Owner of Clippers Makes Racist Comments

Donald Sterling, a long time owner of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA basketball team allegedly made racial comments regarding African Americans.  The owner, Sterling, supposedly told a female friend of his to avoid being seen with black people in public.  An audio recording was released to TMZ and the voice was recognized as being Sterling.  Much of the people in the NBA reacted to his negative comments, along with the majority of the players of the NBA, the majority of which who are African American, were disgusted by his comments.

NBA basketball star Lebron James of the Miami Heat released a statement about Sterling shortly after Sterling was identified as supposedly saying his racist comments.  James said that there was “no room for Sterling” on the NBA league.  Magic Johnson, a former star basketball player also made a tweet about Sterling and said he would not attend a Clippers game as long as Sterling stayed the owner.  The NBA soon released a statement that they would look further into this case and the alleged comments made by Sterling.

Later on, a phone call was released from Sterling to one of his former girlfriends that made the racist comments.  Sterling said that he was angry that she had posted a picture on instagram with a black man and that she should not be broadcasting all over social media that she is talking to black people.  He later says in the phone call that she shouldn’t be broadcasting him to the whole world and states that she shouldn’t bring him to any of his basketball games.  He later says that it bothers him that she wants people to know she is affiliating herself with black people.

Sterling has had some past with other racial related conflicts.  In 2009 he had to pay close to 3 million dollars to settle a housing conflict where he supposedly refused to let any blacks or Latinos in an apartment complex.  Also, a clippers manager has also suggested that Sterling has made side comments before regarding African Americans.

Obama came to later make an announcement about Donald Sterling and what he had said over the phone.  Obama said, in a press conference, that Sterlings comments were incredibly racist.  Obama also said that when ignorant people want to make ignorant comments, you don’t have to do anything but just let them talk.

Sterling was also supposed to be receiving a lifetime achievement award soon.  However, Sterling will no longer be receiving this award.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/27/obama-says-remarks-allegedly-made-by-clippers-owner-incredibly-offensive/

"Obama: Alleged Remarks by NBA Clippers Owner 'incredibly Offensive'" Fox News. FOX News Network, 27 Apr. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

Teenage Girl Killed at School on Prom Day

It was Friday morning at Jonathan Law High School in Milford Connecticut, and all was well.  Students were excited for the weekend, and most importantly for the night, prom. It was around 7:15 when an unknown boy approached Maren Sanchez, only 16 years old.  Few witnesses say that the unidentified male classmate asked her to prom, which was just 12 hours away.  Maren declined his offer and then witnesses say he pulled out a knife and stabbed Maren Sanchez in the hallways of the high school, just around 7:15 am.

A true tragedy, affecting all students at the school.  Maren was a member of the schools honor society and was well known around her school for being extremely kind to others.  The news of her death wasn’t released until later on that night, only a few hours until prom was scheduled to begin.  The school ended up postponing the prom until a later date, but that didn’t stop their students from anything.  The classmates and friends of Maren all dressed up and honored Maren as they released purple balloons, her favorite color, into the sky later that night.  They also held up Marens prom dress as they remembered her last night.

Students of Jonathan Law High School also painted a huge rock that was outside the school.  The rock was painted pink and “RIP Maren” as well as her birthday, August 26, 1997, was written on the rick in Marens honor and remembrance Friday afternoon.

Some motives have come up as to why the unidentified male may have stabbed Maren, but the most likely is that she rejected his offer to prom for later that night.  Maren was thought to have a new boyfriend at the time, hence the reason why she had to decline the unidentified males request for prom.  The males name will not be released to the public for a while because he is not 18 and legally an adult yet.  However, the subject in custody is 17, and may be tried as an adult which means he could face up to life in prison if he is convicted.  Investigations are still talking to students and faculty members to try and turn up any other motives or reasons why this tragedy may have occurred.  But there is one thing that was promised, justice will be served.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/slain-teen-remembered-seaside-vigil-prom-night/story?id=23483403

Mohney, Gillian. "Slain Teen Remembered at Seaside Vigil on Prom Night." ABC News. ABC News Network, 26 Apr. 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.

Problems With the Pine Tar

There are some things that you just cannot get away with, and having illegal pine tar on your neck for everyone in the world to see during a baseball game is definitely one of them.  Michael Pineda, a pitcher for the New York Yankees, had recently gotten into trouble just less than two weeks ago for using pine tar to enhance his pitching against the Boston Red Sox.  Just last night, he was busted for the same exact thing, using pine tar to help him pitch better, but this time Pineda placed the tar on his neck for almost anyone to see.  Not to mention that they were playing the exact same opponent as they were less than 2 weeks ago, when Pineda was ejected from that game!

