Catholics to discuss Church, Francis

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By KATE JOHNSON

On April 7, a Catholic group, the “Friends of Cardinal Carlo Caffarra,” will be holding a conference in Rome in order to address the concerns they have about the direction the Catholic Church is heading under Pope Francis.

The group is named after recently deceased Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, who opposed the new ideas expressed by the Catholic Church and the way it was being led under Pope Francis.  The conference in April is called “The Catholic Church: Where Are You Heading?”

The focus of the conference is to address the confusion in the Catholic Church.  “Its subtitle, ‘Only a blind man can deny that there is great confusion in the Church,’ is taken from comments Cardinal Caffarra made in an interview with the Italian newspaper II Foglio in January 2017,” wrote the National Catholic Register.

A main issue that the organizers of the conference are hoping to find clarity around is interpretation of Pope Francis’ exhortation Amoris Laetitia, or “Joy of love.”  The Pope broke down barriers and relaxed many of the previous principles for divorced and remarried couples within the Catholic Church in the exhortation.

“It is important that the divorced who have entered a new union should be made to feel part of the Church,” wrote Pope Francis in the exhortation. “The Christian community’s care of such persons is not to be considered a weakening of its faith and testimony to the indissolubility of marriage; rather, such care is a particular expression of its charity.”

The story has been covered among an array of Christian publications, some specifically Catholic and other’s nondenominational.  The overall tone and language of the coverage of the upcoming conference varies greatly depending on if the news outlet is Catholic or nondenominational.

The Christian Post gave a very factual account of the conference and the issues it is aiming to address without inserting any opinion or biased language.

The first line of the article on the Christian Post reads, “A group of Catholics are planning to hold a conference in Rome next month in response to concerns they have about the direction of the Church under Pope Francis.”

The article on the Christian Post then follows with a series of quotes from Pope Francis’ exhortation and Cardinal Caffarra’s letter to Francis in response to the exhortation.  Their article concludes, with results from a research study interviewing members of the Catholic Church.

“The Roman conference is coming not long after Pew Research Center released a poll finding that, five years since Francis became pope, a growing number of American Catholics have concluded that he is, among other things, ‘too liberal’ and ‘naïve,’” wrote Michael Gryboski for the Christian Post.

The National Catholic Register’s coverage of the story seemed biased against Pope Francis and focused mainly on why Catholics are disillusioned by the current pope.

The first line of the article on the National Catholic Register reads, “Lay faithful as well as members of the hierarchy, clergy and religious are being invited to participate in a Rome conference aimed at helping the Church find its way after the uncertainties of the past five years of Pope Francis’ pontificate.”

“The conference was one of Cardinal Caffarra’s last wishes after he had become deeply disillusioned by the crisis of confusion, most notably regarding the issue of giving the Eucharist to Catholics engaging in sexual relations outside marriage, such as remarried Catholic divorcees and cohabitating couples,” wrote Edward Pentin for the National Catholic Registrar.

LifeSiteNews is a Christian news outlet that offers a “Standard Edition” and a “Catholic Edition.” The story of the conference was covered in the Catholic Edition and contains much biased language against Pope Francis.

The first line of the article on LifeSiteNews reads, “It’s confirmed.  On April 7, 2018 – the Saturday after Easter – a very special conference will be held in Rome whose aim is to indicate the path forward for the Catholic Church after the uncertain journey of the first five years of Pope Francis’ pontificate.”

Unlike all nondenominational coverage of the story, the LifeSiteNews article covers and explains ways in which some Catholics are seeking to reduce and limit papal authority after the exhortations of Pope Francis.

“In a Church seemingly in disarray, the key issue the conference will seek to address is the redefinition of leadership roles for the ‘people of God,’ the character and limits of papal authority, and forms of consulting the faithful on matters of doctrine,” according to LifeSiteNews.

FIU bridge news reporting shifts focus

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By PATRICIA SANTANA

On March 15, the pedestrian bridge being built over the intersection of SW Eighth Street and SW 109th Avenue near the Florida International University campus unexpectedly collapsed.

There were six deaths, including an 18-year-old student at FIU and a worker for the bridge inspection company.

The story received a lot of national coverage and was featured prominently on major news media such as The New York Times and CNN. While those sites continue to periodically post stories, they have toned down their coverage as other stories emerge. This is in stark contrast to the Miami Herald, which continues to prominently feature the story on its site. This difference makes sense, since the story is a local tragedy in Miami and thus will be more relevant to the readership of the Miami Herald.

The coverage the Miami Herald has given the story has evolved. Initially, the coverage focused on providing updates on the death toll and posting videos of the collapse recorded by bystanders. There were also articles coming out on the history of the construction company and design firm behind the bridge and past projects of theirs, which continue to come out now. The coverage now is focusing more on the emotional impact the collapse has had on the survivors and on remembering the victims. There is also a greater volume of speculative articles regarding possible causes of the collapse.

UM’s Brown declares for NBA draft

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By JABARI WILBON

In the middle of Thursday afternoon, Bruce Brown broke the Internet when he put a post on his Instagram page declaring for the NBA draft. Brown is a sophomore guard who could’ve left after his freshman campaign last year, but decided to stay an extra year. Despite being injured for most of the second half of the year, Bruce had a stellar sophomore campaign and is still projected to be a first round pick in the upcoming 2018 NBA draft.

