The Pendleton Panther

The BP oil spill has already shaped up to cost the company and the country over a billion dollars, but the species indigenous to the Gulf of Mexico have more to worry about that a thinner wallet.  Birds are often hit quite hard by oil spills as the petroleum readily congeals to their feathers as the float.  The brown pelican, state bird of Louisiana, was removed from the endangered species list just last year, and may face a dwindling population again.  Casualties for Gulf species at the moment remain relatively low, but no one knows exactly how damaging the spill could end up being as the world has never before seen a man made ecological disaster of this magnitude.  Among the threatened species are bluefin tuna, Kemp’s ridley turtles, and Florida Manatees which migrate up to the northern Gulf every summer to graze.  Still, if the leak can be sealed within any decent time span, there may be hope for these animals yet.

Launched April 22nd from Cape Canaveral, the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B space plane is designed to bring the maneuverability of an aircraft together with the speed and surveillance capabilities of a spacecraft.  The unmanned mini shuttle was fired off in an Atlas V rocket.   Although pictures, such as the one top left, have been released by the Air Force, the flightpath and area have operation have remained top secret.  However, being that the X-37B only skims the edge of space in Low Earth Orbit, amateur astronomers have been able to find and photograph the bright, streaking speck in the night sky.  The first sightings were made by enthusiasts in Capetown, South Africa and Toronto, Canada.  With the location and time of both sightings, the craft’s entire orbit has been mapped out by civilians.  You can see when and if the X-37B will be flying over your head here.

The oil that already floats  in the Gulf of Mexico has proven to be quite resistant to containment, but the 210,000 gallons of crude that gets dumped into the ocean each day poses a much bigger threat.  The damaged drilling rig has thus far defeated all attempts to stem the flow of black gold, but BP has announced a new plan, something that they call a “top kill”.  Two pipes, three inches in diameter, are to be inserted into the spewing maw of the rig.  Heavy fluids will then be pumped down onto the oil to weigh it down.  With geyser temporarily stanched, the opening can be sealed with cement.  After the damage is repaired, the rig will be abandoned by BP, never to extrude another drop.  If this plan should fail, however, BP will have few methods left to plug up the wellhead, but they will doubtlessly keep trying.

Adam Wheeler

Former Harvard Student Adam Wheeler, 23, was indicted today by federal officials for falsifying the majority of the information he put down on his applications to Harvard, scholarships, and other programs. He had received 45,000 in scholarship aid from numerous awards that he unfairly won. According to The Crimson Newspaper, “Adam Wheeler, 23, was indicted on 20 counts of larceny, identity fraud, falsifying an endorsement or approval, and pretending to hold a degree. Wheeler was allegedly “untruthful” in his applications to the University and in scholarship applications, according to a statement released today by Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone. As a senior in September 2009, Wheeler allegedly submitted fraudulent applications for the Harvard endorsement for both the United States Rhodes Scholarship and the Fulbright Scholarship.” This is a very shocking ordeal for the entire Harvard community as well as for any onlookers as to how something like this could even occur. The main reason his activity had been found was when a Harvard professor was reviewing applications and noticed a peculiarity. The work submitted by Wheeler was almost identical to the work of another Harvard professors and therefore plagiarized.  After seeing the work, professors and administrators delved deeper into his files and found many falsified documents claiming fraudulent transcripts and recommendations from professors whom he had signed for and written. The list of accusations goes on and on and it is very mind boggling how a person could get away with all of this for so long. He is being arraigned at the Middlesex Superior Court.

It was ruled today by the Supreme Court that life sentence to a minor is unconstitutional because it is considered “cruel and unusual punishment.” The Supreme Court ruling was confirmed after a 6-3 vote. It is considered to be “cruel and unusual punishment” because the court decided that life behind bars, without any chance of being let out, was not fair if the offender lacked full

The Supreme Court

“culpability” because of their age. This doesn’t mean, however, that the juvenile is guaranteed to be let out. The juvenile is just not allowed to be sentenced to life in prison without parole. This means that the person in prison has to be given a chance to be let out. I believe this was the right decision. A person should not have to give up their entire life because of a bad decision he or she made while their brain wasn’t fully developed, especially if it’s murder. The person should still be given a good amount of time in jail, but should be given the right of freedom at some point in their life again.

