Winter storm rips through Northeast

By ISABELLA VACCARO

CNN’s coverage of the severe and apparently deadly Northeast winter storm provided an accessible and well-organized report of its wide-reaching effects. The lede follows the standard inverted pyramid style, stating what caused this mass destruction and what the exact consequences were. All in the first sentence we find out that the storm is still going on, it is causing major traffic hazards, there were eight deaths and tens of thousands of people are out of power.

After a short intro describing the specifics about the amount of snow accumulated, the story breaks up into three distinct subheads with clear topics. This sort of organization helps the reader, especially if he or she is in a rush or scrolling through the news quickly on their phone (which is where I first came across this story), to quickly acquire the information they want to know about the storm, whether that be about the traffic patterns or the victims it claimed.

It is no accident that the first subhead, “8 related deaths,” comes before the others. Death is always the first and most important aspect of a story (if it pertains to the story). To not mention a death that occurred as a result of the topic of your story is probably one of the biggest blunders a journalist can make. The first item describes the cause of each of the eight victims’ deaths in a short, to-the-point brief.

The next item, entitled “Traffic nightmare, airport delays in New York,” describes the chaos on the roads, which is the next most important topic after death. After all, safety is crucial in these types of storms. They quoted the police and travelers and included Instagram shots of icy roads and an over-crowded Newark airport.

The final item is entitled “Weather forces students to wait in schools,” which rightfully comes last as it is not as severe as death or traffic hazards.

Overall, the formatting of the story, sources used and news media aspect of this story provide an extremely thorough and easy to navigate overview of a tragic and brutal storm.

Broward County struggles with recount

By JENNIFER HUDAK

Following the Nov. 6 midterm elections, Broward County found itself in the midst of a ballot crisis.

After the gubernatorial, U.S. Senate and Secretary of Agriculture races were deemed too close to call, counties across the State of Florida began its recount efforts.

The recount process, lengthy and somewhat complicated, raised many questions as Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes reportedly mixed bad ballots with good. In addition to the mixing of ballots, several provisional ballots were ruled invalid by the county’s canvassing board.

The turmoil in Broward county led to attacks from both parties involved.

Republican candidate for Senate Rick Scott sued to Broward County Election Department for the refusing to publish details regarding the tabulation of election ballots.

“The people of Florida deserve fairness and transparency, and the supervisors are failing to give it to us,” said Scott.

Democratic candidate for governor Andrew Gillum is pushing for Broward to count every vote received, including the provisional and mail-in ballots.

“I am not here to ask for votes. I am simply here to say that for the votes that have been cast they ought to be counted. Every last one of them. What a notion,” Gillum said at a rally in Fort Lauderdale.

The deadline for machine recounts concluded at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 15. While Broward met the deadline with minutes to spare, the count was not marked valid. Shortly after, officials began a manual recount of the ballots. The deadline for manual recounts is at 12 p.m. on Nov. 18.

Hall of Famer struggles early

By TYRIQ MCCORD

As we all know, Lebron James is arguably the best basketball player in the NBA right now in his 16th season. It is already hard enough to be a 33-year-old man in the NBA with the average age being 25. But to be top 2 best in the game today is remarkable. But some of the 30 year olds from his class cannot say the same.

Dwayne Wade, who was drafted the same year as James, has already expressed that this season is his last season. Not a top player any longer, he is still a force in the game today. But there is one person part of that “Banana Boat Crew” that is not in the right place in his career.

Carmelo Anthony has just been released from the Houston Rockets after only just 10 games into the season. Rockets were held to a high scale after the success from last season in which they lost in the Western Conference Finals in Game 7 before the Finals. Melo was supposed to be the missing piece in the Rockets offense that they needed, but after a 4-6 start to the season it was determined Carmelo was not what they were looking for.

Melo, 34, is still highly motivated to win a championship and to be effective on someone’s team. Sources connected to him says he is not planning on retirement anytime soon at the moment. 

The Heat, Lakers, TrailBlazers, and Pelicans are the top teams that have shown interest in the 10-time all star. But can he help a team win a championship?

Orchid project launches in Grove

By JENNIFER HUDAK

Botanists from Fairchild Tropical and Botanic Garden and volunteers mounted 250 rare and endangered orchid seedlings onto tree trunks in Coconut Grove. The “Million Orchid Project” is aimed at reintroducing rare and endangered orchid species that have become nearly extinct in South Florida.