As the Dailey News put it “You don’t drive 100 mph past a police station. You don’t brag to an IRS auditor about your undeclared income, and if you are a big-league pitcher who has already been caught with pine tar on your person, you don’t show up 13 days later against the same opponent, and come out with a gob of the stuff smeared on the right side of your neck”.  I’m starting to question the stupidity of some people.  I mean yeah if you really want to get away with something be super sneaky about it, and if you are caught, don’t do it again or if you really have to, be even sneakier.  What you should not do is after you are caught for something, do not make it even more obvious the next time and expect to get away, it is complete nonsense!

Many pitchers do use illegal pitching substances in the MLB such as the pine tar used by Pineda in the Yankees game against the Red sox just the other night.  Unlike Pineda, these pitches are extremely quiet about it, and do not use it just a few games after being caught using it.  Many MLB pitchers confessed to using theses illegal substances to enhance their pitching, usually in cold weather.
Just when you thought it was almost impossible to get even stupider, you were wrong.  It was even possible that Pineda had a rag used to wipe pine tar hanging out of his back pocket while he was pitching.  One reported even joked that he had the discretion of a Kardashian.  Just hopefully when he returns he does not get in trouble yet again!

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/coffey-placement-pine-tar-real-sticking-point-article-1.1767139

 

"Placement of Pine Tar on Yankees' Michael Pineda is Real Sticking Point." NY Daily News. N.p., 24 Apr. 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.

High School Senior Asks Miss America to Prom

Nina Davulurni, or also known as miss America, was at a Pennsylvania high school just this last week and was doing a question and answer at the school, like she usually has been doing around the US.  It was then that a senior boy walked up to her with a flower and asked her to go to prom with him.  Nina was very thankful that the boy asked her, however there were several others that were not at all amused.  The school administration was furious that the boy would do such a thing and after he did, they gave him a three day suspension from school for his actions.  Now after all of this has happened, miss America is speaking out at the school to try and get them to revoke the suspension because the student did nothing wrong.

Patrick Farve, a student at a high school in Pennsylvania, was thinking about who to ask to prom, with the dance right around the corner.  When he first hear the miss America, Nina davulurni, was coming to his school to do a question and answer, he started to think about asking miss America herself to prom.  Well soon enough, with the encouragement from his peers, this became a reality.  While Nina was giving her speech at the school just this past week, Patrick walked up to her and handed her a flower and asked her to prom.  Nina was flattered when she was asked but ended up turning him down later on because she could not fit In the dance with her busy travel schedule. 

The administration was furious that Patrick had done this and thought that he had misrepresented his school and set a bad example for the other students at the school.  Patrick was called into the principal’s office and was suspended for 3 days for his actions.  Just a few days later, Nina was informed about what happened to the boy and she contacted the school immediately.  She begged the school not to suspend the boy and said that she didn’t mind him asking her to prom at all and that she actually liked that Patrick took the time to ask her.  But the schools administration wouldn’t budge and still fell through with the 3 day suspension that Patrick was given.

Patrick says he does understand why the school suspended him and that it probably wasn’t the best idea to make a scene in front of the whole school.

http://hollywoodlife.com/2014/04/20/nina-davuluri-miss-america-statement-suspended-teen/

"Miss America Begs School To Revoke Student Suspension." Hollywood Life. N.p., 20 Apr. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.

Pot Parties in Colorado for “420”

For those of you who don’t know, 420 is the number designated to cannabis, or marijuana.  Its origin comes from a police code “420”, which codes for someone currently using the drug.  Well 420 eventually caught on, and now the users of the drug celebrate on 4/20 or April 20^th of every year.  Although it is illegal in the majority of the states across the nation, that doesn’t stop users from using it, even in public rallies.  It has been know for users to gather on 420 in past years in areas such as parks.  Now that the use of marijuana is legal for recreational use in Colorado, the celebration has expanded even more than previous years, when it was illegal; and this year 420 just happens to fall on Easter Sunday.

Imagine just strolling out from church with your family shortly before noon on a nice warm Easter Sunday, and then you smell marijuana in the air.  That’s what it was like for several people in Colorado this year.  Although it is illegal to publicly use marijuana, people still do it in Colorado, just like they had publically use it while it was illegal in the state, just a year ago.  Many people are becoming angry with this and are urging police to take action.  However, it is in the polices best interest to stay away to not start any kinds of problems that may erupt because of the police disrupting the 420 rallies.