This has caused a lot dispute especially at such  diverse campus like IMG. Arizona has passed a law saying that if authority has any thought that you might be an illegal alien they can ask you for your papers. Arizona has done this due to the large amount of its population being illegal aliens. But on the other hand isn’t this a free country and one of the basic concepts of our country is all the diversity. Since the beginning we have all different types of people here in the United States. Plus to assume that a person might be an illegal alien just by looks is discrimination. They might actually be citizens and have to carry your papers around all the time because of the way they look. In my book that  isn’t right. A person is a person and they shouldn’t have to keep their papers with them just to be a citizen. We are one of the same and shouldn’t be pointed out because of one’s physical features. I think that Arizona has passed a law that not right, I believe they should find another way to pin point illegal aliens.

Just recently a local news station filmed Republican politician Mike Bennett looking at a certain email that showed images that wouldn’t be what you want your Senator focusing on during a Senate meeting.  The Senator was looking at porn, a picture of four topless women. Although he says it was in an email from a past court administrator, and he quickly clicked away. If this is true,

He was bored...

then this whole thing has gone way out of proportion. The part that really rubs me the wrong way, however is what he says in response to being questioned about it. When being asked why he was looking on his email during a SENATE MEETING, he simply said he was “bored.” At the time, abortion was being discussed, and in particular the women’s right to have abortion. This happens to be one of the most argued topics in today’s politics, and this man was bored? I don’t know about anyone else, but I would much rather have someone in our senate who does not get bored at an important senate meeting.

As we all know, there was a huge flash flood in Middle Tennessee, affecting the lives of everyone there.  Over 13.5 million dollars in damage was done.  Another big story is the effect this flood on big country stars.  As most of you know, a lot of country’s big stars live in Middle Tennessee as Nashville, is the “home” of country. A lot of these stars have sadly, lost a lot of their equipment and almost everything in his house. Kenny Chesney was seen leaving his home with in a boat, with a couple of bags, and two guitars.  Also, Toby Keith lost all of his touring equipment, which will be a huge deficit to him.  Brad Paisley, lost all of his equipment except for his lighting devices, which he luckily had stored else where. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill who are married big time stars, have lost almost everything that they own.  There will be a bunch of telethon’s done both locally, and nationally for those not as fortunate as the country stars who will easily be able to replace all of which they lost.

Oil Leak Workers

On May 5, 2010 the smallest of the three oil leaks on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico was sealed off.  A U.S. Coast Guard official said that it was sealed off by robot submarines which will not reduce the amount of oil that is spilling but will make it easier to seal off the leak in the near future.  The small leak — the one furthest from the well head –was sealed off with a valve sometime between 6 p.m. CDT Tuesday and 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Brandon Blackwell said. But the two more substantial leaks, which are farther down a collapsed riser, or pipe, that had originally connected the wellhead with the drilling rig, continue to gush oil, and the overall rate of the spill is likely the same.  “It’s kind of like a garden hose with three leaks in it — you cut off this leak but you still have two more,” Blackwell said.  The oil company BP has began a 125 ton collection device that is similar to a big box.  The company plans to lower the device over one of the two leaks by this weekend.

The Emirates Plane

On Wednesday May 5, 2010 the government tightened their no-fly rules due to the suspicions having to do with the failed car bombing in Times Square last week.  There are still questions as to how a Pakistani-American man was allowed to board a plane after being linked to the bomb attempt.  An administration official said that airlines must now check the roster of passengers prohibited from boarding aircraft within two hours of being notified by the government that a new name has been added to the list on an expedited basis.  Previously under the old rules, airlines had to re-check the list within 24 hours.  That was enough of a gap to allow a suspect of the Times Square attack to proceed unstopped through airport security and board a plane going to Dubai.  The suspect, Faisal Shazad, was arrested before the plane took flight.  Though Mr. Shahzad was stopped before he could fly away, there were at least two significant lapses in the security response of the government and the airline that allowed him to come close to making his escape, officials of the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies said on Tuesday.

Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur

A painting by Picasso called “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” or “Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur,” sold for approximately 106.5 million US Dollars today in a private auction held in New York. The winning bidder has remained anonymous to the public by bidding by phone. The sale was held by the auction house Christie’s and led by head auctioneer Christopher Burge. According to CNN, Silence fell over the packed saleroom as Christopher Burge conducted nine minutes of bidding that involved eight clients,” it said. “Christie’s lead auctioneer took bids from a client in the saleroom as well as those on the phone before the competition settled down to two bidders at the $88 million mark and a one-on-one battle ensued. The final bid was hammered down at 7.32 p.m. at $95 million.” There was also a buyer’s premium attached which is an extra fee that has to be paid to the auction house. That ultimately took the price to 106.5 million. The sale price is the largest ever for a single painting and outdoes the previous record holder “L’Homme Qui Marche I, bronze” (Walking Man 1) which sold back in February 2010 for $104,327,006. The painting had belonged to Los Angeles philanthropist Frances Lasker Brody who passed away last November.