In Case you Missed it…March 20-March 24
March 24, 2023
In this new segment for The Big Red, our reporters comb through the news of the week to present you with five news stories you may have missed or want to learn more about. Our criteria for selecting these pieces weekly are finding stories that cover the environment, the economy, sports/pop culture and a piece of good news
Economy/Business
Cereal brand ‘Post’ has settled a $15 million lawsuit and agreed to drop the claims that their cereal is healthy. Many kinds of cereal are labeled as healthy but in reality, are very bad for you. For example, Raisin Bran was labeled as healthy, but it actually exceeded the healthy sugar amounts by a lot. These companies were lying to their customers, but now that might change. To learn more, check out this article: https://www.fooddive.com/news/post-settles-sugary-cereal-lawsuit-for-15m-and-agrees-to-drop-health-focus/595931/
Pop Culture
Popular social media app Tik Tok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, was grilled for six hours by Congress over data security and harmful content. The question of Tik Tok is currently in Congress, with users waiting to see if the app will be banned from the US. Chew responded to the committee that the popular video-sharing app prioritizes user safety and should not be banned due to its Chinese connections. https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-ceo-congressional-hearing-bytedance-china-44d948c5b0ba18e2a714e0fa62d52779
Environmental
Scientists have made a completely new discovery in photosynthesis that could help improve the efficiency of renewable energy technologies. While trying to figure out if it were possible to extract electrons from a known process in the early stages of photosynthesis, the scientists instead found an entirely-new electron transfer pathway. The study’s authors believe this new understanding of photosynthesis could create more efficient ways of harnessing the process’s power to generate biofuels. To learn more read this article: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/scientists-stumble-upon-a-whole-new-process-in-photosynthesis-which-they-believe-can-be-hacked-to-improve-renewable-energy/
Good News
At the beginning of the lockdown, Mae Dean Erb decided that she wanted to run or walk a 5K every day for 100 days. She did this as a way to keep herself busy while in quarantine. Throughout lockdowns Alpha, Delta, Omicron, etc, she kept running and walking until she completed her 1,000th 5K last Friday, two months before her 80th birthday. Read this article to learn more: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/80-year-old-woman-celebrates-doing-a-5k-every-day-since-pandemic-1000-in-a-row/
Education
In 2021 and 2022, Deb McCarthy refused to administer MCAS to her fifth-grade students. She was put on administrative leave because she would not administer MCAS. McCarthy encourages other teachers to refuse the test. Very few have opted out of MCAS in Massachusetts so far. About 50 teachers from Cambridge refused to administer the test last year. https://commonwealthmagazine.org/education/union-urges-teachers-and-students-to-opt-out-of-mcas/
Environmental
Throughout the week California received an excessive amount of rainstorms and flooding, after three years of below-average rainfall and drought conditions. In East Los Angeles, there was a tornado that rated 110 mph. It was the strongest strike in Los Angeles since 1983 and at least 5 people died. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/california-drought-storms-tornado-weather-rcna76410