Feel like you have no idea what’s going on in the world because midterms consumed your time this past week? Have no fear! Read about the top headlines from the past few days right here!
Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act
By a vote of 286-138, the House of Representatives voted in favor to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). All those who voted in opposition of this piece of legislation’s reauthorization were members of the GOP. Earlier this month, this bill passed in the Senate with a vote of 78-22. The aim of VAWA is to legally protect women against domestic violence. With the reauthorization of VAWA, more than $650 million will be given to state and local governments to provide services to victims of domestic violence. Additionally, the VAWA bill that passed in both the Senate and the House includes a provision that permits Native American authorities to prosecute non-Native Americans in tribal judicial settings and other protections for immigrants and LGBT individuals. President Obama will officially sign VAWA into law on Thursday March 6th and will be joined by Vice President Biden, women’s organizations, law enforcement officials, sexual and domestic violence survivors and advocates, tribal leaders, and members of Congress. VAWA was initially introduced as law in 1994 and expired in 2011; an extremely partisan Congress failed to reauthorize it in 2012.
For more information about VAWA in general, visit: http://4vawa.org
For more information about the reauthorization of VAWA, visit: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/02/28/violence-against-women-congress-obama/1953527/
Venezuela Mourns Death of Hugo Chavez
Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Maduro held a national television broadcast to announce that Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela for the past 14 years, died on March 5 at 4:25 p.m. at the age of 58 after a two-year battle with cancer. Reports state that Chávez had been getting treatment for his unspecified form of cancer in Cuba. Chávez’s most ardent supporters in Venezuela affectionately referred to him as “El Comandante” and considered him to be courageous and revolutionary in his political fight against imperialism and inequality in Latin America and the country over which he resided; however, many Venezuelan natives were skeptical of the extent of his socialist platform. To limit civic unrest in Venezuela resulting from Chávez’s death, all branches of the Venezuelan federal government and the military stood together as a unified force. Chávez’s remains will be taken to a military academy in Caracas on Wednesday, March 6 and his state funeral will be held there sometime on Friday, March 8. Presidential elections are set to take place in 30 days with Vice President Nicolás Maduro serving as interim president for the time being.
For more information about Hugo Chávez and the news of his death, visit: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/05/us-venezuela-chavez-idUSBRE92405420130305
Search Called Off For Florida Man Stuck in Sinkhole
On Thursday February 28, Jeff Bush was in his bedroom in his Seffner, Florida home when a sinkhole opened up and trapped him underneath his home. While the sinkhole was initially thought to be 15 feet soon after the event, officials state that the sinkhole has grown and now measures 30 feet wide and 100 feet deep. Five other people in the house Thursday night escaped uninjured, including Jeff’s brother, Jeremy. On Sunday March 3, authorities announced that they would discontinue rescue efforts for Bush, after which Jeremy said that he felt as though the rescue workers “could’ve tried harder to get my brother [Jeff] out of there.” On Monday, March 4, crews began filling the enormous sinkhole with gravel, which will ultimately become Jeff’s final resting place. Jeremy told the media that he hopes that after the sinkhole is completely filled, the site will include a bench or tombstone so that his parents are able to visit Jeff’s grave. People living in homes near the sinkholes have been evacuated as officials destroy the remains of Jeff Bush’s house. Anthony Randazzo, former professor of geology at the University of Florida and current sinkhole expert for Geoharzards, stated that he remembers only two people dying from sinkholes in the 40 years he has studied and worked on these geologic features.
For more information about the Florida sinkhole, visit: http://abcnews.go.com/US/jeff-bush-search-effort-called-off-florida-man/story?id=18635651
Pope Benedict Officially Steps Down as Pope
For the first time since the fifteenth century, a pope has resigned from his papal duties. Thursday February 28 marked the last day as pope for Pope Benedict, 85, when he promised the succeeding pope “unconditional reverence and obedience.” Pope Benedict will adopt the title of “pope emeritus” as he begins a new chapter of his life where he is expected to remain out of the public eye as he lives in a former undisclosed monastery within the confines of the Vatican. Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church are currently engaged in the process of a papal election (which involves great discussion and research). Papal and Vatican experts say that this papal election process is being conducted at a deliberately slow pace in order to evaluate pontiff candidates from outside of Italy who may be determined to diminish the reported claims of corruption in the Vatican bureaucracy. Traditionally, it takes approximately 15-20 days to name a papal successor after the death of a pope.
For more information about Pope Benedict’s resignation, visit: http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/28/world/europe/vatican-pope-resignation/index.html
Suspect Arrested in New York Fatal Hit-And-Run Accident
An expectant couple from the Satmar Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, Nachman and Raizi Glauber (both 21 years old), were killed early Sunday morning in a car crash as they went to the hospital to see a doctor about a symptom Raizi was having as a result of her pregnancy. Nachman was taken to Beth Israel Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Once doctors declared Raizi dead at Bellevue Hospital, they proceeded to perform a cesarean section in an attempt to save the baby, although the baby died a day after. Three days after the fatal-high speed accident, ex-convict Julio Acevedo came forward to police in Pennsylvania and admitted that he was the one who drove the car into the Glaubers and that he fled the scene immediately thereafter. Acevedo will be extradited in New York and charged with the deaths of Nachman and Raizy Glaube and their baby son. In accordance with Jewish law (which calls for the burial of the dead as soon as possible), the Glaubers were laid to rest just hours after the accident with over 1,000 people in attendance at the funeral. The Glabuers’ baby was buried shortly after his death in a grave close to his parents.
For more information on Sunday’s fatal high-speed crash, visit: http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/04/us/new-york-crash-baby