin afterwards, or something along that line?

Overall, Holson did a very good job discussing a subject that I am sure will be discussed much more in the future.

Student killed after school bus overturns

Posted on by

By NOA ISRAEL

A school bus in Mesquite, Texas, overturned Wednesday afternoon resulting in the death of one student and injuries of others on board.

At 3:45 p.m., after retrieving the students from school, the bus driver lost control of the vehicle and the bus rolled into a ditch, hitting a power line on the way down, causing a fire.

Fox 4 News was at the scene of the accident interviewing bystanders who witnessed the incident. One man, Donald Hodge, who was on the way to pick up his daughter from school, saw it burning.

“It was fully engulfed. I was like, ‘Wow, there’s kids on there,’” Hodge explained. “Oh, it was bad. It was like a house in flames.”

First responders and civilians who witnessed the accident rushed to bring the 42 students trapped inside to safety. The school library was set up for triage and a place for worried parents to reunite with their children. Multiple students and first responders were taken to the hospital with non-serious injuries. However, it was later reported by Mesquite Independent School District that one student — whose name has not yet been released — had in fact died from injuries sustained in the accident.

Students on the bus at the time explained how they, along with first responders, worked to help the student who has passed away, but were not successful. The exact cause of the accident has not yet been determined and an investigation into the incident has begun.

Iraqi police capture top IS members

Posted on by

By IBRAHIM GRAY

Iraqi forces in coordination with U.S.-backed Syrian forces have captured five senior Islamic State group leaders, the U.S.-led coalition said Thursday in a statement.

The arrest was a “significant blow to Daesh,” U.S. Army Col. Ryan Dillon, coalition spokesman, said, using the Arabic acronym for the extremist group.IS fighters no longer control significant pockets of territory inside Iraq, but do maintain a grip inside Syria along Iraq’s border.

The U.S.-led coalition supported Iraqi ground forces and Syrian fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces in the more than three-year war against IS. After Iraqi forces retook the Iraqi city of Mosul from IS last summer, Syrian forces on the other side of the border claimed a series of swift victories, but the campaign was stalled recently when Turkey launched a cross-border raid into Syria’s north.

Earlier this month the coalition announced a drive to clear the final pockets of IS territory inside Syria. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted about the anti-IS raid Thursday, saying those arrested were the “five most wanted” IS “leaders.”

Last year the Pentagon said that there were “some indicators” that IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was still alive a month after Russia claimed to have killed him in a strike near the Syrian city of Raqqa. None of the statements released Thursday from the president or the coalition named the IS fighters arrested. IS fighters swept into Iraq in the summer of 2014, taking control of nearly a third of the country. At the height of the group’s power their self-proclaimed caliphate stretched from the edges of Aleppo in Syria to just north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Now, with the group’s physical caliphate largely destroyed, anti-IS operations are increasingly focused on targeting the extremists’ remaining leadership.

FDA looks at e-cigarettes marketing

Posted on by

By IBRAHIM GRAY

In response to the growing prevalence of vaping among teenagers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last Wednesday issued a warning requiring electronic cigarette manufacturers to prove within 60 days that their devices are not marketed toward minors.

If manufacturers fail to do so, the FDA threatens to ban certain e-cigarettes, such as JUUL, from the market.


A 2016 Surgeon General’s report first captured the rise in vaping among minors. Some experts worry that e-cigarettes companies are putting out flavors trying to appeal to a younger audience, such as mango and creme brulee, which can serve as a gateway to smoking tobacco products.


E-cigarettes, particularly JUUL, are ubiquitous on college campuses. Students can be found vaping while walking between classes, in dorms and at parties. 

Older students who vape do not plan to stop and are unfazed by the FDA’s warnings.

Meanwhile, some e-cigarette vendors believe further regulation could hurt adults trying to quit smoking. In recent months, the U.S. government has taken closer aim at e-cigarette manufacturers.


The FDA opened an investigation into JUUL’s marketing practices in April and the department has begun alerting teenagers about the risks of vaping. 

In spite of the government’s concerns, Farok claimed most of his customers are of legal age to purchase e-cigarettes, leading him to question whether concerns about underage vaping are warranted.

North Korea nears denuclearization

Posted on by

By IBRAHIM GRAY

Moon Chung-in, who is a special adviser for the South Korean President Moon Jae-in, announced that Kim Jong-un is willing to negotiate for North Korea’s denuclearization in a bid to stabilize North Korea’s economy and solidify his position as North Korean leader. 

