It’s May! The month that makes me want to watch Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot. So just in case you were too busy this week setting up your maypole, this is your weekly roundup.
In bad news this week:
Los Angeles Clippers owner and aptly named Donald Sterling got caught on tape making some blatantly racist remarks to his mistress/girlfriend. He has been banned for life from the NBA, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that he will do what he can to force Sterling to sell the team. Rumors have it that Oprah may be interested in being one of a group of potential investors who might buy the team. You get a basketball team! You get a basketball team! Everybody gets a basketball team!
Dozens of tornadoes ripped their way through the south this week. At least 34 were killed, and severe flooding followed. If you find yourself in a tornado’s path, you are advised to first seek shelter, and then grab a helmet.
Senate Republicans blocked Senate Democrats in the attempt to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10/hour. The issue is still alive, and Democrats are promising to keep bringing it up until they make progress.
In Oklahoma, a prisoner who was slated for execution was essentially tortured for 43 minutes when the lethal injection when horribly, horribly wrong. The details of what exactly went wrong are sketchy at best, but what is clear is that at some point the execution was “stopped,” and there was an effort to revive the prisoner, before he died of a massive heart attack. The incident is drawing some significant attention, and causing people to wonder if maybe this is the end of the death penalty.
In good news this week:
In Egypt, a team of archaeologists may have discovered what is now the earliest known depiction of Jesus. The researchers uncovered an underground structure in a series of buried tombs that date to the 6th and 7th centuries.
In kind of a bad news/good news thing in Georgia, a law was recently passed that will allow licensed gun owners to carry arms into schools, churches and other locales (but notably, not the state capital). The good news in this is that leaders from the Catholic and Episcopal churches have stood in opposition to the law, and will not allow guns in churches.
Former secretary of state (and possible presidential candidate?) Hillary Clinton spoke to a group of Methodist women about her faith. “Like the disciples of Jesus, we cannot look away, we cannot let those in need fend for themselves and live with ourselves,” she said. “We are all in this together.”
In papal news this week:
- Pope Francis thinks that laypeople are as important as bishops.
- He slips prayer requests under a statue of St. Joseph.
- A priest wants him to drop the celibacy requirement.
- He caused controversy with a tweet.
Inequality is the root of social evil.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 28, 2014
Tomorrow, Saturday, May 3 is Free Comic Books day. So head to a comic shop near you, buy something, and enjoy the weekend.
That’s it for us this week. It’s your last chance to take our survey about the minimum wage, so get to it!
