Current Events Activity

1. Royce West asked Glenn Hegar, a state Comptroller, if the “sky was falling” in Texas, referencing the falling oil prices in Texas and how it might affect our state budget. He responded that while we should be cautious, it’s apparently just or bad or worse in the rest of America. He also said that the state budget won’t drop because of the energy markets, and said that the long-term trends proved that “we’ve have a lot of tailwinds behind us as well”. He also stated that Texas will be fine because we don’t depend on the oil industry as much as we used to. Severance taxes are taxes on oil and gas producers, and take 7.5% of the market value for natural gas and 4.6% on oil. They’re going to bring less into the state than expected because of falling oil prices.
   
2. Trump says he’s not going to participate in the next Republican debate because it’s run by Fox, and he seems to greatly resent one of their anchors for questioning his views on women. He also claims that Fox toys with everyone, whatever that means. He’s going to run a fundraiser for wounded soldiers on the same night instead. I think this might harm him, as his only attention seems to come from him being very opinionated and repeating himself and his obnoxious ideals over and over again on large platforms, so this might lose him some publicity. On the other hand, the Democratic nominees are debating on whether or not to participate in a proposed debate on February 4th that is not sanctioned by the official Democratic party, which is prohibited and punishable by the Democratic party. It seems as though they probably won’t participate, as Hillary said that she would only do it if the other candidates do, and since Bernie is essentially her only competition and has already said he’s not going to participate, I highly doubt Hillary will.
   
3. Brazil is fighting an extremely dangerous mosquito epidemic going around there right now that’s causing birth defects for thousands of newborns. Mosquitoes have been transmitting life-threatening viruses such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever since the 1950’s but it didn’t become a crisis till last year. Marcelo Castro’s, the health minister's, remarks were controversial because they were seen as quite fatalistic and like they were accepting defeat. Rio de Janeiro will host the Aug. 5-21 Summer Olympics.
4. Weinberg, a UT professor, in light of the recent laws allowing students attending UT to openly carry guns on campus, has said that he will not allow guns in his classroom. Chancellor Bill McRaven basically said that all professors are required to follow the law no matter what and just accept it. The campus carry bill is set to go into effect in August, which allows students over 21 to carry concealed firearms into buildings on campus and also allows presidents to create gun-free zones on campus. There is also an open carry law that was effective starting on January 1st, but law enforcement officer Justin Wood has said that people who are used to concealed carrying have continued to conceal their weapons in spite of the new laws. 
5. Ken Paxton is a Texas Attorney General who objects to the U.S Department of Justice's decision to allow Syrian refugees into the country for fear of terrorist attacks by Syrians. He filed for a lawsuit on December 2nd because the Justice Department notified the state the day that 7 refugees came into Houston, instead of notifying them one week before, as the law requires. Godbey, the judge dealing with the case, rejected his request that all refugees immediately stop entering Texas and accused him of making broad and prejudiced generalizations about Syrian people.
   
6. Texas can win its 1,000th game in school history if they beat Kansas on Wednesday night. The team is doing very well this season, ranking 6th in the country and being 18-1. But the team's biggest issue is that they are tied for last place in the Big 12 when it comes to turnovers, averaging 17 a game. They need to clean up their turnovers and fix their sometimes "sloppy offensive possessions". 
   

   
   
7. Though the lead's were quite similar, I preferred the New York Time's obituary for Abe Vigoda compared to the Statesman's. I felt like the Time's was more well-written and had a better flow overall. I thought that the Statesman's obituary was choppy and all over the place, while the Time's was a bit more focused and took us through his life more clearly. It was much more detailed and contained more quotes from Vigoda himself, giving the reader a better idea of what he was like.