DOMESTIC
Four Texas “band dads” are being praised as heroes for their quick, decisive and successful efforts to detain an active shooter who opened fire on a high school campus. The incident occurred in Pasadena, Texas this past Sunday evening following a drum line competition at which these men were in attendance. An 83-year-old man unaffiliated with the event entered the school auditorium with a handgun and fired. Immediately, these four individuals—at great risk to themselves—acted to restrain the attacker, grabbing his arms, removing the gun and even forming some makeshift handcuffs from one of the men’s belts. Thanks to their swift and selfless response, only one individual, a twenty-six year old present for the event, was injured as a result of the shooting and they are expected to fully recover. The men who stopped the shooting have been identified as three tactically trained veterans and a Houston Police Department Sergeant. In the words of Abram Trevino, an Air Force veteran and one of the four “band-dad” individuals who acted, the men simply did what “anyone with [their] collective backgrounds would just do […] out of nature.” Pasadena police believe that their actions will indeed “prove to be heroic” upon learning what may have occurred had they not responded accordingly. The criminal responsible remained successfully detained and remains in police custody; a conceivable motive is yet to be discovered.
Protests in the cities across the nation have sparked in response to statements and policies proffered by President Trump, as well as in response to Project 2025 and the efforts of Elon Musk to implement his own policy views in government. Protested issues in question range from the current administration’s treatment of transgender individuals to immigrants to Gazan citizens. The goal expressed by protestors in multiple cities was that the deliberate organization and coordination across such a large swathe of the population would send a significant and unignorable message to the current administration as well as the voting populace. Specific protests were held in Los Angeles by, primarily, student organizers walking out of school, with a focus on the events and displacements occurring in war-torn Gaza. In New York City, citizens gathered outside a prominent hospital, NYU Langone, to protest the facility’s preemptive adherence to a Trump Executive Order denying gender affirming care to patients. Chicago saw a large presence of protestors drawing attention to the administration’s immigration policies, citing Chicago as a “city of immigrants” and decrying the hypocrisy of denying immigrants their opportunity to achieve the “American Dream.”
INTERNATIONAL
Nordic countries have taken action, with the encouragement of the World Health Organization (WHO), to regulate alcohol sales in a region of the world known for its alcohol intake. The implemented policies, now a few years old, have revealed their effects and the benefits are certainly notable. Dr. Carina Ferreira-Borges, who works for the WHO, explained how these nations’ policies towards alcohol—such as limited availability and restricted advertising—have reduced a variety of alcohol-related dangers from “liver disease, cancers and cardiovascular conditions, to injuries and drownings.” Nevertheless, concern has risen about a shift towards privatization of alcohol sales, a change which would undoubtedly detract from the benefits these nations have experienced. In response, the WHO and doctors like Ferreira-Borges have urged the Nordic countries to “keep a lid on alcohol sales, or risk reversing the positive impact of [the] strict regulations put in place years ago.” The Nordic countries of Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Faroe Islands specifically have regulated retailers against stronger alcoholic beverages. With the shift to privatization, the availability of such beverages may rapidly escalate—creating fertile ground for an alcoholic problem in a population whose drinking habits remain largely static, making regulation quite important for moderating societal normalcy around alcohol consumption and the dangers inevitably involved.
Earthquakes continue to shake the island of Santorini as residents evacuate in large numbers. The quakes have been coming in waves for days, and though major damage has yet to be reported, residents and first responders are taking precautionary measures. Schools have been temporarily closed for residents. Santorini is a volcanic island, and its current landscape has been directly formed by a volcanic eruption that occurred in the time of the ancient Greeks; with such a colorful history of volcanic eruptions and subsequent landscape changes, the current quakes were not completely unexpected, but it’s difficult to predict exactly what they might mean for any upcoming eruption concerns. Experts say that the more than one thousand earthquakes the island has experienced in the last few days are not connected to the volcanic system, but regardless of where the quakes may stem from, such excessive tectonic movement could very well trigger other parts of the geologic system to react. Several earthquakes of increasing magnitude stand out from the rest, marking a definite change in the severity of these tremors over time. However, some experts theorize that the progression of the quakes is actually dying down, and residents will soon be able to return to their homes and regular routines.