As soon as Bruce posted on his Instagram, social media were buzzing about his announcement. Miami reporters were tweeting heavily about what this meant for both Brown and the Miami’s team next year. The Miami reporters also talked about where Brown could be selected and if there’s still a chance that Brown returns next year.

A few hours after the announcement, The Miami Hurricane, the school newspaper put out an article covering Brown’s declaration for the draft, saying that there is still an opportunity for him to return to UM as well.

The Boston Globe, serving the area where Bruce is from, also put out an article within a few hours of his declaration. They talked about how he has not yet hired an agent, which gives him the opportunity to come back to college.

In general, the sports media and especially coverage in Miami and his home state, did a good job getting stories out as soon as possible as well as going into detail on his current status and his potential to come back to school. In the end, this may or may not be the last we see of Bruce Brown in a Miami jersey.

Arctic Sea ice near record low level

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By LIAM SHEJI

In 2016, the maximum extent of Arctic sea ice was 5.57 million square miles, the lowest on record. This past year, sea ice extended 5.59 million square miles, an increase from last year.

Despite the small increase from last year, a downward trend in ice coverage has been recorded since satellites began observing sea ice extent in 1979. The sea ice extent for the past four years has been the four lowest on record.

Decreasing Arctic sea ice is a strong indicator that the Arctic is warming. For many, a warming Arctic implies warmer temperatures, but it could be a key factor in explaining the onslaught of winter storms and sub-zero temperatures that have been affecting the northeastern United States for the past month.

“The jet stream is getting weaker and shifting its behavior, sending cold air south from the Arctic and pumping warm air north,” Jennifer A. Francis, an Arctic researcher at Rutgers University, told The New York Times. “We’ve been in this pattern along the East Coast that is very conducive to the formation of nor’easter-type storms, part of the reason for that is because we’ve had this pattern in the jet stream that’s been so persistent.”

The influence of the Arctic on the global climate system is immense. A warming Arctic implies that sea levels are rising, average global temperatures are rising and that the jet stream is becoming unstable, creating massive storms.

In an age where the fight to stop climate change is gaining momentum, data like this is crucial; it continues to imply that global climate change is, and has been, occurring since the Industrial Revolution.

Will lawmakers and government officials finally begin to act on the data that scientists have been collecting for years? Who knows, but as time progresses and we continue to dig ourselves into a deeper hole, one day there will be no going back.

Toys ‘R’ Us stores to close soon

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By NATALIE NOISOM

Recently, out of 735 Toys “R” Us stores, 400 remain open for the next month. The reason behind the recent closing its because the company has failed to find a buyer.

Charles Lazarus founded the company back in 1948 when he was 25 years old. The closing of all the stores is being blamed on its private owners who burdened the company with debt. The company filed for bankruptcy in September 2017 for owing more than $5 billion. Larian, the founder and CEO of MGA Entertainment, said this company ought to be saved.

According to money.cnn.com, Larian started a GoFundMe page to try and raise donations to save the few stores that are still open. The page so far has raised more than $200,000. The end goal is to raise publicity about the closing. Toys “R” Us planned to continue business even after filing for bankruptcy, however, the small holiday sales were making things much worse.

The issue with all these stores closing is all the people being laid off. So far 31,000 people have lost their jobs due to the closures of more than 180 stores. Toy’s “R” Us doesn’t have the financial ability to keep themselves afloat let alone employees. An estimated 60,000 employees were working for Toy “R” Us in 2017. So far half of them have lost their jobs.

Larian and two anonymous investors have pledged $200 million to try and save the remaining stores before they close.

Has March Madness gotten too mad?

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By BRENNAN PRUSAK

March Madness has become one of the biggest events that all of sports have to offer. Even though it is a college tournament, it draws more than 20 million viewers live and roughly 70 million more on live streams, according to the NCAA.

It seems as if wherever you go during the month of march, the tournament will be on somewhere. Perhaps the biggest reason for the tournaments popularity stems from its unique one and done format that allows some of the greatest upsets sport fans have seen in their lifetime.

A total of 68 teams make the NCAA tournament every year and are split into four divisions seeded 1-16. The one seed plays the 16 seed, the two the 15, and so forth. While the higher seed is supposedly the “better” team, the better seed can be sent packing after one bad game. Fans love to see a two-seed taken out by the underdog 15 and are even excited by a six-seed losing to an 11. However, the 2018 tournament has been like none that came before it.

Before this year, No. 1 seeds were 132-0 in the first round of the tournament against 16 seeds. This all changed when 16th seeded University of Maryland Baltimore County beat top-ranked Virginia by 20 points. This was the crowning jewel in a first round that saw 13 seeded Buffalo beat 4 Arizona, 11 seed Syracuse beat 6 seed TCU, 11 seed Chicago Loyola beat 6 seed Miami, and 13 seed Marshal beat 4 seed Wichita State.  The madness didn’t stop there, as Syracuse and Chicago Loyola both knocked off highly ranked 3 seeds in the following round, 9 Florida state stunned 1 Xavier, and 7 Nevada came back from a 20-point deficit beat 2 Cincinnati.

