Thursday, June 9 top news briefs
Today is Thursday, June 9. I am taking Alex’s place today. Ready for the top news briefs?
Uvalde elementary survivors testify before House committee
On Wednesday, a 11-year-old girl who survived the Uvalde school shooting spoke about her terrible experience in a video that was shown before a House committee at the Capitol.
The girl’s name is Miah Cerrillo. She is in the fourth grade. She said the gunman entered her classroom and told her teacher “goodnight” before shooting her in the head. She was hiding behind her teacher’s desk. When the gunman was in an adjoining classroom, she got blood from a student that was shot next to her and smeared it on herself and stayed quiet. She said she was able to get her teacher’s phone to dial 911.
Miah said she wants to have security because she does not feel safe at school. Miah said she is scared that it could happen again.
Another testimony was by Dr. Roy Guerrero, who is a pediatrician that knew many of the Uvalde victims well. He grew up in Uvalde and graduated from Robb Elementary School. He said some of the child victims’ bodies were completely destroyed by bullets to the point that the only way to identify them is through the blood that was still on their clothes.
Several parents of victims also spoke up in the testimony. Many called for changes in gun laws, such as raising the age to purchase weapons from 18 to 21 or a ban on military-style rifles.
During the hearing, Democratic lawmakers said they wanted to move forward with stronger gun control, but Republican lawmakers said we shouldn’t punish gun owners who follow the law.
The full House of Representatives passed a bill to raise the age to purchase semi-automatic weapons to 21, but the bill has very little chance of passing the Senate.
Five Marines killed during training
On Wednesday around noon, five Marines were on a MV-22 Osprey military aircraft on a training flight in Southern California when the Osprey went down and crashed in the desert. Five of the Marines were killed.
The Osprey is a special aircraft that has tilting rotors that can make it go up and down like a helicopter, but also fly like a plane. The Osprey was based at the Camp Pendleton base.
It is not clear what happened to cause the Osprey to crash. The U.S. Marines said they are asking for the public’s patience as they try to identify what occurred.
Pro Cyclist found dead in home
The U.S. Marshals continue their search for Kaitlin Armstrong, the woman accused of murdering a professional cyclist, Anna Moriah Wilson, in Austin earlier last month. Here is what happened and the potential motives behind the fatal attack.
On May 11, Austin Police responded to a 911 call in east Austin to a residence and found a woman murdered by a gunshot wound which police identified three days later as Anna Moriah Wilson. She was known for her gravel and mountain bike racing. Wilson visited Texas to compete in the bike race.
Court records explain Wilson went for a swim with a fellow professional cyclist named Colin Strickland the night of her death. Strickland told police he was in a relationship with Armstrong for three years and during their breakup, he met and began dating Wilson.
Strickland and Armstrong were living together and police said Strickland lied to Armstrong about his whereabouts on May 11. He told her he was going to drop flowers off for someone and his phone died. Strickland dropped Wilson off at the east Austin home around 8:35pm. One minute later, security camera footage showed Amstrong’s car pull up. Strickland separately confirmed with police that the car shown in the security footage was Amstrong’s.
Armstrong deleted her social media accounts and has not been seen or heard since Friday, May 13 and U.S. Marshals confirmed that Armstrong fled Austin three days after the crime May 14 after seeing her in Austin airport via security footage.
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MCU’s first Muslim superhero
The Marvel franchise, Ms. Marvel, debuts it’s first Muslim superhero June 8 on Disney+ and makes history for Muslim representation. The six-episode series centers around a geeky teenager and Avengers comic book fangirl Kamala Khan, played by Pakistani-Canadian newcomer Iman Vellani. Only two episodes have been released for review. The show presents her relationships with family; experiences at home and her mosque in Jersey City; and struggles to fit in until she gains superpowers, becoming Ms. Marvel.
The Rolling Stone’s chief TV critic, Alan Sepinwall, said her newfound superpowers serve as "a metaphor for Kamala trying to expand what she can be beyond familial and societal expectations".
One of critics said it is refreshing to see such commitment to creatives of South Asian origin leading a high-profile project. The series was written by British-Pakistani comedian Bisha K. Ali and directed by Belgian duo Adil and Bilall.
Ryanair: Afrikaans test
Ryanair, Irish budget airline, is Europe’s biggest airline and runs flights around Europe. Ryanair forces South Africans to prove their nationality with the Afrikaans quiz in an apparent effort to weed out those with phony passports. Ryanair said in a brief press statement: “If they are unable to complete this questionnaire, they will be refused travel and issued with a full refund.” The airline does not fly to or from South Africa.
In a statement to the BBC, Ryanair said it had to carry out the extra test because of substantially increased cases of fraudulent South African passports being used to enter the UK. Any airline found to have taken a passenger to the UK on a fake passport faces a fine of $2,500 from the UK authorities.The British government says it does not require the extra test to be carried out.
South Africa has 11 official languages and Afrikaans is the mother tongue of only 13% of South Africans. Ryanair has not explained why it chose Afrikaans. Afrikaans as a language is so controverisal becasue it was the lanaguage of apartheid. During apartheid (white-minority rule), Afrikaans was made mandatory and an official language of education alongside English. It prompted nationwide protests by black South Africans. It is now no longer obligatory but an option in schools.
Ryanair did not say whether it carried out similar tests for any other nationality.
That is all the top stories for today and stay with the light!
Uvalde testimony:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-votes-tminimum-age-21-semi-automatic-weapons
Marines:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/military-plane-crash-osprey-california-desert/
Pro Cyclist murder:
Ms. Marvel:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/06/arts/television/ms-marvel-iman-vellani.html
Afrikaans test: