Ahmed Mohamed Cuffed for Building Clock

On Sept. 14, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested at his high school in Irving, Texas, after his teacher mistook the clock he built for a hoax bomb. The event provoked national outrage, with Americans questioning whether the Muslim student was targeted because of his religion. Yet all ended well for Mohamed; in addition to all charges being dropped, the staff of President Barack Obama invited the young inventor to the White House for Astronomy Night to stargaze from the South Lawn on Oct. 19.

California Wildfires Cause Mass Destruction

At the end of the week of Sept. 6, wildfires in Northern California–termed by some as the Valley fire–consumed and demolished nearly 600 homes across a region of 70,000 acres. With fire crews gaining ground slowly–the containment of the fire is only at 30 percent–another 9,000 homes may fall victim to the blaze.

International

European Migration Crisis

On Sept. 10, President Barack Obama announced that the United States would accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year. In addition, the nation would try to eradicate some of the bureaucratic obstacles that increase the difficulty of entering the country. Obama stated that he was, and all nations should be, moved to action by the viral image of a toddler washed ashore on a Turkish beach after he and his family attempted to flee combatant Syria.

Chile Earthquake

On Sept. 16, a commanding 8.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Chile. A tsunami alert was issued ordering evacuations in surrounding coastal areas extending from Arica to Puerto Aysén. Ricardo Toro, director of Chile’s emergency agency, said that there were reports of damages in Illapel and at least five people were killed.