Schoolyards, hospitals and roadways are among the sites for the reintroduction initiative, which aims to have the first generation of re-established orchids blooming throughout the area within five years.

“Launching the Million Orchid Project to Coconut Grove brings all the things we love about the Grove together: environment, history and beauty,’’ Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell said in a tweet.

More than 100 volunteers through Fairchild spread out through the community over the course of one afternoon.  According to Fairchild’s website, the Florida butterfly orchid and cowhorn orchid will be planted throughout the community. Each bloom may yield more than one million seeds, but the odds are that none of the tiny, dust-like seeds will ever grow into a new plant.

As of today, the only native orchids that exist in South Florida exist in such small numbers that they have little hope of recovering on their own.

Hopefully, this project will bring beauty and an orchid population back to South Florida.

Students take a knee at Notre Dame

By ANABELLA ZAMBRANO

It all began when San Francisco’s quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem before a preseason game back in 2016 to protest racial injustices and police brutality.

Now, hundreds of students at Notre Dame followed the peaceful protest with an extra approach. Being a religious college, the students wanted to express their beliefs through a Catholic point of view.

When Notre Dame played Florida State University on Nov 10, while the “The Star- Spangled Banner” played, students took that time to express their opinion based on the issue not only on racial injustices, but the mistreatment someone faces when one does not have the same opinion as everyone else.

When Kaepernick knelt, he faced  a lot of backlash, death threats, and along trouble finding employment when he became a free agent.

“To me, this is something that has to change, and when there’s significant change and I feel like that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent and this country is representing people the way that it’s supposed to, I’ll stand,” Kaepernick said, according to CNN.

And just like Kaepernick inspired other players to kneel beside him, so had the students at Notre Dame. Some knelt, some took that moment for silence and others prayed.
“One of the things we want to stress the most with this movement is that this is not a protest against the military or the flag, this is about how we treat each other as human beings. We don’t need to reduce people down in order to make a point. We can have a good dialogue, even if we don’t agree with each other.” said Brian Gatter, one of the organizers of the protest, according to CNN.
Although this peaceful protest was not accepted by a lot of Americans including President Donald Trumph, this incident did blow up the news media and luckily it was not kept quiet and also Kaepernick was not fired by the NFL, since their policy does not require players to stand for the national anthem.
Peaceful protests like this deserve the coverage they get, because these are the incidents that make history. Like the students protested, they were also following their former President Theodore Hesburgh footsteps as he linked arms when he protested along with Martin Luther King Jr. during a civil rights rally in 1964 as they sang “We Shall Overcome”
As for the students, no disciplinary action has been taken.

Symphony of Seas calls Miami home

By MATTHEW POWELL

Royal Caribbean’s newest and biggest ship, Symphony of the Seas, recently made its way from Spain to cruise out of Miami for the winter and spring season. Symphony, the largest ship in the world, marks an already changing tide in the Miami cruising industry that begun two years ago when Royal Caribbean broke ground on a new terminal.

Symphony of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, will be sailing from Miami to the eastern and western Caribbean. Popular destinations such as Cozumel, San Juan, Labadee and St. Maarten will all be visited by Royal Caribbean’s flagship.

The news media coverage of the inaugural sailing and naming ceremony was done extremely well. Royal Caribbean invited journalists from a variety of different outlets, some involved in the cruise industry and some not, to cover this historic event.

Symphony sailing from Miami is a great example of several cruise lines pushing their initiatives to make Miami the cruising capital of the world again. Along with Symphony of the seas comporting in Miami, Royal Caribbean will also have Mariner of the Seas and Allure of the Seas in the magic city.

Jimmy Carter 2020? Probably not

By ADAM SPECTOR

Former President Jimmy Carter has recently become more open about his views on current political events.

In addition to this, he was on a book tour earlier this year. Sitting and former politicians tend to release books before announcing presidential runs, creating some (seriously doubtful) speculation that Carter may run for president in 2020 although he will be 95.

Carter served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A Democrat, he previously served as a Georgia State Senator from 1963 to 1967 and as the 76th Governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975.

