Stuff You Should Know

Boston Marathon Bombing Update

The bomb that exploded during the Boston Marathon on April 21 killed three people and injured more than 260. The victims ranged in age from 7 to 71. Sixteen of them lost limbs, either directly from the blast, or from complications that required an amputation. Many more of the victims have wounds that were so littered with the debris that they will require multiple surgeries to simply decontaminate them. Other common surgeries have been the repair of bones, veins and nerves. Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and finding proper pain management are other major long-term challenges and concerns.

The Spaulding rehabilitation hospital in Boston has assigned a team of healthcare professionals–doctors, nurses, physical therapists and psychologists–who will focus exclusively on the bombing victims. The hospital recently opened a brand new facility with state-of-the-art technology, an outdoor therapy area and aquatic center. It was designed specifically to make life easier for patients with any number of disabilities. Environment can play a significant role in a patient’s rehabilitation and general outlook.

Dig Deeper: Find out the name of three of the bombing victims. Do some research on their particular injuries. Determine the likely length of their recovery and continue to follow up on their progress.

Sequestration Update

Earlier this year, the government chose to enact Sequestration, the automatic across-the-board federal government cuts of $1.2 trillion of spending over a 10 year period. Congress passed a law in 2011 called the Budget Control Act. It gave the legislative branch one year to come up with an agreed-upon plan to balance the nation’s budget. If members of Congress could not do so, there would be automatic cuts. Unfortunately, Democrats and Republicans have disagreed on the best way to fund the many government programs that make up the nation’s government budget. As a result, Congress did not come up with a plan. So Sequestration officially went into effect on March 1.

The department in charge of carrying out the Sequester is the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). A common way to enact the mandatory cuts is through employee “furloughs.” A furlough is a required, unpaid, leave-of-absence taken by federal government employees. Some believe this is a good alternative to eliminating people’s jobs entirely. Some areas of the federal government and some government programs will not experience cuts, such as Social Security, Veteran’s Benefits, unemployment officials, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), agencies that distribute food stamps, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

What Do You Think? Find out why Congress has had such a hard time agreeing on a solution to balancing the budget. Make a chart with basic pros and cons of each side. Keep track of any negotiations made. Given what you read, how likely are they to reach a settlement soon?

Summer Movie Gets a Head Start

The first sign of spring may be the urge to get outside, but one of the first signs of summer is the urge to be inside, in an air-conditioned theater munching popcorn and watching the biggest blockbusters of the year. This summer’s most-anticipated flicks feature heroes (Man of Steel, Iron Man 2 The Wolverine, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and The Lone Ranger) and continuation of previous hits with a sequel (Despicable Me 2, Star Trek: Into Darkness, and Monster’s University.)

Until recently, the summer movie season didn’t officially kick-off until Memorial Day weekend, which is usually the last weekend in May. However, due to the box-office slump that usually occurs after the Christmas and Oscar-nominated releases have left theaters, studios want a Summer head-start. And it is important, because studios often receive about 40% of their yearly revenue from the Summer season ticket sales.

What Do You Think? What movies are you looking forward to seeing this summer? What difference (if any) do you think it makes to see release in the theater (as opposed to on DVD or a device)? Compare your answer with your classmates.

Tensions Escalate in Syria

The civil war violence that began in Syria in 2011 continues to escalate. More than 70,000 people have died in the clashes between President Bashar al-Assad’s government and rebel forces who oppose him. The trouble began two years ago when protesters took to the streets after 15 schoolchildren were arrested and reportedly tortured for writing anti-government graffiti on a wall. The government responded by opening fire on the protesters, killing four people, which has lead to unrest all over the country, people demanding that the President, Bashar al-Assad, resign. But he has refused to step down, and he has quite a lot of people in Syria that still support him including Russia and China.

The United Nations sent peace monitors into Syria in April 2012, but had to pull out after it became too dangerous. It doesn’t look like the fighting is going to end any time soon. Most recently, the Obama administration has announced that there is evidence that the Syrian army has used chemical weapons, which would complicate our position on avoiding US military intervention in the area. The UN has announced that the number of Syrian refugees who’ve fled the conflict has reached one million, half of whom are children.

Dig Deeper: There have been almost daily updates to the Syrian conflict. Find a source, such as the NY Times, CNN, the BBC or other national news outlets. Do you think that the United States should intervene? Why or why not?