Intro: Hey everyone, welcome back to What a week!, I’m your host, Olivia Lee, here to deliver your weekly dose of the news. Let’s get started!
In Local News:
https://www.oregonlive.com/education/2021/05/portland-state-university-will-require-covid-10-vaccinations-for-students-employees.html
Last Wednesday, Portland State University officials said that the University will require on-campus students, faculty and staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 starting in September. Students will have to verify their vaccination status before starting on-campus classes in the fall term. In
a letter to students, faculty and staff, President Stephen Percy said the school’s dense urban campus gives it a quote “unique responsibility” to guard against the spread of the virus. Percy also said quote “All of us are eager to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us and come together again in person as a campus community… Widespread vaccination is our clearest and best path toward that future.” Students can claim a “personal, medical or religious exemption” to the vaccine requirement. Details of the requirements for faculty and staff have not yet been finalized. The school will host a vaccine clinic on campus for students and employees who have not yet received the vaccine. The PSU announcement comes a day after
Oregon State University announced it would require vaccinations for students, faculty and staff. Both schools said it will take time to figure out the fine points of verification and enforcement.
In-state news:
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-05-04/oregon-extends-covid-workplace-mask-rule-indefinitely
https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2021/05/oregon-indefinitely-extends-mask-distancing-rules-aimed-at-protecting-workers-from-covid-19.html
Oregon adopted a controversial rule last Tuesday that indefinitely extends coronavirus mask and social distancing requirements for all businesses in the state. Under the rule, employers must ensure that their employees wear masks and maintain physical distance in the workplace, among other requirements. Oregon OSHA said it will meet with other agencies and groups to review the rule again in July. At that point, it will look at infection rates, hospitalizations, fatalities and other factors to determine whether the rule can be repealed. Those meetings will continue every two months until the agency decides to repeal the rule. The adoption of the updated rule comes a week after Oregon OSHA announced it
was reinstating COVID-19 requirements to protect farmworkers who live in employer-provided housing.
In National News:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer/rigby-idaho-middle-school-shooting
Last Thursday morning, officials reported that a sixth-grade girl shot two other students and an adult employee at a middle school in Rigby, Idaho. Just after 9 a.m., the girl pulled a handgun out of her backpack and fired multiple rounds in a hallway and outside the Rigby Middle School building, Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson said. A teacher disarmed the student and detained her until law enforcement arrived and took her into custody. The victims were transported to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in stable condition, a spokesperson for the Idaho Falls Fire Department told BuzzFeed News. All three victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to recover according to the hospital’s trauma medical director, Michael Lemon. An investigation into the incident is currently underway and upon its completion, Jefferson County Prosecutor Mark Taylor said his office quote "will be filing appropriate charges, possibly including three counts of attempted murder."
In International News:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-vows-probe-into-terrible-metro-collapse-says-too-soon-point-fingers-2021-05-04/
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexcampbell/mexico-city-subway-crash
At least 24 people have died in Mexico City after an elevated train line collapsed last Monday night. The subway train traveling on Line 12 crashed to the ground after an overpass caved in at around 10:22 p.m local time. At least 70 people were taken to the hospital, seven of whom underwent surgery. Mexico’s government announced last Tuesday that it will punish those responsible for the overpass collapse. Accompanied by officials involved in the construction and maintenance of the elevated metro line that collapsed last Monday night, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the investigation should be done quickly and that nothing should be hidden from the public. The crash has raised wider questions about safety on one of the world's busiest metro systems, which carries millions of people daily across the capital's urban city.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/09/world/middleeast/israeli-court-palestinian-families-east-jerusalem.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/09/middleeast/jerusalem-sheikh-jarrah-unrest/index.html
Last Sunday, the Israeli Supreme Court delayed the decision on whether to expel
six Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem after the attorney general requested more time, in part because of the tensions that the case has stirred. The court was to decide this past Monday whether to uphold an expulsion order for the families in the
Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, in a hearing that many feared would set off a wave of unrest. Instead, the case was delayed by up to 30 days to allow the attorney general to review it. For many Palestinians, the families’ plight has become symbolic of a wider effort to remove Palestinians from parts of East Jerusalem and of the past displacements of Arabs in the occupied territories and within Israel. Since the start of the month, the prospect of the evictions has prompted daily protests, arrests and confrontations between Palestinians and the Israeli police and Jewish extremists.
Lastly, here is the wildcard news for the week:
https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/9/22426968/chinese-rocket-re-entered-earth-atmosphere
