Friday, February 26 top stories

Hello! I’m Renca. I will be taking Alex’s place for today’s top news. Today is Friday, February 26. Ready to see what’s up?

The House of Representatives passed the Equality Bill, which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. All Democrats and three Republicans supported it, while all other Republicans opposed the bill. The bill now goes to the Senate, which requires at least 60 votes in order to pass. Democrats say it’s necessary to protect LGBTQ people, while most Republicans are concerned it would step on those with religious beliefs. We will see more news about this when the Senate debates it. President Biden hopes to pass the bill in his first 100 days.

Today, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that people who are fully vaccinated can gather together with minimal risk. He said that this creates their own immunity bubble and can do much more such as hugging and not needing to wear masks. Dr. Fauci, who is now fully vaccine, mentioned that when his daughter is fully vaccinated too, he wants her to come over to his house and give him a hug which was not done for over a year. According to John Hopkins University, the US has administered 68, 274, 117 dose of vaccines.

Last Wednesday night at around 9:40pm, Lady Gaga’s, an actress and musician, (some of you may remember her singing at the recent January Inauguration), dog walker who is a man (30) was out walking her 3 French Bulldogs (on Wednesday night). He was in the West Hollywood area. A white Nissan Altima 4 door car came by. Two male suspects, both were in the age of 20 to 25 years old, came out of the car and demanded the walker to give the dogs at gunpoint. The walker struggled with the suspects for a bit then was shot by one of the suspects. Both suspects took two of the three French Bulldogs and left. The dog walker was shot in the chest and is recovering at a hospital. The incident was captured by a surveillance camera nearby. Lady Gaga is offering $500k as a reward for whoever finds her two dogs that were stolen.

John Geddert, who owned a gymnastics club in Michigan, committed suicide after he was charged with 20 counts of human trafficking and other sex crimes yesterday. His body was found at an interstate rest stop. Athletes at the club previously said they were abused by Dr. Larry Nassar, who was convicted of multiple sex crimes and will be imprisoned for life.

In Lagos, Nigeria, a little over 300 girls are missing after a large group of gunmen raided a boarding school this early morning. A resident nearby said that the group of gunmen attacked a military camp and checkpoint nearby preventing the soldiers from interfering while the other group of gunmen spent several hours at the school. The incident happened around 1am. The group of gunmen abducted the girls in their pajamas and walked into the forest. The government called them “bandits,” they operate in Zamfara state and known to kidnap for money and to release their members from jail. This recent December, 344 students were in Nigeria then they were released. A UNICEF representative said that UNICEF is angered and saddened that this happened again. That representative also said that this is a horrific action and a violation of children’s rights.

This is a brief update on the status of Tiger Woods. We reported on Wednesday that Woods is awake and recovering after his surgery. His SUV rolled and crashed on Tuesday morning. Now, he has been moved to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for the care and recovery process. Los Angeles Sheriff told people that Woods was not drunk and this was an accident, not a crime.

That’s all for now! Have a great weekend and don’t forget to stay with the light.

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/24/969591569/house-to-vote-on-equality-act-heres-what-the-law-would-do

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/23/what-dr-fauci-can-do-now-that-he-is-fully-vaccinated-against-covid.html

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-02-26-21/h_a3d83a75fae33450d5d2e9eb3411ac70

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/lady-gaga-dog-walker-stable-condition-shooting-suspects-dogs-stolen

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lady-gaga-offers-500-000-return-dogs-after-thief-steals-n1258838

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/02/ex-olympics-coach-linked-to-larry-nassar-case-commits-suicide-after-being-charged-with-trafficking-assaulting-girls.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/26/africa/schoolgirls-abducted-nigeria-intl/index.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/02/26/nigerian-schoolgirls-abducted-gunmen-raid-school-hundreds-missing/6831446002/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/2021/02/26/tiger-woods-injury-update-what-we-know-his-recovery-crash/6829948002/