1. A pedestrian bridge collapsed and killed six people at which university on March 15?
a. Florida International University
b. University of Florida
c. Florida State University
2. What medication shortage is American hospitals currently facing?
a. Antibiotics
b. Opioid painkillers
c. Mood stabilizers
3. University of California at Los Angeles graduate student Kristen Glasgow won a case alleging what against a UCLA professor?
a. Racial discrimination
b. Sexal misconduct
c. Violations of university ethics policies
4. A faith-based pregnancy center in San Francisco is challenging which state law?
a. The allowance of abortions after six weeks of pregnancy
b. The allowance for women to obtain abortions
c. The requirement to inform women that contraception or abortion can be obtained from the state
5. Which country recently re-elected the president who has been in power for over twenty years?
a. China
b. Japan
c. Russia
6. Why did Russia expel 23 United Kingdom diplomats?
a. They violated Russian laws
b. In retaliation over the expulsion of Kremlin envoys in the UK
c. They violated a treaty agreement
1. a. According to the Miami Herald, a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University collapsed on March 15 in the afternoon. The collapse of the bridge killed 6 motorists who were crushed underneath the collapse of the bridge.
The cause of the collapse is still being investigated, although experts are concerned with the tensioning work done on the bridge. The bridge collapsed after stress tests and the tightening of structural cables, all while motorist drove underneath the bridge. The bridge was built in only one morning, but was not scheduled to open until 2019.
2. b. Hospitals are currently facing a dangerous shortage of opioid painkillers needed to treat patients in acute pain, according to Kaiser Health News.
The shortage of medications like fentanyl and morphine was triggered by manufacturing setbacks and a government effort to reduce addiction by restricting drug production. Hospitals are being forced to administer second-choice drugs or standard drugs differently, which has led to an increase in mistakes. Some patients have been administered potentially harmful doses of these substitutes.
3. b. According to the Los Angeles Times, UCLA graduate student Kristen Glasgow filed a Title IX sexual misconduct case against former history professor Gabriel Piterberg for the second time and won. The first time she filed a Title IX case against Piterberg she says UCLA essentially ignored her complaints.
After her original Title IX case was dismissed Glasgow filed a lawsuit against UCLA which led to a $110,000 settlement. However, Piterberg still had his job and so Glasgow filed another Title IX case against him. UCLA announced last week that Piterberg had violated the university’s sexual harassment policy. Piterberg has now agreed to leave UCLA and forgo any future employment with the University of California system.
4. c. A faith-based pregnancy center in San Francisco is challenging the requirement to inform women that contraception or abortion can be obtained for free or at low-cost from the state, according to the Los Angeles Times. The clinic is calling for the Supreme Court to overturn the state notice law.
Many are arguing their free-speech rights are being violated, although to meet the requirement clinics only have to post a flyer stating the information.
“The law is so clearly constitutional,” said the University of California, Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. “It is one thing to compel somebody to speak. It is another thing to say you have to post on your wall information that is completely accurate.”
5. c. Russian president Vladimir Putin was elected again on March 18 with a total of 73.9 percent of the vote, according to the Lewiston Tribune. Putin has been in power in Russia for nearly two decades now and had no serious challengers during the election.
Independent election monitoring group Golos has reported more than 2,500 electoral violations. The group alleges such violations as ballot stuffing and carousel voting.
“Some men in black jackets came here and voted already three times,” a Golos observer said at a polling place in Moscow.
6. b. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Russia expelled 23 UK diplomats in retaliation after the expulsion of Kremlin envoys in the UK. The UK diplomats were given one week to leave.
United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May expelled the Russian envoys from the UK after the nerve-agent poisoning of a former spy and his daughter near London. Russia denies involvement in the poisoning and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denounced the British accusations as “absolutely rude, unsubstantiated and baseless.”
“If further actions of an unfriendly nature are taken against Russia, the Russian side reserves the right to take other retaliatory measures,” the ministry said.