While upsets are usually greeted with excitement, this year’s tournament has gotten some coverage that you may not expect. Many analysts and media members, most notably ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, believe that there are too many upsets this year, and that the absence of top ranked teams is making the later rounds of the tournament less exciting. It seems paradoxical, as the news and sports media want to see upsets but also want to see the highly seeded teams with top players, so what is the right balance?

On the day following the first round, stories covering UMBC’s historic win were atop of both ESPN and Bleacher Report’s homepage. While these stories draw more views than a one seed beating the 16, upsets lead to second and third round match-ups of less popular teams, causing stories to get thinner and less popular.

The average fans love to see it, but the news and sports media and purists wish it would stop. It is all up to preference, but the fact that there have been so many upsets thus far that the sports media have started to switch their side is something we may never see again.

World faces tequila shortage

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By DREW COHEN

Alcohol has been a very important part of the beverage world for many years. The earliest alcoholic beverages have been traced back to China around 7000 B.C. and was made from fermented grain. Today, there are many different types of alcohol from many different regions of the world.

Tequila was first produced in the city of Tequila, Mexico in the 16th century. When Spanish conquistadors ran out of their favorite brandy drink, they resorted to the blue agave plant. They roasted the “Pina” (the bottom core of the plant) and then fermented it. After the three to 12-month distillation process, the tequila was finally ready to drink.

Tequila soon became very popular and was the first alcoholic drink to be produced in North America. Around the turn of the 17th century, tequila began to be exported to the United States, South America, and Europe and is still an extremely popular choice among drinkers to this day.

Fermented blue agave can be made in different regions of the world where blue agave thrives; however, “tequila” can only be called tequila if it’s from Jalisco, a Mexican state. The multi-billion-dollar tequila industry has thrived since the turn of the 19th century and is one of the worlds most consumed alcohol. For tequila lovers, unfortunately, there is a higher demand and production is decreasing, which is causing a shortage.

The blue agave plant takes around seven years to fully mature, so planning for this year’s harvest began back in 2011. There are only 18 million blue agave plants that were planted in 2011 and are now ready for the tequila making process; however, the estimated demand for this year shot up to around 42 million blue agave plants.

According to Reuters, tequila prices have shot up six-fold over the past two years. Solving the problem wont be quick either. The next time tequila prices are projected to return to normal is 2025, which is when the next planted blue agaves will be ready.

Kimmel exposes Trump’s hypocrisy

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By GRACE SMITH

Popular night time show host Jimmy Kimmel announced he planned to file a federal complaint against the Trump family’s new Trump Store.

A screen capture from Jimmy Kimmel’s show clip on YouTube where he presents the box and letter from the Trump Store.

The talk show host of has been vocal about calling out the Trump administration’s policy issues and controversial political decisions.

On the latest episode of his show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” questioned Trump’s “Buy American!” rhetoric.

It has been a phrase the president has pushed since the beginning of the election and most recently reiterated while moving for high foreign tariffs.

Kimmel expressed agreement with the idea of supporting American businesses and manufacturers, and also stated that Trump’s sons, who run the brand new online Trump Store, seemed to hold the belief t even stronger than he did.

As a test, he ordered several items from their merchandise site and found that all of them were made in China, though several left out the country of origin. Kimmel stated that an omission of such could bring around half a million dollars in fines and he has already filed a federal complaint against the store.

Though he expressed this as a honest move to fix a possible oversight, the action will surely bring to light the two-sided nature of Trump’s words.

One of the items from the online store, a coin bank, with no marked country of origin.

But the most interesting part of this story is not the federal complaint placed but the way Kimmel laid out and physically showed the lack of American-made products from the Trump Store. I

n a way very unique to television he was able to open a box from the legitimate store and show the inscriptions, embroidery and tags (or lack of) describing the Chinese, Peruvian, or Taiwanese origin of the products. He ordered everything from a golf club cover to a baby’s bib and did a simplistically wonderful way of showing the range of places these items came from.

John Oliver, host of “Last Week with John Oliver,” often directly presents reports, interviews and documents while exposing politicians.

In an age where the public has become less and less trusting of news and entertainment media and gravitates toward sensationalized stories, flashy headlines and personal echo chambers, the earnest and straight-forward way Kimmel presented the physical evidence can not be denied by even the most staunch Trump supporter.

Many late-night talk shows have begun to take this approach when it comes to politics and cite specific phrases from government guidelines and show actual documents of fraud, theft or deceit.

It seems in an age of appeal over quality, this is the only way to keep people from blindly believing whatever Twitter headline they come across next. No one can deny cold, hard presentation like that.

Zuckerberg responds to privacy scandal

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By SOPHIA CONSTANTINO

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has found himself under immense pressure to address the safety of Facebook users after The New York Times and The Guardian published an investigation into Cambridge Analytica’s supposed breach of privacy against millions of unknowing Facebook users in 2013.

