What You Missed This Week in News:

Have you been so busy with #WorkForest that you have not had any time to keep up with the news? Here are some tidbits from this past week to keep you updated and in the know.

Caught in the act, Rand Paul. This week Rand Paul suffered through many accusations of plagiarism in his written works. It first came out that he lifted out a whole section from one of his books from another piece, without properly citing it. Then, upon closer inspection by many prominent news outlets, many old speeches of his did not have proper citation. Paul claims that it was not necessary to cite things in a speech, especially if he gave the name of the quote he was using. The Paul team will add citations to past mistakes though to cover up his tracks.

Welcome, Terry McAuliffe. On Tuesday Democrat Terry McAuliffe narrowly beat out Tea Party candidate Ken Cuccinelli for Virginia State governor. The government shutdown really hurt Cuccinelli’s campaign due to ultraconservative tactics. McAuliffe will take office on January 14, 2014.

Gay Rights for everyone! The Senate passed a bill this week to outlaw workplace discrimination for gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, otherwise known as The Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The final tally was 64-32, thus representing a slightly bipartisan group. The bill has dismal chances in the House, however, and it unlikely to make its way through to completion. Although we live in a new era, substantial changes such as this are still very difficult to come to completion.

Typhoon Haiyan. At the end of this week, super storm Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the central Philippines islands. At least 10,000 are suspected to be dead from the powerful typhoon. This is one of the deadliest storms in Philippines history, the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane in the United States. There is currently a large rescue operation underway and hopefully some survivors will be recovered.

Iran. The United States has been working on a nuclear deal with Iran. The proposed plan would freeze aspects of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions imposed on Iran. Talks could eventually move towards completely ending Iran’s nuclear aspirations, which would be good for everyone involved.

That’s like, out of this world. This week, Lady Gaga announced that she will be the first signer to perform in space. Gaga will take off on the Virgin Galactic in 2015 and have to do a month of voice training to prepare for the changes in atmosphere. The next Xenon, if I’ve ever seen one.