Bravo to Jana Winter, the Fox News contributor who may be sentenced to spend time in jail for refusing to identify her sources in her investigative reporting into the background of alleged Aurora, Colo. shooter, James Holmes. Winter received one of Holmes' notebooks containing his detailed plans for the July 20 shooting and has been subpoenaed by Holmes' attorneys to testify. The judge will rule whether Winter must disclose her source in order to avoid jail time on April 10. We applaud her for defending the freedom of the press while risking her own.
Boo to the "deadliest day for U.S. personnel" in Afghanistan for several months. A car bomb detonated in the southern Afghan province of Zabul on April 6, killing five including the 25-year-old Anne Smedinghoff, a diplomat from the U.S. embassy in Kabul. Three days earlier on April 3, an attack attributed to the Taliban forces killed over 40 people, and on April 8, nine more civilians were killed with 21 people left injured after a roadside bomb exploded. Bravo to U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel for directing the Pentagon's office of legal counsel to seek an amendment to the Uniform Code of Military Justice in order to bar generals from overturning military juries' verdicts in sexual assault cases. Several estimates put the number of sexual assaults against female service members at about 20 percent, while about 6 percent of male service members have been sexually assaulted.
Boo to Margaret Thatcher's death. Britain's Iron Lady, elected as the country's only female Prime Minister in 1979, blazed paths for female leaders around the world. But she wasn't just a feminine leader. Thatcher revitalized Britain's economy and helped the state return to its status as a world power, something it struggled with after being decimated by World War II.
Bravo to NASA’s new plan to lasso an asteroid. In the spirit of “It’s a Wonderful Life” or perhaps Steve Irwin, NASA wants to capture an asteroid from the wild using a robotic spaceship and pull it closer to the moon in order for astronauts to explore its intricacies. The mission to tow the small-scale asteroid will help scientists to find out what possible threats asteroids pose — like, say, striking the Earth and burning us to bits.
Boo to North Korea’s recent threats. North Korea’s provocations have intensified to a full-scale psychological warfare that has the world watching its every move. The North Korean military recently moved a missile to its east coast that is believed to have a local striking range. To push the envelope even further, about 50,000 North Korean workers have been pulled from an industrial park that served as a symbol of inter-continental relations with the South.
Bravo to Jack Hoffman, who has been suffering from brain cancer and had the chance to live his dream last weekend. He took a hand-off from University of Nebraska-Lincoln starting quarterback Taylor Martinez to the house for a 69-yard touchdown run the Nebraska spring game. It was an awesome moment to watch and another example of how sports can touch the lives of so many people.
Boo to the recent swarm of bees on ASU's Tempe and Polytechnic campuses. Unless they're animated and voiced by Jerry Seinfeld, bees are scary creatures and certainly not something we want to walk into while wandering around campus with our heads in our phones. Go buzz somewhere else, bees!
Bravo to the PHX Sky Train, the automated, interterminal train system at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport which finally opened on April 8. The Sky Train connects the light rail to all terminals at Sky Harbor, offering free transportation to the airport 365 days a year. This is especially great news to out-of-state students who are frequent fliers and will no longer have to traverse to the airport via shuttle services. The Sky Train is reported to cut the airport commute down to five minutes from the 44th and Washington light rail stop, a great alternative to the previous half-hour-long bus ride.
Boo to the new construction on University Drive that will last until May and will reduce the road to a single lane each way. If ever there was an absurdly inconvenient time to clog University Drive even more than it usually is, it's during the final month of classes. Where it might have taken 20 minutes to traverse the stretch of University between Mill Avenue and Rural Road, it will now take a lifetime, possibly more. What joy.
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