According to The New York Times, voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica, which engaged in work for the Donald Trump campaign, bought the data of millions of Facebook users under the pretext of “collecting it (data) for academic purposes,” while in reality the company used the information to tailor individual content, with the intent of influencing 2014 midterm elections.

Despite the clear breach of user privacy and unethical use of information, the controversy remains heated in that, technically, Cambridge Analytica was not, in fact, a breach of any Facebook privacy policies at all. It was intentionally deceiving, but its actions were within Facebook’s privacy rules.

Facebook gave permission to University of Cambridge psychology professor Aleksandr Kogan to access information of users who downloaded his app “thisisyourdigitallife.” Kogan then turned the information over to Cambridge Analytica, which used this information to allegedly tamper with midterm elections.

Former contractor for Cambridge Anayltica Christopher Wylie exposed the company to The New York Times and The Guardian.

The scandal has raised great concern over Facebook’s seeming lack of privacy regulation and account for user safety, as it is unclear whether Cambridge Analytica’s actions technically broke Facebook’s privacy policies or simply duped the company within its own allowances.

The news media, therefore, has turned to public figure and founder Mark Zuckerberg to respond. Though it is not uncommon for major CEOs to remain behind the scenes in such incidences, Mark Zuckerberg’s public presence and personal branding demands a response from him directly.

Five days following the exposure, Zuckerberg has finally issued a response via Facebook, claiming that user security is of the utmost importance, stating “…if we can’t (protect your data), then we don’t deserve to serve you.”

The statement has been met with mixed responses, most focusing on his line, “The good news is that the most important actions to prevent this from happening again today we have already taken years ago.”

The line contradicts itself; if the steps were taken years ago as he claims, the whole incident would not have occurred in the first place. Supposedly, Facebook began refining its policies in 2014, which would have been just after the incident occurred.

As the speculation into Zuckerberg’s claims continues, the media questions how much the company knew about the information leak, when they knew it and how safe the trailblazing social media platform really is.

UMBC pulls off historic upset

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By JUSTIN SOBELMAN

Well, it finally happened. For the first time since the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament moved to a 64-team format in 1985, a 16-seed toppled a 1-seed.

The UMBC Retrievers became an instant sensation as they pulled off what will go down as the biggest upset in NCAA basketball history, blowing top overall seed Virginia out of the gym in a 20-point thrashing.

It was shocking to watch, as a UMBC team that had lost to Albany 83-39 in January made UVA—a team that made mincemeat of its home Atlantic Coast Conference with just one  loss, a team with one of the best defenses in college basketball history, a team that ground far better squad than UMBC into dust— look like it didn’t belong in the tournament.

Unsurprisingly, the Retrievers’ notoriety ballooned nearly as quickly as their second half lead did. The UMBC Athletics Twitter account became just as big a star as the team itself, as the account lobbed clever insults and pure bliss into the world. Any analyst who wrote off the Retrievers became a target, as CBS’s Seth Davis did before the game.

Even the man behind the account had a swell in popularity.

Everyone’s general reaction to the upset was disbelief and happiness. It was hard not to get behind UMBC, sports fans love an underdog, and you couldn’t pick a more unlikely David to topple the Virginia Goliath.

UMBC became everyone’s new favorite team for the weekend and UMBC went from “Who’s that team that’s going to get destroyed by Virginia?” to an acronym that sports fans will remember for decades, and whose highlights will pop up every time a 1-seed is on upset alert for years to come.

More than that, it was obvious that the stars of the team, like Jarrius Lyles and K.J. Maura, were playing their hearts out, even as the odds overwhelmed them.

This was especially evident in their second match-up, a loss Kansas State. The game itself was truly a slog to watch, and the Retrievers looked every part of the 16-seed they had earned. However, even as they struggled mightily to score, their effort and hustle never waned, particularly on a remarkable series of saves to retain possession in the contest’s closing minutes.

The scrappy underdog vibe was played up considerably by the game’s commentators, who acted like the UMBC players had dunked from the free throw line every time they dove for a loose ball, but they deserved it.

Like others have said, a champion is crowned every year, but nobody else can claim to have accomplish what the kids from UMBC have, and that’s something that deserves to be celebrated.

United Airlines under fire, yet again

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By ABBY LLOYD

United Airlines seems to be one of the most controversial airlines after it continues to have crises left and right.

A French bulldog, Kokito was found dead in the overhead bin of the United Airlines flight from Houston to New York City.

Before the flight took off, the flight attendant assured owner of Kokito that her dog would be safe in the overhead bin. Although owner paid $125 to have her French bulldog sit comfortably under her seat, the flight attendant insisted that he was not allowed.

June Lara, who sat behind Kokito’s family, posted on Facebook a summary of his trip with United, according to ABC News.

June Lara reports his story on Facebook, found on ABC News

However, there was a different story told by someone else on the flight. One woman believed the flight attendant didn’t know there was a dog in the bag and that is why she instructed Kokito’s mom to put the bag overhead.

However, many people on the plane said there were barks coming from the bag, which makes this woman’s claim unlikely, reported ABC News 13.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was a dog. I thought it was a normal bag,” the flight attendant reportedly said to Kokito’s pet mom.