Carter was a one-term President and was succeeded by then California Gov. Ronald Reagan. Contrary to popular belief, a former president that lost re-election can in fact run again and this happened to Grover Cleveland, who was the 22nd and 24th president.

Carter was asked about running for president in 2020 when answering questions at a public event in Philadelphia.

“I believe I am qualified to run, but I am not going to run,” Carter said.

When on the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Carter was also asked about a possible 2020 run and received a massive applause from the audience.

“I think there’s an age limit to being president,” Carter said.

Colbert then handed the former president a “Carter 2020” T-shirt in case he changes his mind. Not a single mainstream news source of any kind has taken the possibility of Carter becoming the 46th president seriously.

Despite the fact that Carter has stated he does not plan to run in 2020, many of the most commonly talked about potential candidates have also denied they plan to run for president.

Television personality, actress and entrepreneur, Oprah Winfrey has said again and again that she will not run for president, yet countless news sources won’t accept her answer. They continue to talk about a President Oprah as if she’s announced she will run in 2020.

For some reason, nearly every news source has consistently been pushing Winfrey, Corey Booker, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and several other incredibly bad Democratic Party candidates for 2020 that stray too far from the mainstream Americans and would all but guarantee a second term of the Trump presidency.

This is very sad because the lack of coverage on these potentially strong candidates will hurt their chances of becoming their party nominee, while the weekly coverage of Oprah Winfrey, Corey Booker, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren from CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and The Boston Globe are essentially campaigning for these bad candidates.

If most news sources continue to ignore good candidates such as former Vice President Al Gore, Gov. Steve Bullock (D) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R) and constantly promote terrible candidates because they draw in audiences, they should talk about Jimmy Carter potentially running for president in 2020. This would draw in large audiences and he would still be a much better candidate and president than Booker, Harris, Warren or Kirsten Gillibrand because he actually cares about his country more than just gaining the “young liberal vote.” The constant coverage of Jimmy Carter would take away attention from the bad candidates and make room for the better candidates.

Celebrities homes in ruins after fires

By NICOLE LEMBO

Like many others, celebrities have returned to their California homes to find nothing left after devastating wildfires swept through the state. The Woolsey Fire is one of three major wildfires that has caused severe damage in Southern California.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, it has destroyed approximately 92,000 acres of land.

Big-name celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Miley Cyrus and Gerard Butler were among the thousands of people in Southern California who were forced to evacuate their homes last week as the Woolsey Fire spread throughout Los Angeles County.

Mandatory evacuations are still in effect in several cities in the area, including Malibu, but some celebrities have already visited their properties to survey and document the damage, sharing pictures to their social media of what remains.

Although they completely lost their home, Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth already have plans to rebuild it, as well as their community. CNN reported that they have donated $500,000 to The Malibu Foundation. The funds will be used for “those in financial need, emergency relief assistance, community rebuilding, wildfire prevention and climate change resilience.”

According to FOX News, President Trump took to Twitter to blame the wildfires on California’s “gross mismanagement of the forests.”

In response, musician Neil Young called Trump out for his refusal to believe in climate change, saying, “California is vulnerable – not because of poor forest management as DT (our so-called president) would have us think. We are vulnerable because of climate change; the extreme weather events and our extended drought is part of it.”

In addition, celebrities such as Axl Rose and Tommy Lee also took the opportunity to slam President Trump via Twitter, calling him pathetic and insensitive.

Even firefighters are blaming the wildfires on climate change. In a press conference, Los Angeles Fire Chief, Daryl Osby, said, “The fact of the matter is if you look at the state of California, climate challenge is happening statewide.”

When bias clouds reporting judgment

By NICOLAS IPARRAGUIRRE

College football writer Brett McMurphy has had an impressive career and gained the respect of many college football fans for his outstanding reporting. In 2017, after spending five years at ESPN, McMurphy was included in the round of layoffs that saw many writers and analysts let go by ESPN.

Since leaving ESPN, McMurphy saw his notoriety rise when he published a story about former Ohio State assistant football coach Zach Smith and his alleged history of domestic assault. McMurphy’s report led to an internal investigation by Ohio State and eventually a three-game suspension of head coach Urban Meyer stemming from his role in potentially covering up Smith’s alleged indiscretions. Unfortunately, this week McMurphy published another story about Ohio State that was irresponsible and exemplified his disdain for the program.

