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.
*Image from ABC
One small step for Batkid, one giant step for mankind. This Friday, San Francisco transformed into Gotham City in order to fulfill a little boy’s dream. Miles Scott, a 5-year-old with Leukemia, dreamed of being “Batkid” and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, in conjunction with the City of Francisco, made his wish come true. Thousands of volunteers worked to make Miles’ day special, by staging events such as a “damsel in distress” and several villains at large in the city. Miles teamed up with a grown version of Batman, who drove them around in the “batmobile,” and was able to save the day! He eventually received the key to city from San Francisco’s mayor. The San Francisco Chronicle participated in the day, printing a paper with the title, “Batkid Saves City.” Too cute for words, I’d say.
Denied. Snapchat co-founder, Evan Spiegel, turned down a $3 billion buyout offer from Facebook this week. The 23-year-old took a gamble by turning down this offer, holding out for perhaps an even larger one in the near future. Spiegel believes he can grow the Snapchat network within the next year and will receive a larger offer from Facebook or another company. Facebook’s main motivation in buying the app was to help alleviate its generational problems. Facebook has been losing a lot of its younger users and wants to figure out how to get them back.
*Image from NPR
Fixin’ Troubles. Many of you have noticed that the troubles with Obamacare have been in the news lately, A LOT. Besides the technical glitches that have been plaguing the website, the biggest news now is cancelled insurance plans. President Obama orated repeatedly throughout his first term that with the introduction of the Affordable Care Act, if you liked your insurance plan, you would be able to keep it. However, this hasn’t been working so well since insurance companies started cancelling plans that did not comply with the law. To semi-fix this, President Obama said that insurance companies could continue plans that would have been cancelled through 2014. Though this may be a short-term fix, it still confuses many things that have been problematic during the introduction of the President’s landmark legislation. Oops.
*Image from Fox
SeaWorld. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) imposed several fines and regulations on SeaWorld parks across America. After many accidents throughout the years that culminated in the death of orca trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010, OSHA imposed a regulation that killer whale trainers must stay out of the water during performances. This mandates that there must be a barrier during shows between the pool and the trainers, as a method to increase human safety. This pissed SeaWorld off a lot though, considering the Shamu shows are its biggest attraction, so the corporation took this decision to a DC Court of Appeals this week. SeaWorld’s lawyer for the case is Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia’s son, Eugene Scalia. He argued that OSHA has no more right to impose such a regulation on a specialized industry than they do to regulate tackling in the NFL. A decision is expected soon and could determine the fate of SeaWorld and marine mammal captivity.