Since the upsetting incident, animal rights activists and protesters have had a frenzy with  United, but more importantly, all pet passenger rules. Protesters held a “dog-in” at LaGuardia Airport and displayed a “Kokito’s Law” in honor of the life that was just lost.

There has been a lot of coverage on this topic, mostly by local news like ABC and Time.

U.S. bans purchase of Venezuelan Petro

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By ANDREA ILLAN

On March 8, the Florida Senate took action to ban the state from engaging in business with companies supporting the regime in Venezuela and U.S restrictions with the Venezuelan economy continue.

President Donald Trump took recent action to prohibit the purchase of new Venezuelan cryptocurrency called the Petro. This new medium of exchange was created by President Nicolas Maduro as an attempt to fix the country’s weak economy at the moment and the increasing inflation rate, an article on Bloomberg explained.

The executive order was signed on March 19 and prohibits U.S citizens from buying this cryptocurrency.

While Bloomberg gives a brief description of the situation, an article on CNN Money further explains what this means for both countries.

According to CNN, Trump’s recent action follows his previous ban of U.S investors from buying bonds issued by the Venezuelan government or state-run companies, such as the leading oil company in the country, PDVSA.

Maduro stated the currency will be backed by oil, the primary resource in the country. This does not mean, however, that investors would have ownership of this resource.

Additionally, Maduro stated on a tweet that the Petro’s private auction raised $735 million. But CNN reports this amount has not been confirmed.

This executive order is a significant action for the Trump administration, as it actively recognizes the illegitimacy of the Venezuelan government.

Both articles can be found at https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/trump-prohibits-u-s-purchases-of-venezuelan-cryptocurrency and http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/19/news/economy/trump-bans-venezuela-cryptocurrency-petro/index.html

SXSW bomb threat halts concert

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By ALLIE SIMON

On March 16, a bomb threat at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas, resulted in the cancellation of a performance by The Roots.

The event, sponsored by Bud Light, was cancelled at 4:30 p.m. via Twitter, following a bomb threat that had been sent through email to the Live Nation Music event promotion company. Bud Light tweeted, “your safety and the safety of all fans at SXSW is our most important priority.”

Twitter effectively helped to cancel the show and publicize news of the bomb threat. Bud Light representatives took to twitter to say that as information is made available, it will be posted on Twitter. Austin police arrested 26-year-old Trevor Weldon Ingram as the main suspect of the threat. Ingram was charged for making a terroristic threat – a third-degree felony in the United States.

Before the arrest, police were already scared of ongoing bombings in Austin. The threat came a few days after homemade bombs exploded in the city, resulting in two fatalities and three injuries. Two packages exploded at Austin homes on March 12 and March 2.

Statement issued by the Austin local government regarding the bomb threat via Twitter.

According to neighbors, the packages were so powerful that windows and walls of houses blocks away shook when the bombs went off. The explosive devices inside the packages were detonated when the residents picked them up.

According to The New York Times, Austin civilians have been warned to call 911 in the case of receiving any suspicious packages. Since the warning, the phone lines at the police station have been consistently busy with news of suspicious packages.

Police have not ruled out the incidents as being hate crimes, as the two victims of the bombings were African-Americans whose families were very involved in the community.

The bomb threat at SXSW targeted The Roots concert – a primarily African-American hip hop group. The Roots were supposed to be performing alongside several other musicians including Ludacris, Rapsody and Tank and the Bangas, who are also African-American performers.

The Roots drummer, Questlove, addressed the cancellation as the result of a “severe emergency”.

Is Snapchat’s time up?

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By KATHERINE CERAVOLO

It all started with a tweet from Kylie Jenner. The 20-year-old influential social media user tweeted on Feb. 21 asking her followers if they still use the app anymore and claiming it is “so sad.” Jenner is one of Snapchat’s most popular users and after that tweet, Snapchat’s market value dropped $1.5 billion. A day before, there was a 1.2 million-signature petition on Change.org to bring the old version of the app back.

Jenner was most likely informed of the damage she had done, so she rebutted her tweet with “still love you tho snap.” It was too late, and the downfall continued. Jenner has millions of followers on all of her accounts; this negative feedback from a popular user is horrific news for an app that tried to update itself.

Users all around the world commented on the app’s “upgrade.” The complaints seemed valid, as the upgrade switched around the order of friends on one’s friend list, which made it difficult to see people’s post on a daily basis.

To top it off, Snapchat has been added to another celebrity’s bad list. Rihanna was recently a victim of an ad that users were to see on the app. Just a few days ago, the famous singer posted on her Instagram handle about an offensive advertisement that used her domestic violence incident in 2011 as a game for users.

The ad was called “Would You Rather” and featured an image of Rihanna and Chris Brown, offering users to choose to “Slap Rihanna” or “Punch Chris Brown.” Rihanna responded to the advert and said, “I’d love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain’t that dumb!” Snapchat claimed the ad was approved in error and apologized to Rihanna, saying Snapchat supports the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the VP sits on the Snapchat Safety Advisory Board.

The news media are not covering who approved this message and what the consequences are. This shows negligence as to what Snapchat allows to advertise on the app. Since this incident, “Would You Rather” has been blocked. However, what about who monitors these advertisements as well as who reads through reviews of the upgrades. It is evident that the update was unsuccessful, yet Snapchat has neither made any notice of it nor offer to change the app back to normal.