McMurphy’s story surrounded former Ohio State receiver Trevon Grimes and an altercation he may have had during a practice. According to McMurphy’s reporting, an altercation during an Ohio State practice ended in Smith directing the N-word towards Grimes, which led to his decision to transfer to the University of Florida. Before this story, it is widely believed that Grimes, a South Florida native, transferred due to his mother having been diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer and his desire to be closer to home.

The story also alleges that the waiver Grimes’ received from the NCAA that allowed him to play right away due to his mother’s condition may have been based on false, and that his mother does not have cancer at all. McMurphy’s main source for the story was Grimes’ estranged father Lebron Grimes, who Trevon claims he has not spoken to in over two years.

In reading the story, it is clear McMurphy was extremely diligent in his research for the story. He reached out to various players on the Ohio State team, Ohio State’s Athletic Department, friends of Grimes, and attempted to contact Grimes and his mother. Unfortunately, he wrote a story that was at the very least incomplete, and at the worst irresponsible.

He was also reckless in conducting his research, badgering both Grimes and his mother despite both of them personally, and through a University of Florida spokesperson, requesting he stop reaching out. McMurphy admitted as much in his actual story. McMurphy also gave a lot of credence to the story presented by Lebron Grimes despite his description of Grimes’ legal indiscretions and the allegations of domestic abuse that had been made against him by his ex-wife, Grimes’ mother.

Since the story has been published, Grimes, Ohio State’s Athletic Department, and all of his former Ohio State teammates have publicly denied the accusations in the story. While this is to be expected, McMurphy’s ultimate error was publishing a story prior to verifying the allegations in said story. Without a single Ohio State player or even Grimes agreeing to corroborate the Smith incident, it was irresponsible to publish that part of the story based on Grimes’ estranged fathers account.

As to the allegation regarding Grimes’ mother potentially lying about having cancer, McMurphy once again published a baseless accusation and badgered a woman who is not a public figure. While McMurphy’s research allowed him to create context for this story, without any evidence that Grimes’ mother actually lied about her condition, it was an irresponsible accusation to publish.

While the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 makes finding medical information about an individual very difficult, McMurphy had a responsibility not to publish the accusation without a source other than Grimes’ estranged father.

The story illustrated that McMurphy is a talented writer who conducts extremely thorough research, but it also showed his judgment has been clouded by a deep contempt of the current Ohio State program. The story was so diligently researched and transparently written that his own conclusions were both debunked. McMurphy’s search for the truth can be seen as a noble crusade, but he published a story with conclusions that he may have been able to prove or even disprove had he waited for further evidence.

New FDA rules bring smoking changes

By ANDREW FRATTAROLI

According to CNN, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that vaping in high school students has gone up by 80 percent among high school students, and 50 percent in middle schoolers. This has been a hard issue to deal with for the FDA as it wants to have products that get adults to quit smoking cigarettes, but not at the cost of having kids get addicted to nicotine, which shows a correlation of smoking later in life.

CNN uses a shocking statistic in this article, claiming that 3.6 million kids in high school and million are regular vapers. These regulations come after news broke that they were investigating JUUL labs for marketing their vapes to kids.

The new regulations would make it so that flavored vapes would only be able to be purchased in age restricted retail locations like smoke and vape shops instead of gas stations. This would prevent kids from being able to walk into a gas station or convenient store and get flavored nicotine products from retailers that don’t care much about age restrictions.

CNN could have done a better job with one aspect of the story. The head of the FDA said that he wants to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. He believes that these are the way kids get into smoking cigarettes. However, they then go onto say that menthol cigarettes are smoked by one in five African-Americans and then do not come back to visit the remarks on the children.

What the FDA is doing must be done to prevent kids from the dangers of being addicted to nicotine.

Parkland shooter faces new charges

By NOA ISRAEL

Nine months after accused Parkland shooter, Nikolas Cruz opened fire at his high school, he faces new charges after an altercation with a prison guard Wednesday morning.

Cruz is being held at the Fort Lauderdale jail, awaiting trial for the Feb. 14 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that left 17 students and staff members dead and 17 others injured. He faces 34 counts of murder and attempted murder.

