Wednesday, January 5 top stories
Chicago public schools dispute
All classes at Chicago Public Schools were canceled today due to a dispute between a teachers union and school administrators over safety policies regarding the coronavirus. Teachers wanted policies requiring a negative PCR test before students or staff were allowed to return to the classroom, high-quality masks for staff and students, and more sensitive policies on when to trigger a shutdown of in-person classes and switch to remote instruction if certain things happened.
School officials said they would provide all of the three demands on a lesser scale, but the teachers rejected the school’s proposals.
73% of the members of the Chicago Teachers Union voted to suspend in-person teaching and switch to remote teaching until January 18 or until the number of Covid-19 cases fall.
School administrators and the Chicago mayor said it is an illegal work stoppage and a walkout.
The CPS is the third-largest school district in the country and consists of about 360,000 students and staffers.
Hockey fan spots cancerous mole
A woman watching a Seattle Kraken NHL game in person in October noticed that an assistant equipment manager for the Vancouver Canucks team had a mole on the back of his neck that was irregularly shaped and red-brown in color and became concerned that it could be cancer. The fan, Nadia Popovicki, was a volunteer at hospitals as a nursing assistant and learned how to spot this kind of mole. Popovicki managed to get the equipment manager’s attention using typed words on her phone, telling him to please go to the doctor about the mole. The staffer, Brian Hamilton, said he thought it was weird but after checking with doctors, it was confirmed that the mole was indeed cancerous. The mole was removed and Hamilton is in the clear with cancer. Doctors said if Hamilton ignored the mole for four to five years, he would have died. The equipment manager managed to reach out to the fan and both were able to meet to exchange thanks and well wishes.
https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1477535184941690880
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/02/sports/hockey/canucks-cancer-manager-fan.html
Texas teen shooter accused of killing three teens
The day after Christmas in Garland, Texas — near Dallas — three teenagers were shot and killed while they were inside of a convenience store. Their names were Xavier Gonzalez (14), Ivan Noyola (16), and Rafael Garcia (17).
The suspected shooter is also a teenager, only 14 years old, and he is still at large. His name is Abel Acosta. He has been charged with capital murder.
Police said the suspected shooter’s father, Richard Acosta, drove his son to the store and then acted as a getaway driver. The father was arrested and also charged with capital murder. He has denied knowing that his son had a gun with him. He said he had no idea.
Police said the shooting seemed to be motivated by revenge between Abel and one or two of the victims. Police said they are still looking for Abel and have warned the public that he is armed and dangerous.
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/crime/father-and-14-year-old-son-charged-in-triple-murder-at-garland-convenience-store/287-c6c082a8-7049-45b5-8672-741ac53479b9
[Sponsored Video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
Colorado wildfire destroys 1,000 homes
Last Thursday there were large and fast-moving wildfires in areas around Boulder, Colorado that destroyed about 1,000 homes and structures. It is called the Marshall Fire. There were wind gusts up to 105 mph that helped to spur the flames. Tens of thousands of residents were forced to evacuate. A witness said that before the fire spread out of control, he saw a small grass fire on the side of a highway and that only a few minutes later, the entire area was filled with smoke and strong winds. There are no reported deaths in the news, but two people are still missing as of Tuesday. The fire is 100% contained after snowfall, but there are concerns that some spots could be still hot and that another fire would start again. President Biden said he would provide federal emergency support to Colorado.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marshall-fire-colorado-video-start-blaze/
Donald Trump cancels Jan 6 press conference
Former President Donald Trump planned to hold a press conference on Thursday, January 6 from his Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida, but cancelled it. We know that January 6 is the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riots. Trump said he would talk about January 6 at a rally in Arizona on January 15.
President Joe Biden plans to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tomorrow to recognize the one-year anniversary of the insurrection with a moment of silence and other events.
The January 6 House Committee investigating the riots said it has information about what Trump was doing during the riot and suggested that he watched it without doing anything for a while. The committee said they are still investigating and making requests for interviews. They hope to write a report by the summer.
https://www.axios.com/trump-cancels-jan-6-press-conference-75ad9207-6820-43ec-be2d-7e64661de916.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/02/politics/biden-january-6-speech/index.html
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.