Rihanna made her point that she could care less about her personal feelings, but worries for other domestic violence victims who see this and feel post-traumatic stress from their experience. Stock continues to fall, at nearly five percent as of now. It doesn’t look too good for Snapchat.

Disney’s ‘Wrinkle in Time’ omits Christ

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By KATE JOHNSON

Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time” film is facing backlash and controversy for the blatant omission of the Christian ideals and various Biblical passages that are prevalent throughout Madeleine L’Engle’s original novel.

L’Engle passed away in 2007.  The writer was a devout Christian who used her book, A Wrinkle in Time, to express her thoughts about God.

“If I’ve ever written a book that says what I feel about God and the universe, that is it,”  L’Engle wrote in her journal about the book.  “This is my psalm of praise to life, my stand for life against death.”

After the release of the film adaption of the story, many noted the omission of the Christian themes of the book.  The screenwriter for the film, Jennifer Lee, gave an interview with Uproxx in which she explained why she decided to remove the Biblical references and Christian values.

“What I looked at, one of the reasons Madeleine L’Engle’s . . . had that strong Christian element to it wasn’t just because she was Christian, but because she was frustrated with things that needed to be said to her in the world and she wasn’t finding a way to say it and she wanted to stay true to her faith,” said Lee.

Lee noted that there are Christian themes central to the book, A Wrinkle in Time, but she opted to omit or alter these for the move in order to portray a more inclusive and secular message.

“That’s what inclusiveness is to me in this film, is really looking at all of us have a role to play in this no matter where we come from or what we look like,” Lee told Uproxx.

In an article discussing the controversy, CBN emphasized L’Engle’s deep faith and how the author said her book spurred from her personal relationship with God.  CBN, in a covert manner, expressed that Lee’s adaption of the story was an attack on the Christian faith.

“It appears Lee believes espousing such Biblical truths are somewhat irrelevant and outdated in today’s modern world,” wrote CBN.

Movieguide gave a more neutral perspective on the differences between the book and the film.  Their review of the film expressed that although Christianity is omitted from the film, it still does send children a positive message.

“Overall, ‘A Wrinkle In Time’ has a positive moral, redemptive message about a relationship between a father and a daughter being restored, as well as a clear picture of good versus evil.”

Nevertheless, Movieguide did make note that the omission of the Christian themes of the story was a dramatic alteration of the book.

“A Wrinkle In Time is based on the best-selling novel by Madeline L’Engle.  However, many of the faith statements and themes in Madeline’s book aren’t included in the movie.  Instead, the movie adds lots of New Age content, including an emphasis on being one with the universe and the energy people create with positive or negative thoughts.  At one point, one character mentions every ‘spiritual,’ ‘religious,’ and historical icon, but seems to exclude Jesus Christ, as if Christianity was the one thing they didn’t want to include.  In the book, however, Jesus is the iconic figure.”

Vox wrote a lengthy article about the film giving L’Engle’s life story growing up in the Episcopalian Church and facing persecution for her fantasy writing.  In its coverage, Vox chose to discuss the trend in Hollywood of shying away from religious undertones in children’s movies from an analytical perspective on the matter.

“This may be, in part, due to the demands on big-budget fantasy ‘family’ films to easily lend themselves to theme park rides and merchandising sales, something harder to do with films that take a divisive or complicated approach to faith.  ‘Good triumphs over evil’ is a lot more salable and straightforward than ‘the universe exists because God became man,’ even if the paradox of the latter lends Wrinkle its existential weight,” said Vox writer Tara Burton.

The Washington Post covered the response to the new film with a lengthy story on L’Engle and an interview with Sarah Arthur, author of a upcoming biography of L’Engle titled “A Light So Lovely.”

“There are a lot of people who believe the strength that you need to fight the darkness is in you,” Arthur said. “But it’s because they were connected to the source of light who is Jesus.  If it’s unmoored from Madeleine’s Christian faith, it’s missing a big piece of the spiritual thrust of what she was doing,” said Arthur to The Washington Post.

The Washington Post article, similarly to the Vox article, took a more analytical approach to how Christian themes are translated from children’s books to movies and the effect that has on the box office crowds.

“Early reviews of ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ are mixed, drawing a 44 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  And a film starring Oprah, who is also controversial among some conservative Christians, might not attract the same kind of crowd that soaked up films such as ‘The Passion of the Christ,’ ‘The Blind Side’ and Disney’s adaptation of Lewis’s ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,’” said Washington Post writer Sarah Bailey.

Cirque du Soleil performer dies after fall

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By KRISTIAN DEL ROSARIO

A Cirque du Soleil performer died Saturday night during a performance held in Tampa, Fla.

The Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group stated that aerialist Yann Arnuad fell more than 15 feet while performing during the show ” VOLTA”. He immediately received medical attention and was taken to a hospital where he later died.

Daniel Lamar, president and CEO of the entertainment company said in a statement, “The entire Cirque du Soleil family is in shock and devastated by this tragedy. Yann had been with us for over 15 years and was loved by all who had the chance to know him.”

