Current Events Quiz 5.2

1. It has been revealed that Haruka Weiser was sexually assaulted and strangled. The sources are police officials but they decided to go unnamed due to the fact that they were not authorized to speak about the case. They probably shared the information because the police thought that it was important to share this valuable information with the public. This story is significant because of it's proximity, timing, and novelty.

2. According to hired.com, 69% of the time, men get paid more than women for doing the same job at a tech company and that tech employers are offering women salaries that are 3% less than that of their male counterparts. Hired.com is a website that connects tech employers to those seeking jobs in the tech industry so they have an insider view the industry and were able to gather this information because of that. Hired.com suspects that this is because women have lower wage expectations set on the website than men do. This theory doesn't really change the way I see the technology companies. Despite the fact that the women told them that this is how much they would like to be paid, they thought it was the appropriate amount because of the universal wage throughout all industries and the tech companies are playing into that. I don't really know about promoting hired.com but they did mention it's name quite a bit and I feel like they could have used more sources to support the article.

3. McCrory's executive order changed South Carolina's equal employment policy so that it would cover discrimination claims based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The American Civil Liberties Union responded by calling McCrory's action a weak attempt to save face after being criticized by the LGBTQ community. PayPal, Deutsche Bank, the NBA, and Bruce Springsteen have all either canceled, put on hold, or threatened to retract events or plans happening in the state in protest of the law. I think they would probably explain the executive order the same way.

4. According to UNICEF, terrorist group Boko Haram has increasingly used child bombers this past year. As a result, people are starting to see children, especially girls, as threats. Terrorism experts refuse to call these bombings suicide attacks because the children carrying them out either did not do it on their own volition or were too young to understand the consequences of their actions. Boko Haram has aligned itself with al-Qaida because, like them, their goal is to create an Islamic caliphate. The difference is that they are located in Nigeria, whereas al-Qaida's area of operations is predominately in the Middle East. According to a new Mercy Corps report, most people join Boko Haram for financial reasons.

5. Clifford Antone Foundation aims to bolster music scene: A new foundation has been created in honor of the legendary blues club operator and Austinite, Clifford Antone. The foundation aims to support the Austin music scene while also caring for it's more elderly members. It also plans to preserve music artifacts for future generations, improving music education, and mentoring at-risk kids interested in music. I really like this article because 1) I am very interested in music, 2) I've shopped and been to shows at Antone's Records and he was someone that I very deeply respect, and 3) I completely agree with the new foundation's mission and look forward to hearing about their work in the music community.

6. I think that this column definitely has more personality than the other news pieces. It's unique format and individual voice make it seem like Bohls is addressing us directly and sharing his thoughts and opinions with us, as if we were having a conversation. I liked #8 the best because it was funny. If I would cut any one, it would be #4 just because I didn't like how long it was.