The ongoing battle on the issue of abortion has ramped up in recent months. The abortion pill, mifepristone, has come under intense controversy from both sides of the aisle. Otherwise known as “The Pill,” the drug has been the topic of much scrutiny due to its adverse side effects and an allegation that the Food and Drug Administration rushed its approval amidst lobbying from pharmaceuticals.
On April 7, District Court Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, who hears cases in Amarillo at the North Texas U.S. District Court, ruled to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone. He argued the approval was rushed, which led to an unsafe drug being offered in the market. At the same time, a federal judge in the Washington District Court ruled that there would be no changes that ...
In a recent series of unprecedented events, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg announced the indictment of former President Donald Trump on March 30. It came after days of Trump stating via his social media platform Truth Social that he would be arrested due to what he called “politically motivated prosecutions” by Bragg. This historic indictment marks the first time a former U.S. president may be criminally prosecuted. The charges against Trump stem from an alleged “hush money” payment prior to the 2016 election to an adult film actress, with whom he allegedly had an affair. The alleged payment, however, didn’t come directly from Trump; rather, it came from his former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
In the event of a school shooter, I was told to run and hide in the corner away from any windows and lock any entrances. If I was in the restroom, I was out of luck. If I was in a hallway, I had to hope that a teacher would open the door to let me in and hide with them.
When I experienced a gun incident, all of the rules went out the window, and the fear of being shot crept inside my mind.
Russian President Vladimir Putin pulled out of the nuclear treaty with the U.S. China appears ready to send weapons to Russia and told the U.S. to butt out. Karen Shakhnazarov, a Russian-born movie producer and playwright who once supported Putin’s efforts, is now saying, “Russia is losing the war and should remove their troops from the invasion of Ukraine.”
According to the U.S. State Department webpage, human trafficking, also called “trafficking in persons,” includes an estimated 27.6 million victims worldwide. Traffickers target people of all ages, nationalities and socioeconomic status. Traffickers have forced their victims to engage in both legal and illegal jobs such as “hospitality, travel, agriculture, construction, landscaping, massage parlors and retail services.”
Dallas College has launched a new program focused on human trafficking. According to Michael Hunt, Senior Title IX and Equality Compliance Officer, this office is providing information through flyers and information tables because sexual exploitation and human trafficking is new ground for the Title IX office on campus.
For the first time in 50 years, NASA is making a trip to the moon, this time in a rocket named The Artemis I. Unlike the last trip, the Orion capsule contains three crash test dummies instead of astronauts on the 25-day trip. NASA hopes the new data will make for a safer manned mission, calling it a “dress rehearsal.”
According to the Associated Press, on Nov. 16, 15,000 spectators cheered and applauded at the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral as they witnessed the thrusters underneath the rocket light up and blast off launch pad 39B and then slice through the Earth’s atmosphere at 1,120 mph. Not long after that, the capsule named Orion detached from the rocket, embarking on its journey to the moon.
According to the Associated Press, the protests in the streets of Iran remain ongoing over the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini last September. Amini was detained by the moral police for “violating the terms of Islamic law” via her headscarf allegedly coming loose while visiting the nation’s capital of Tehran with her family and then perished while in police custody.
“This time people will not back down. Regime change is inevitable and that’s what people want,” said former Iranian national Suedabeh “Sue” Ewing, the wife of Richland campus theology professor Dr. Jon Ewing,
In the last few weeks, protesters have filled the streets of Tehran, Iran’s capital, demanding that high-ranking leaders implement change and end the strict policy stating that women must wear a hijab.
On Sept. 16. Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman accused of not wearing her hijab properly, was scooped up by a special arm of Iran’s law enforcement staff known as the morality police and detained. Her family said police beat her and killed her. The police deny any wrongdoing.
Seven-thousand miles away, Muslim women who attend Richland are witnessing this moment of turmoil, suffering and defiance. They are watching from Dallas with open eyes and open hearts. “I feel sad about her, and I hope it will never happen again,” said Mahlab Fedaye, 18, a Richland Collegiate High School student from Ghazni, Afghanistan.
With the Ukrainian-Russian war under- way, Ukrainian forces are driving back the invading army. Russian President Vladimir Putin not only has called for a national draft for the military reservists to enlist, civilians in Russia with no combat experience are being conscripted as well.
At the Euro Deli, a Russian grocery store in Richardson, part-time worker Olga Smirnova said she reads from various channels that oppose the Putin regime. According to her, they advise users to wipe out their cellphone’s memory if they wished to flee via the border.
“It was very heart breaking. I heard she was famous in my community. She supports my community Punjabi. People say she stole a diamond, but I respect the queen.”
When Queen Elizabeth II died on Sept. 8, the United Kingdom mourned their loss. In the student lounge at Richland, students could be heard shouting, “The queen is dead!”
“I have a lot of friends overseas and they are very passionate about their country. [Those] who grew up there … they have a close connection,” business major Kiyah Corse said.
In war, many aspects of life and parts of a nation are impacted. And with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the global economy reaching from the Americas to Asia is feeling the impact. One of the most highlighted parts in terms of economic factors in the war were the sanctions placed from European Union and the U.S. This included blocking selected Russian banks from SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions, according to the Associated Press.
Todd Senick, lab manager for the Bloom- berg Finance and Investment Lab at Dallas College Richland Campus, said the sanctions are intentionally doing what they are supposed to be doing and have had a large impact on the Russian economy and its currency, the Ruble.