The last two performances of VOLTA have been cancelled due to the tragic events.

Julien Martinez was in the audience Saturday night and told CNN affiliate WFLA that he witnessed the accident. He noticed that the performer was straining to hold onto the rope.

“It was awful,” he said of the fall. “You heard all the cries of the audience. There were children there and they were freaking out.”

” it kinds of colors our opinions of what is going on behind the scenes,” Martinez said. “What is the cost of our entertainment at that point?”

This is the second tragedy to happen to one of Cirque du Soleil performers. In June 2013, 31-year-old acrobat and aerialist Sarah Guillot Guard died after a fall during a show in Las Vegas.

After this incident, the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Cirque du Soleil and casino for violations which resulted in both facing thousands of dollars in fines.

The news media covered this story in a very respectful manner. This is an issue that could be reported in a hateful way due to people not agreeing with acrobats being made to do unsafe stunts.

The reporting was also informative; when reading it, I felt as if I was there witnessing it myself.

Ups, downs for Florida Panthers

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By AMANDA TORRES

The Florida Panthers played against the Edmonton Oilers at the BB&T Center on Saturday afternoon. It seemed like the Panthers were going to win the game before the intermission, but they ended up losing to the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2.

Florida Panthers on their home ice on March 17 (Photo by Amanda Torres).

The Miami Herald said that despite losing this game, the Panthers are playing better this season, winning nine of the 11 home games they have played thus far.

Since Feb. 12, the Panthers have had a 3-2-1 record. The Miami Herald added that “two of the games the Panthers failed to win during that stretch were decided by just one goal.”

The Panthers have played 27 home games this season so far and have won 17. The next seven games the Panthers will play will be on the road. Being on the road could be a challenge for them, since the opposing teams are known to have road records that outshine those of the Panthers’.

According to the Herald, even though the opposing teams have better road records, their winning records show that five of next nine teams they will play against have had more overall losses this season than the Panthers have.

An interesting factor that the Herald included in their news story about the game were five bolded questions that answered some concerns that Panthers fans probably had in mind after yesterday’s game.

“Will the Panthers make the playoffs?” The Herald objectively answered this question based on statistics from Hockey-Reference.com. This website predicted that the Panthers probably won’t make it to the playoffs, but only by a couple of points. It will all depend on their upcoming road games.

“What the heck happened on Saturday against the Oilers?” The Herald answered this question in a clear and concise way that helped readers understand what went wrong in Saturday’s game. The Panthers made the choice to go for a 0-for-6 on a power play and “also allowed a shorthanded goal in an uncharacteristically poor performance.”

The other three questions were, “How good is Panthers center Sasha Barkov? Is help on the way for the Panthers? And who can be a surprise for the Panthers down the stretch?” These questions and answers focused on explaining how Barkov is a strong player and an asset for the team, on Henrik Borgstrom, a talented, incoming player who could join the team next year and on Frank Vatrano, a recently acquired hockey player from the Boston Bruins, who has scored two goals in the past four games.

Let’s hope the Panthers beat the odds in these upcoming seven road games.

Pastors welcome ‘miracle baby’

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By KATE JOHNSON

On Jan. 23, 2018, Pastor Rich Wilkerson, Jr., of Vous Church in Miami, and his wife, DawnCheré Wilkerson, welcomed their first child, Wyatt Wesley Wilkerson.

“Of course, we’re not getting much sleep, but we’re enjoying every single moment . . . . We laugh about it, and we’re having fun every step of the way.  Our home is just so full of life and we’re loving every second of it,” Wilkerson told the Christian Post.

The Wilkersons call their son Wyatt a “miracle baby” because they struggled with getting pregnant for eight years. The couple credits the Lord for the incredible blessing it was to be able to conceive Wyatt and bring him into the world.

“We waited eight years for him, and today he’s six weeks. God is so faithful and loving and merciful,” said Wilkerson.

The couple has been very open about their struggle with infertility.  Wilkerson frequently references their journey in his sermons and the couple starred in a reality show about their lives and ministry called “Rich in Faith.”

“The cool thing about that show was, my wife and I were so open about our journey, that a lot of people walked through it with us,” Wilkerson told the Christian Post.  “When a miracle did show up, people around the world were able to rejoice with us.”

Wilkerson said that he would never take back those difficult years of struggling with infertility.  “We learned so much about Jesus during that time . . . . We learned that we are complete with or without a child.  I’m just grateful that God decided to grant us this blessing.”

Vous Church is one of the biggest churches in Miami. Thousands of young Florida residents attend the services every Sunday, which have to be held in the auditorium of a middle school in order to seat the mass amounts of people.

Rich Wilkerson shot to fame in 2014 after he officiated the celebrity wedding of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. The Wilkersons together have more than 600,000 followers on social media.

“When you hold your miracle” (Photo via Instagram).

The celebrity value of the Wilkersons led the story of the birth of their son to be picked up across multiple media outlets, both religious and secular, such as People magazine.

The People magazine story does not mention God once.  Instead, the focus is on the struggle with infertility and the strains it took on the couple.