If we were to go back a year from this date, when all marijuana was illegal, for medical as well as recreational, would you have thought we would be sitting here today, able to easily walk down the road and go pick some marijuana up with no questions asked, completely legal?  Now this is just the case in Colorado, but now what will it be like a year from now? Two years? The possibilities are endless.  We could see states all across the nation start to legalize the drug, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, it just depends on how you look at things.  And of course there will be stipulations on the drug, as there is for alcohol, but you never really know what the next year brings.  Your state might even be the very next to legalize the drug for recreational or medical purposes.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2014/04/20/colorado-pot-holiday-tries-mainstream/Mc66cbJ4jYX13GLwQ9Hr0H/story.html

"In Colorado, a Pot Holiday Tries to Go Mainstream - Boston.com." Boston.com. The New York Times, 20 Apr. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.

Locavores or Loco-Vores?

A locavore is someone who pledges to only consume foods what was produced within a 100 mile radius of them.  While this movement has not been around for a very long time, it is starting to get some attention in the past few years around the nation.  Locavores believe that by eating within an 100 mile radius, they are helping solve air pollution, global warming, as well as doing a great amount of good towards their local economy, however, I believe otherwise.

According to James E. McWilliams and his article about locavores, there is a lot or errors that they are not accounting for.  Major issues that locavores claim they are solving is global warming, as well as the issue of air pollution, are being solved.  While locavores believe that by buying locally, they are lessening the air pollution which leads to global warming, however, they do not account for the miles that the locally grown foods are traveling.  Take for instance a truck and an airplane, the truck can only transport little goods over a small amount of distance, while an airplane can take a large amount goods over a large amount of distance.  There was even a study done for this funded by the New Zealand government that found if you account for the amount of goods per miles, the carbon footprint left is virtually the same.

Like I mentioned before, locavores main reason for eating locally is to lessen the air pollution of foods transported across the world.  According to a graph analyzing the climate impact of certain foods used in conservation magazine, showed that the transportation of foods is not a problem at all when looking at the greenhouse gas emissions let off.  In fact, the transportation only accounts for roughly 10% of emissions from food consumption.

One last reason why locavores choose to eat locally is to help their local economy prosper.  Wouldn’t going to your local grocery store or farmers market be helping your local economy?  Also, what do locavores do in the winter months, which are brutal almost all across America?  Just saving up some foods for 4-5 months doesn’t sound very appetizing, and your food would not be nearly as fresh as going to your local market or convenient store instead.

http://www.locavores.com/

"Join the Locavore Movement." N.p., 2007. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.

Bus Crash in California Leaves Several Dead

A charter bus with 48 people on board, 44 of which who were high school students, was involved in a fatal accident in California on Friday afternoon.  A FedEx merged into the other lane with oncoming traffic on interstate 5 in California when it collided with a charter bus with going down the opposite way.  Upon collision, there was a huge flame as the two vehicles collided. In total, there were 1o people killed in the accident, and investigators are still trying to figure out exactly what went wrong for the FedEx driver.

We have seen it in several tragic cases before, someone falling asleep at the wheel and merging into the oncoming lane or traffic and hitting another vehicle, but never are two large vehicles involved in the same crash.  There are other possibilities that may arise as causes of the accident, but the driver falling asleep is the most realistic right now because there was no attempt for the FedEx driver to avoid the collision, according to several spectators.  The spectators said that they saw the FedEx vehicle cross the grassy median and into the other fast lane of traffic.  However, one spectator said she thought she saw flames coming from under the FedEx truck before it crossed over the median, while the other spectator said they did not see any flames.  However, the bus driver was extremely alert because there was about 150 feet of break marks on the interstate from the bus driver trying to stop and avoid the crash before in happened.

Investigators will continue to look into the stage case, closely inspecting any little detail that they think will help them come to a conclusion as to what left 10 people dead in the accident Friday afternoon.  The death toll includes the two still unidentified drivers, 5 students, and 3 adult chaperones that were on the trip as well.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bus-crash-fedex-truck-fire-skid-marks-20140413,0,6799409.story?track=rss#axzz2ymtJRwix

Megerian, Chris. "Bus Crash: Report of Fire in FedEx Truck, No Skid Marks Add to Mystery." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.