Along with rising sea levels and melting iceberg’s global
warming’s changing temperatures may also affect the spread of disease.
Even today certain diseases are already changing because of shifts in
the Earth’s climate and temperature. The World Health Organization has
identified more than 30 new or renewing diseases in the last three
decades—all because of climate change.
12/13/2009
Our Changing Climates
Health Care in America
With health care being so hotly debated I talked to insures about the different types of insurance being offered to consumers.
Download Health Insurance Types
Legalizing Marijuanna
Since 1951, the U.S. government has implemented a number of laws that criminalize the use of marijuana. Some people like, Steven Epstein who co-founded and is the current treasurer of the Mass Cannabis Reform Coalition, feel that as a country we’ve lost sight of why cannabis is so important.
An Emerson Thanksgiving
With airfare prices reaching the highest rates in more than a decade it is no surprise that more students are spending their Thanksgiving Break in the Boston area than ever before. Approximately 2% of Emerson students stay on campus during break while countless students find themselves unable to go home for the holiday. This number has not increased significantly since last year. Instead students are choosing to stay with family and friends who live in the area.
This lack of interest in housing at Emerson College is a probably a good
thing. Acquiring housing for break periods is no easy task. Housing is limited
to rooms in the Little Building. Emerson students wishing to receive housing
are required to fill out an application demonstrating need as well as submit
employment papers. These items are necessary not simply to discriminate who
receives housing, but also to ensure that once you do receive housing you will
be able to work on campus during break.
It’s not the application process that makes staying on-campus during break so
difficult, however, it’s finding a room at all. Students must find Little
Building residents who are willing to ‘rent out’ their rooms for the week.
Most students that find it impossible to go home for break find it easier to
stay with friends or relatives who live in the Boston area. Staying on campus
is for most is a last choice chosen only once they have exhausted all other
options. It is surprising then that not all students are staying on campus
simply because the cost of going home is too high.
Several students came to Emerson this year knowing that they would not be able
to travel back home until December break. For the more than 30% of
Emersonians that hail from West Coast states like California buying a plane
ticket home for break would cost you on average more than $100 dollars for each
day you were gone.
Chelsea Graven a third year Marketing student, said that going home for
Thanksgiving break was never going to be an option for her this year.
“I’m from California and even in August tickets to go back home were around
600, when they were around 400 last year, so financially it seemed ridiculous
to spend all that money to go home for 5 days when Christmas break is only a
couple weeks later.”
Financial reasons were not the only causes of students staying on campus for the holiday, however, some students stayed for more personal reasons. Derrick Cheung, a freshman Marketing student, said that though going home was an option he decided to stay on-campus.
“It’s a long and complicated story… basically I’m staying here to see a girl
who I’m in love with.”
Criticism from students about housing procedures during school breaks usually
have nothing to do with staying on-campus or not being able to take place with
festivities of home. Instead students often complain about more practical
things such as the loss of their meal plan or being required to work at the
reception desk during the week.
When asked Chelsea Graven said that her reasons for staying are somewhat moot because although she won’t be paying for a plane ticket she still has to find off campus restaurants to eat in during the week.
“It’s frustrating that we can’t use our meals, since it’s pretty difficult to cook food if you don’t have pots and pans, which a lot of us don’t, and it probably won’t end up being all that much less expensive to stay here than go home at the end of the day with the cost of eating out all the time.”
Gay Marriage
With gay marriage initiatives generating controversy across the country I spoke with the experts on the real differences between marriage and civil unions.
12/12/2009
Feature Profiles
Two of the group’s members hold
colorful guitars while the youngest stands between them, with a disarming smile
on his face. Their clothing manages to be both chic and stylish while radiating
youth and frivolity. They are attractive clean cut as do all of Disney’s young
stars. While posing for pictures they mentally prepare themselves for the night
ahead.
No, this trio is not the pop
sensation The Jonas Brothers; instead they are Kimya Kavehkar and her
suitemates Christine Allen and Jessica Bonet. As part of an ongoing joke that
attempts to make the pop rock trio The Jonas Brothers appear ridiculous the
three roommates dressed up as the band for Halloween.
This is the kind of free
spiritedness that causes Allen, one of Kavenhkar’s closest friends, to describe
her as, “loud funny [with] absolutely no shame.” Her gutsy personality is just
one of the characteristics that motivated her to travel nearly 2,000 miles to
attend school in Boston, Massachusetts. Kavenhkar’s grew up in Austin Texas, an
urban city that offers, in her words, “more music options than Boston,”
A move to Boston is not the only
thing that Kavenhkar’s confidence and drive has provided her, however. When
recalling an internship last summer Kavenhkar described her application process
as an example of who she is as a person. One day she decided that she needed an
internship and immediately sought one with no doubt that she would stand out
amongst her peers. She describes herself as a person who “makes things happen”.
As a Print and Multimedia Journalism
major Kavenhkar plans to pursue a career in International or Fashion Journalism
after graduation. She plans to achieve this goal in the same way that she’s
achieved everything else in her life by going after it with dogged
determination.
That determination has proven
successful in the past most notably when it, combined with her scholastic
record, helped her win a $1,000 scholarship to the International Baccalaureate
Program at Oxford. While in the program, Kavenhkar studied Human Rights with a
private Oxford tutor and attended lectures about, in her words, “everything
from the EU to Romantic British Poetry”.
While an undergraduate student at
Emerson College, Kavenhkar is already beginning to gain the credentials that
will help foster her career. She is an active member of the Fashion Society,
Writer’s Block, and EmMagazine. Her hope is that these and other activities
will eventually help secure her a place in the world journalism industry.