This announcement comes just after President Trump said he would meet with Kim Jong-un and just before the third-ever inter-Korean summit, an event being hailed as a “cautious starting point” for peace efforts by South Korean Presidential Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok. The summit is expected to be an opportunity for open communication between both North and South Korea, the United States and other nations near the Korean Peninsula.

“Although the special envoys have already confirmed a willingness to denuclearize, it will make a difference if the two heads of state will meet and more clearly confirm it and make it a formal statement,” said Jong-seok.

Despite these rosy forecasts, skeptics are left wondering why Jong-un would announce denuclearization when he appears close to achieving his long-stated goal of owning nuclear missiles able to reach the mainland of the United States. However, last year’s increase in United Nations’ sanctions are expected to take a massive toll on North Korea’s slow-growing economy, a toll that Jong-un cannot afford if he wants to continue to control the fate of the Northern Korean Peninsula. 

In addition, Chung-in hypothesized that North Korea might have believed the United States would not take the country seriously unless nuclear capabilities were reached. Chung-in said that Jong-un believes the advances in his missile programs will force the United States into the negotiations. Washington has repeatedly rejected earlier calls for negotiation from North Korea over a lack of sincerity. There is the distinct possibility that North Korea comes to this negotiation with the intent of humiliating the United States through absurd or over-the-top demands for peace, allowing Jong-un to both save face and his weapons program. 

Conservative hawks such as National Security Adviser John R. Bolton, advocate for measures as extreme as preventative war with North Korea. North Korea has long advocated for the complete removal of the nearly 30,000 United States troops in South Korea and the end to their joint exercises with the South Korean military. If such drastic demands come to the fore of President Trump’s summit with Jong-un, denuclearization and peace may be a far-off dream yet. But if North Korea’s economy and people continue to dwindle in strength and faith in their leader, Jong-un may be left with no choice but denuclearization.

Trump has plans to meet with Jong-un in May or early June, though that largely depends on the cautious optimism behind the April 27 inter-Korean summit.

UCLA prof exonerated from lab accident

Posted on by

By IBRAHIM GRAY

A Los Angeles judge dismissed criminal charges against a UCLA professor whose failure to enforce proper safety precautions resulted in a 2008 lab fire and the death of a lab assistant.

Patrick Harran, a professor of chemistry, is thought to be the first American professor criminally charged for an academic lab accident.

Sheharbano “Sheri” Sangji was working as a lab assistant in Harran’s lab to save money for law school when a bottle of tert-Butyllithium, a chemical that ignites when exposed to air, spilled and started a fire. She was not wearing a lab coat at the time and did not go under the emergency shower until emergency responders arrived.

Sangji suffered second- and third-degree burns on more than 40 percent of her body, which ultimately caused her death in January 2009.

Harran agreed to a deferred prosecution deal in 2014 that would dismiss charges if he fulfilled a number of requirements for five years. These requirements included performing 800 hours of community service in the UCLA Hospitals, teaching organic chemistry classes to inner-city students in the summer and paying $10,000 to the Grossman Burn Center.

Although the original agreement was supposed to end June 2019, a Superior Court judge shortened the length of the agreement at the request of Harran’s attorney. Had he been convicted on all charges, Harran could have faced up to 4 1/2 years in prison.

Covering Kanye West’s ‘SNL’ politics

Posted on by

By SARAH BRADDOCK

News media bias was ever-present in the coverage of rapper Kanye West’s comments on “Saturday Night Live” this past weekend.

West embarked upon a length pro-Trump tirade after the show went off-air. His words were, per usual, caught and shared via social media.

He also expressed his opinions on the 13th Amendment first indicating he believes it should be repealed, and later on saying it needs to be amended.

 

In CNN’s coverage of the event by Lisa Respers France, headlined, “Kanye West stirs more outrage with 13th Amendment, slavery tweets,” the way in which the event is covered is undoubtedly influenced by the outlet’s reputation as a somewhat liberal news media source.

The headline alone makes the article feel as if the event is everyone versus, the villain of the story, West.

France then goes on to exclusively cover just the backlash West received from big stars including Chris Evans, Lana Del Rey, and Swizz Beatz.

On the other end of the spectrum, is Fox News’ article by Katherine Lam, “Chris Evans slams Kanye West’s call to ‘abolish’ the 13th Amendment.”

The headline for this piece is influential as well. It has the opposite effect of CNN’s, portraying Chris Evans, and later on others who criticized West, as the aggressors.

Another indication of Lam’s political leanings are the fact that she not only reports on West’s controversial statements but also includes comments he has made to defend himself.

Through their headlines alone, CNN and Fox News both clearly indicate their position on the comments and overall political opinions regarding President Trump.