“I was told on my 25th birthday by my doctor that we would have trouble conceiving,” DawnCheré told People.  “I honestly thought the doctor was wrong.  I never dreamed it would take eight years before we heard the words, ‘You’re pregnant.’”

The article in People is considerably shorter than all articles in religious publications.  The interview and coverage of the Wilkersons in People is very generic. The quotes taken from the couple do not mention faith at all.

“I’ve talked to everyone about becoming a dad.  It’s a big step to become parents, and we know that!  Everyone’s got advice,” Wilkerson told People.

Given that the couple are both very prominent Christians, minsters of a megachurch and have dedicated their entire lives to faith, I am highly skeptical that they would not mention God in their interview with People magazine. This strikes me as very unlikely after frequenting Vous Church and reading the Wilkersons’ quotes from other interviews.

Therefore, I am led to believe that People magazine chose to cut out any quotes about God or Christianity in the article covering their interview with the Wilkersons and the birth of their “miracle baby.”

The question arises: Does not mentioning the Lord, leaving out such an important fact about the Wilkersons’ life story and their response to the birth of their son, make the People magazine story more than inauthentic – but inaccurate?  In my personal opinion, the answer is yes.

In sports, there are consequences

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By BRENNAN PRUSAK

The unspoken rules of sports might be the some of the hardest to understand, but result in some of the harsher punishments. For example:

  • Don’t steal when you are up more than 10 runs in baseball.
  • Don’t run up the score when you can take a knee in football.
  • Don’t take the open layup in the end of a basketball game that was decided long ago.

Do any of these and you’ll find yourself at the mercy of the other team. Essentially, you need to play hard enough to win a game but not too hard to the point of showing up the other team even if you weren’t trying to do so in the first place.

Easy, right?

The Philadelphia 76ers were up by eight points with 12 seconds left when Dario Saric ran the floor for an easy one-handed dunk. The Cavaliers were not a fan of this move and Jordan Clarkson threw the ball at Saric in disgust, causing a small scuffle to break out on the court.

“Uh, basketball, that’s it,” Clarkson said after the game. “Part of the game. If anybody says different, that they wouldn’t have did that, that they’d have did something different or anything else, they are lying. Especially if it was at that [point] of the game.”

Clarkson seemed to take exception to the fact that Saric took an easy bucket when the game was “already over,” but analysts and former players alike were quick to take the other side.

Many said that if Clarkson didn’t like the fact that he scored as late as he did, he shouldn’t have let him score. If the Cavs kept it a close game, the problem wouldn’t have risen. Others said that if they were Saric, they would have dunked it twice as hard and stared down the crowd to put an exclamation point on the game.

However, Saric can likely expect a hard foul the next time these teams meet just like a baseball player should expect a fastball to the back after taking too long to round the bases after a home run.

It’s not too often that you see the news media take the same side as the players but, in this case, it’s usually only the team that’s losing that feels their actions were justified. If it were the other way around, the Cavs would have looked at it from the side of the Sixers and news media, but athletes, no matter what age, hate nothing more than getting shown up in a loss.

Shalala running for Congress

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By PATRICIA SANTANA

On March 7, former UM president Donna Shalala announced her candidacy as representative of Florida’s 27th Congressional district.

Shalala is one of many contenders vying for the vacancy created by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s retirement. Shalala is running as a Democrat. Her platform includes issues such as LGBTQ rights and environmental conservation.

The Miami Hurricane did an excellent job of covering this story.

On Feb. 14, they published a speculative piece discussing the rumors that Shalala would run for Congress. This article displayed a commitment to the story and indicates that they were on top of any developments long before Shalala filed for candidacy.

There are also a number of corrections on the bottom of the article dated Feb. 16. These corrections show their transparency, since they could’ve made the corrections and not announced it in order to not risk a negative perception of their mistakes. They also could have avoided any corrections and hoped nobody would notice, which would have been very lazy reporting.

The Miami Hurricane’s Facebook page was very prompt in posting Shalala’s announcement on March 7. The timestamp on their “Breaking News” post was 10:39 a.m. The next post on their page was of a complete article on Shalala’s announcement, posted at 11:08 a.m. This gap of about half an hour shows how quick they were to produce a complete article in order to provide readers the full story in a timely manner.

In comparison, The Miami Herald’s Facebook page did not post about Shalala’s announcement until 1 o’clock in the afternoon. Granted, The Herald has many other stories they need to be covering and Shalala is a campus icon at UM, making her story one worth prioritizing for The Miami Hurricane.

The story by the Miami Herald focused on Shalala’s anti-Trump platform, her Clinton connections and what the competition will be like for that congressional seat. The story by The Miami Hurricane focused much more on the impact the news had on campus and included quotes from UM administrators, such as Vice President for Student Affairs Patricia Whitely, and faculty such as Associate Professor of Political Science Joseph Uscinski.

The Miami Hurricane story also focused on Shalala’s impact during her tenure at UM to a greater extent than The Miami Herald did. These differences are illustrative of how different newspapers report their stories based on the audience. Whereas The Herald must tailor their stories to a greater Miami audience, The Hurricane can focus more on capturing the attention of the UM community, a much more specific audience.