On Wednesday CNN reported that Cruz “now faces additional charges of assault, battery and use of an electric weapon on the guard,” after he allegedly attacked a Broward County officer. The report states, Sgt. Raymond Beltran, requested that Cruz not drag his feet while he walked to the dayroom. In response to this, Cruz attacked Beltran.

According to video surveillance of the incident, “Cruz flipped his middle finger, then rushed Beltran and struck him in the face, the report states. Cruz took the officer to the ground and struck the top of his head with fists […] and then took his stun gun,” CNN reported.

Cruz was escorted to the hearing by multiple officers on Wednesday morning. He remained silent with his head down for the duration, as the judge set another hearing for Friday and set a preliminary bond of $200,000 for battery on an officer.

In April, Cruz waived his right to a speedy trial and was entered into a not-guilty plea by the judge. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the massacre in his trial set to begin in September 2019.

Keeping up with Rob and Chyna

By NOELLE BARREDA

Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna are back at it again. The two seem not to let their long feud go after their uneventful split.

The new problem between the two is child support, Rob Kardashian, according to People.com, can no longer afford to pay $20,000 monthly in child support after his revenue has dropped after their split.

The domestic violence restraining order that put against Rob Kardashian from Blac Chyna is one of the main things that have impacted him in a negative way, especially since Chyna is publicly talking about it in interviews.

Robert Kardashian according to People.com went from making $100,000 a month to $10,000 month, which is a drastic drop.

Kardashian says that after his split with Chyna everything has gone downhill. All the public press and coverage from their relation has impacted him negatively. He even stopped filming for his family’s reality TV show, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

The reality TV show brought him a revenue of $1 million a year or about $50,000 an episode in which he appeared, according to People.com.

Blac Chyna, on the other hand, has profited from their split and her revenue has gone up. Robert Kardashian now feels that she needs to pay child support since she is the one making the most money between the both.

According to People, “All child support obligations have been suspended while the stars work toward an agreement. Both sides have been asked to hand over several financial documents.”

The split couple is are set to meet in a court house in December to reach a settlement.

Marvel superheroes creator dead at 95

By MIRIAM RUIZ

Known for creating many loved superhero characters, the famous and much respected Stan Lee has passed away.

It was reported 20 hours ago that Lee was struggling with health issues. According to an article published on Fox, Lee had pneumonia and problems with his vision as well.

Stan Lee has left behind a legacy that will never be forgotten. His impact on the entertainment industry and especially the comic book world will live on to remember him. Stan Lee was the top writer and later publisher for Marvel, he is known for saving the industry and making the company what it has become today.

Lee had a special way of making his characters mean something to people. On a story written by Tyler McCathy published by Fox, it was stated that the producer of “Men in Black,” Jeff Kline said, “The beauty of Stan Lee’s characters is that they were characters first and superheroes next.” This shows how his creations and ideas were unique, making him an icon in the entertainment industry.

Stan Lee died on Veteran’s day, his last social media post was this same day when he posted a picture of himself while serving in World War II.

Thoughts and prayers are with the family and fans of Stan Lee during this difficult time. Many fans around the world grieve his loss because of all he did for the childhood and entertainment of many. Lee’s legacy will live on and his memory will be honored.

Should we cover celebrity fire losses?

By SARAH BRADDOCK

With the extensive amount of tragedy occurring worldwide, it’s hard not only to keep up, but also to decide which event to express concern for.

I’d like to hope individuals common lack of concern regarding natural disasters and their impact is due to attention placed in other instances warranting concern. However, the coverage of the current damage caused by fires in California tell otherwise.

Plastered across various news outlets whenever a natural disaster occurs is the fatalities, those missing, and homes damaged or lost. The coverage of the Woolsey fire is the same, however differs because of celebrities that have been directly impacted.

Nearly every news media outlet has allocated special articles or segments to discuss celebrities such as Miley Cyrus and Gerard Butler losing their homes, as if it is more tragic or newsworthy than those who aren’t celebrities.

This phenomenon is both good and bad.

I condone the idea of special treatment for celebrity when hundreds of others suffer as well, however I know that these types of articles draw more attention to the events and probably indirectly contribute to increased aid to other victims.

It’s a moral conundrum of whether news outlets should give celebrities individual coverage of their losses when they really are the ones who suffer the least from all those affected, or if the attention these pieces bring to the victims is all worth it in the end.

