Friday, April 1 top stories
Hello. It is Friday, April 1. I want to announce that I will no longer be doing “The Daily Moth” news. Just kidding. Happy April Fool’s Day.
Here are today’s top stories.
DeSantis considers removing Disney special status
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Disney crossed a line in their statement against the new Florida law that bans classroom teaching of LGBTQ related topics from kindergarten through third grade.
Disney said its goal was to see the law repealed or be tossed out in the courts.
The governor said he is considering removing Disney’s special status in the Orlando, Florida area that allows it to run itself as an independent government. That special status has been there for 55 years.
In separate but related news, on Thursday a LGBTQ advocacy group filed the first lawsuit against the new law, saying it violates students’ First Amendment rights by attempting to silence and erase LGBTQ people in Florida’s public schools.
New Mexico begins cannabis sales
New Mexico is the latest state to open recreational cannabis stores. At midnight today, anyone 21 and older can purchase cannabis products. AP News pointed out that recreational marijuana is now at the “doorstop of Texas, the largest prohibition state.” There are now 18 states that legalize cannabis for recreational use.
Pope apologizes for Indigenous children abuses
Pope Francis made an official apology for abuses of Indigenous children at Canada’s residential schools from the late 1800’s to the 1970’s. The schools were mostly run by the Catholic Church. About 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families and forced to go to the schools so they could be converted and have their culture and heritage removed so they could be assimilated into Canadian society at the time. Last year there were hundreds of remains of Indigenous children discovered in graves at several schools. The pope said he is “greatly pained” and vowed to visit Canada in the future.
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Chris Rock updates
One of the producers behind the 2022 Oscars said after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, he asked, “Did he really hit you?” Rock responded, “I just took a punch from Muhammad Ali.” It was a reference to Will Smith’s performance of Ali in the 2001 film, “Ali.” The producer said Rock was in joke mode, but you could tell he was very much still in shock.
The producer said LAPD officers were at the scene to ask if they wanted to take any action against Smith, but Rock dismissed the officers and said he didn’t want to make a bad situation worse.
Rock gave stand-up comedy shows in Boston on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday he told the crowd that he was “still processing what happened” and did not talk more about it. On Thursday, there was someone in the audience that shouted, “F— Will Smith!” Rock shut it down by saying, “No, no, no, no, no…”
Will Smith issued a public apology on his Instagram account on Monday. So far there’s no indication that Rock and Smith have talked about the situation.
Ukrainian helicopters attack Russia
Ukrainian helicopters crossed into Russian territory near Kharkiv and conducted airstrikes on an oil depot. Pictures on social media showed a huge fire in the Russian city of Belgorod. This is the first time that Ukrainian forces have crossed into Russia.
In related news, there are reports that Russian troops who seized the shuttered nuclear plant at Chernobyl were poisoned by radiation. It seems like the military activity stirred up localized radiation. International nuclear watchdog officials said they are not too concerned about it and hope to have permission to come to the site to monitor nuclear activity.
That is all the top stories for this week. Have a good weekend and stay with the light.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/media/ron-desantis-disney/index.html
https://www.axios.com/florida-dont-say-gay-federal-lawsuit-7c4d5a6d-7349-41ae-b45a-26b21a173a34.html