Station News
Randi Goldklank, a woman often seen behind the scenes of most news coverage, became a story herself earlier tonight. Goldklank the general manager of Boston news station WHDH was arrested earlier tonight and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Allegedly Goldklank was involved in several outbursts after a Delta flight from Philadelphia to Boston on Sunday night. According to a Massachusetts State police report airport attendants had to escort her off of the aircraft due to her unsteadiness. Police had already been contacted regarding Goldklank due to her disorderly behavior while onboard the aircraft.
According to the report, Goldklank staggered out of Gate number nine at Logan International airport smelling of alcohol. The report states that while being taken into custody she struck the arresting officer breaking the prescription eye glasses and threatened him, screaming, “Leave me alone, do you know who the [obscenity] I am? I’ll have a news crew down here in minutes and you will lose your [obscenity] jobs”.
“I’m a big shot in Boston,” Goldklank is reported as saying to Troopers “and I’ll have your [obscenity] jobs you think you’re a [obscenity] tough guy, you just watch and see what[obscenity] happens to you when I get [obscenity] out of here.”
Goldklank was so unmanageable that police had difficulty booking her due to her level of intoxication. After refusing to answer any questions and swearing at officers Goldklank the report states that she became subdued.
A few minutes late the report states that she leaned forward and said to Sergeant Luce, “You think I’m cure and I think you’re cute, just drive me home.”
Later, after medical professionals from Boston Health and Hospital were called, Goldklank was overheard saying that she had had “about three dozen drinks,” according to the report. The report also stated that Goldklank was overheard saying she had been taking Lexapro for depression.
Affordable Housing
Most state programs will not see much of the federal stimulus plan. After Thursday’s announcement by Governor Deval L. Patrick that more than $750 million of the federal aid given to the state will be given to health care many Massachusetts organizations including Cambridge’s Affordable Housing Trust. The Trust which meets monthly spent much of its meeting considering its budget and how funding problems could affect future housing creation.
The Cambridge Affordable Housing Trust a group that Cambridge City Manager Beth Rubenstein describes a program created to, “build and promote affordable housing in Cambridge” through the creation and preservation of quality affordable housing. During its March 26th meeting the Trust members discussed their current budget and how they planned to use current funding throughout the year a process Susan Schlesinger referred to as, “a useful exercise in micro planning.”
Despite the serious discussion topic members of the Trust remained as calm and approachable as their environment. The darkened Ackerman Room of the Cambridge City Hall building’s red hues and dull lighting is something that the members of the Trust seem comfortable with. Susan Schlesinger the Cambridge City Trustee sat huddled in her tipped back chair with crossed arms and a North Face jacket while looking quizzically at the other members of the Trust.
During a discussion about the need for more affordable housing facilities in Cambridge Schlesinger responded, “What are we New York, that’s crazy for three thousand [dollars] you can buy…” to news that an apartment could cost renters more than three thousand per month. This she stressed was why affordable housing was so important and why federal stimulus funding would help their cause. When asked about the amount of money the Trust and other agencies might receive, the moderator, Trustee Robert W. Healy quipped, “Kind of what … we got for education. Nothing”. Healy quickly commented that nothing had been stated by the state about exactly which groups would get funds or how much they would each receive.
The overall meeting style was more formal than the appearance of the Trust members implied. Though Schlesinger spent most of the meeting peppering Chris Cotter, the Housing Director, with critical questions about the budget and the group’s future plans there were outward interruptions by members.
During a discussion about the future plans of Trust members voted for closed session so a vote over current projects could ensure. The general public was not permitted to stay for this portion of the meeting. Members declined to comment on what was voted on.
Hollywood Police Officer Dies In Crash
The red, white, and blue of the flag-covered coffin were the focal point of the muted church. Family members wore the black uniform of mourning while attending police officers were formal blue uniforms. Photographs from family events and time spent with friends appeared in the background as speakers shared, their memories of the fallen officer.
Boutiques of flowers lined the podium as a procession of family, friends, colleagues, and strangers paid their respects to the family and community that lost Hollywood Police Officer Alex Del Rio. Del Rio, a nine year officer, died when his police cruiser crasher into a palm tree in the 7000 block of Sheridan Street before the car burst into flames on November 22. Authorities believe Del Rio may have been chasing a speeding car and tried to avoid hitting a cab when the accident occurred.
At the funeral, in which thousands attended, Del Rio’s mother Miriam Fernandez imparted her son’s dream of becoming a police officer and his giving nature as three uniformed officers stood closely by as a symbol of both respect and compassion. “You are my hero and now my angel in the sky,” Del Rio’s mother said of her deceased son.
Fellow Officers also mourned the loss of their colleague. Hollywood police Chief Chadwick E. Wagner shared his memories of the young subordinate along with his condolences to the Del Rio family.
“You can’t find anyone who can say a negative things about Alex and more importantly you would never hear Alex say a negative thing about anyone or anything he was a positive person” Wagner shared “…this is for the entire Del Rio family… when Alex became a part of the Hollywood family, you became a part…. We can’t take Alex’s place that’s for sure but we will always be here for you, for whatever you need. That I promise,”
Uncle and colleague officer Saul Fernandez shared memories of Del Rio’s affectionate nature. As the memorial service came to a close, Fernandez compelled visitors to, “Please in remembrance of Alex today hug each other no matter how old, young, or tough you are… that would bring a smile to Alex and to your hearts,”
Del Rio’s death is still being investigated. Del Rio is survived by his parents and two sisters. Anyone who saw the accident or has information should call the Hollywood Police Department at (954) 967-4357