Recounts underway in two Florida races

By DAVE DOWNEY

According to election officials, Broward and Palm Beach Counties are at the center of an election recount once again.

Rick Scott, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, leads the Democratic incumbent Senator, Bill Nelson by 0.2 percentage points, triggering a hand recount, per Florida law.

Scott’s campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee filed two lawsuits on Thursday, one against the Broward County supervisor of elections, Brenda Snipes, and the other against the supervisor of elections in Palm Beach County, Susan Bucher.

The lawsuits allege that those supervisors have not been transparent about the collection of the vote and the vote count, in violation of Florida law.

The race for Florida governor is not quite as close, but with the margin between Ron DeSantis and Andrew Gillum being 0.5 percentage points, that triggers a machine recount.

Most, if not all news outlets have projected DeSantis, the former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, victorious over Gillum, the current Tallahassee mayor.

Many outlets are already leaving Election Day in the dust, with little coverage on these races after Democrats seized control of the House, while Republicans kept the majority in the Senate, throwing a wrench in Donald Trump’s legislative agenda for the latter half of his first term.

FDA imposes new sanctions on e-cigs

By ANDREW FRATTAROLI

After it was all over, the news that the FDA was going to impose sanctions on JUUL and other electronic cigarette producers, the government agency is looking to take things one step further. Its goal is to keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of teenagers because of the massive spike that we’ve seen in the past few years.

Now, instead of just going after JUUL and other popular devices, the agency “plans to ban sales of most flavored e-cigarettes in retail stores and gas stations around the country, in an effort to reduce the popularity of vaping among young people.”

The issue I have with this, which is what I had an issue with when they were going after JUUL, is that these are products that really do help people quit smoking. And since compared to smoking, they are 95 percent less harmful, they can save a lot of lives for adult smokers.

In my opinion, this is going to do more harm than good. It is going to hurt vape shop owners and instead of condemning the product they should be condemning the people who sell the products to minors without identification.

This was an article by Sheila Kaplan of The New York Times and she did a wonderful job of staying non-biased and giving the facts of the story, even though it’s an issue that can get people worked up.

12 killed in California shooting

By NICOLE LEMBO

A gunman walked into Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, Calif. on Wednesday. He set off smoke bombs in order to create confusion before shooting a security guard at the entrance and opening fire into the crowd.

Authorities identified the gunman as Ian Long, 28, of Newbury Park, Calif. Long was found dead at the scene after killing 12 and wounding about 15 people.

Long was a Marine Corps veteran who had served in Afghanistan, and while investigators say there was no clear motive, he had apparently been struggling with mental health issues.

The shooting was the nation’s deadliest attack since Parkland, Fla. in February.

Among those who died was Sgt. Ron Helus, who was only one year from retirement. Another was Cody Coffman, 22, who planned to join the Army. Aliana Housley, 18, was a student at Pepperdine University.

In response to the shooting, President Trump tweeted, “I have been fully briefed on the terrible shooting in California. Law Enforcement and First Responders, together with the FBI, are on scene. 13 people, at this time, have been reported dead. Likewise, the shooter is dead, along with the first police officer to enter the bar. Great bravery shown by police. California Highway Patrol was on scene within 3 minutes, with first officer to enter shot numerous times. That Sheriff’s Sergeant died in the hospital. God bless all of the victims and families of the victims. Thank you to Law Enforcement.”

Major news outlets such as Fox, CBS, and CNN have been extremely objective when reporting on the shooting. They have all done a superb job at reporting the facts and honoring the victims and their families.

Greatest college basketball team ever?

By TYRIQ MCCORD

College basketball has just started after a long off-season of excitement. Back about 15 years ago, if you were good enough, kids were able to go straight from high school to the NBA. But the NCAA established a rule where student athletes have to do at least one year of college or overseas ball to pursue their dreams.

With that being said, this is our first time ever seeing the highest recruit players all play for the same college team! And some people are saying after one game against the respectable Kentucky Wildcats, that this is the best college basketball team to grace a court.

The Duke Blue Devils played the Wildcats on Tuesday and completely dominated from start to finish with a 118-84 final score.

