Alejandra's Two Cents

I'm sure most of us have already dealt with the cold that was going around as soon as temperatures dropped this season, and with the pandemic, we are all tired of hearing about contagious illnesses. However, with two-thirds of states are reporting "high" or "very high" levels of flu activity , I think it's worth acknowledging that we may need to begin taking more precautions and preventative measures to slow down the spread.  ABC News, CDC For some perspective, the CDC reports that this time last year, all states were reporting only "low" or "moderate", so these numbers are quite alarming. This year, flu season began earlier than usual "causing hospital beds to fill up quickly" something hospitals were recently challenged with (Benadjaoud, Egan, & Kekatos 2022). With hospitalizations and deaths reaching an alarming amount, I think this should be the part when we start taking precautions. The first thing one would obviously s...

This story is fairly new, but I hope that it gains traction soon. Upon reading the headline, " Migrant workers were deceived and died for Qatar's World Cup. Thousands want compensation. "  I was confused by what exactly it meant. I thought, "what correlation is there between migrant workers and the World Cup, and what happened that they died?" The article is telling the story of Emran Khan, of Bangladesh, and the other millions of migrants who worked to make the World Cup possible. Activists are calling for attention so that the public acknowledges the "true human toll" of the popular tournament (Hauck 2022).  Via video call, Khan tells interviewers about his experience working for the event. He remembers carrying hundreds of 20 lb concrete blocks for up to 16 hours a day in the heat. Alongside, his colleagues were fainting and vomiting, some even died. Anish Adhikari, another migrant worker from Nepal, says they faced challenged such as non-payment, d...

I stumbled upon this news story for the first time, even though the crime occurred in 2016 and the pandemic delayed the case several years, which could be why the sentencing isn't being talked about much. However, the case is a pretty bizarre one, so I'm a little surprised to be hearing about it for the first time. There are a number of news outlets writing articles about it, but I hadn't heard about it from peers or on Twitter; my "news outlet" of choice. The issue is that a former college student, Austin Harrouff, pled not guilty and will be committed to a mental institution after killing John and Michelle Mishcon Stevens. The bizarre part of the crime was that Harrouff was biting off pieces of John Stevens face when the police found him.  To contextualize the crime a bit more: Harrouff "stormed off in anger" while he was at dinner at a local restaurant with his parents. His mother called 911 to warn the authorities that he was acting strangely. Clai...

The 2022 World Cup is everything everyone is talking about, and as it only happens every four years and spans over a number of weeks, naturally other news is deemed not as entertaining. However, there are multiple tragedies around the country occurring that deserve to be talked about, including the shooting of a LGBTQ Nightclub and the murder of four friends in Idaho. On November 13th, four University of Idaho students, Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Concalves, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen were found stabbed to death in an off-campus house near the university (Yang 2022). Currently, police are unable to identify a motive or name any suspects, asking for any information that anyone can provide to help them narrow down the crime.  The case has gained traction because of a lack of clues and leads, leaving the community feeling endangered with a murderer on the loose. With no concrete leads, the FBI is using an internet link where users can submit any tips they may have. As of Friday, m...

Currently, with the Taylor Swift Eras tour fiasco, talk about Twitter being gone tomorrow, and Trump announcing his 2024 campaign, the rest of the news has been in the shadows. On November 14th, an Instagram post circulated saying, "Iran sentenced 15,000 protesters to death". The post quickly spread and was even reposted by several celebrities, gaining even greater traction. The problem was that it wasn't true. So, although this news story is one that was being covered a lot, I wanted to talk about the reality that isn't being discussed. Up until looking for a news story to discuss, I, myself, still thought that the original story was true. There are a couple news outlets trying to clarify the story, but I no longer see any Instagram posts or tweets about the topic. PolitiFact cleared up the narrative explaining that three separate pieces of news were merged together to create this story. The first piece was that one single protester was sentenced to death by the Ira...