RJ Barrett, who was the No. 1 basketball recruit in 2018, finished with 33 points, 6 assists, and 4 boards.

Cam Reddish, who was the No. 2 basketball recruit, finished with 22 points.

Zion Williamson, who was the No. 5 basketball recruit in 2018, finished with 28 points and seven rebounds. Zion is already being compared to by a player we all are very familiar with.

“I saw some kid on Duke last night who is pretty impressive my goodness … probably can’t say anything more, or mention his name, but  the one who’s 285 pounds,” Steve Kerr for the Golden State Warriors explained. “I thought LeBron, I thought that was a one-shot deal, but apparently the next guy that’s coming,” Kerr continued. “And before I get fined, I’m going to change the subject.”

Zion stands at 6-foot-7, weighing at 285 pounds and is a freak-of-nature with his physical ability. Probably the most exciting player on Duke’s basketball team, yet he is, respectfully, not their best player. 

Duke is currently ranked No. 4 but will most likely jump to No. 1 after routing the No. 2 team on Tuesday. Could this team possibly be better than the legendary Fab 5 from Michigan? Or maybe even the 1981 North Carolina team? How about Rick Pitino’s 1995 Kentucky team? We just have to wait and witness this year.

12 killed at Southern California bar

By NOA ISRAEL

Twelve people were killed Wednesday night at a popular college bar when a gunman entered the venue and began firing in Thousand Oaks, Calif., just north of Los Angeles.

Borderline Bar and Grill is a popular spot for residents of Thousand Oaks and neighboring cities. Due to its close proximity to multiple colleges and universities, it is largely attended by college students. The bar is known to most as a safe and comfortable getaway from the stress of school and other responsibilities.

However, despite being located in one of the safest cities in the country, the bar and its occupants came under fire late Wednesday night when gunman Ian David Long entered and began shooting at the large crowd. Wednesday nights are known as “College Nights” at Borderline and the bar was therefore packed with excited teens and young adults.

The shooter, Long, was a resident of Newbury Park, only a few minutes drive from Thousand Oaks. CNN reported that he “was a Marine veteran who often visited the site of the shooting.” Long died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds at the scene.

Names of the victims are slowly being released and friends and families learn the fates of their loved ones. The confirmed dead include a law enforcement officer from Ventura County, a freshman at Pepperdine University and a recent graduate of Cal Lutheran University.

The investigation is still underway to determine a possible motive.

News media: Forgive, forget and repeat

By ADAM SPECTOR

Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned among the request of former host of “The Celebrity Apprentice”-turned president of the United States, Donald Trump.

Trump felt that Twitter was the most appropriate place to name the acting attorney general until a replacement is named and confirmed. The acting attorney general is Matthew Whitaker.

Sessions was an early supporter of Trump, as he publicly endorsed him during the presidential primaries. At the time, Sessions was a U.S. Senator from Alabama.

As we know, the Trump campaign has been under investigation since 2016 over suspicion of Russian collusion. When Sessions was asked about whether or not he was in contact with Russian officials he denied it, which later turned out to be false. Sessions recused himself from the investigation, which angered Trump.

Since then, Trump has complained about Sessions on what seems like an hourly basis.

“Sessions should have never recused himself and, if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.

Even though this story is currently a big deal, I am all but certain that news sources will stop talking about it within one week.

No news source that I have ever seen has pointed out that Trump and his administration are not acting like innocent people.

Whenever Trump says or does anything controversial, every news source covers it then quits talking about it one week later.

In 2015, Trump essentially called Mexican people criminals, drug dealers, rapists and “assumed some were good people.” It made all headlines, then news organizations, especially CNN, began to cover his campaign on an hourly basis and would dissect every word he said. By doing this, they added a level substance to everything he said. In addition to this, CNN constantly speculated that there was “a method to his madness” and that everything he said and did was all a part of a brilliant scheme.

CNN and other cable news organizations never once brought up the idea that had zero government and or military experience and continued to dissect everything he would say and do, creating the illusion that Trump knew precisely what he was doing.

Despite the fact that Trump frequently lies, nobody seems to mind. Whenever anything good happens, such as the improving economy, Trump gets 100 percent credit. Whenever bad things happen, such as the increase in hate crimes and mailing of bombs to people critical of Trump, nobody ever seems to even partially blame him.