Gabby Petito’s Disappearance

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Gabby Petito’s story has been taking over news stations around the country. The 22-year-old woman loved adventure, social media, and spending time with her family and fiancé. On July 2, 2021, Gabby Petito and her fiancé Brian Laundrie began their cross-country road trip. The last time anyone saw Gabby was on August 25 around the Grand Tenton National Park is in Wyoming.

The couple traveled through Kansas, Colorado, and Utah. During most of the road trip, Gabby was recording moments for her YouTube channel. 

In Utah on August 12, the couple was stopped by officers. The Moab City Police Department claims they had “engaged in some sort of altercation” The police had received multiple reports of disorderly conduct. The couple had gotten into a physical fight. Gabby had slapped Brian after an argument and were both adamant that he did not hit her. The couple agreed to not press charges.

Gabby loved adventure, but she also loved her family. She would always go off the grid and explore, but as soon as she got a WIFI connection again she would call or message her family. On August 30, Gabby’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, received the last text message from her daughter. Nichole claims that the message was “odd” and is suspicious as to if it was Gabby.

On September 1, Brian had returned the van they were traveling into his parents’ home in North Port, FL without Gabby. 

On September 11, Gabby’s family reported Gabby missing with the state of New York, where she and her family are from. Soon after on September 15, Laundrie was named the person of interest for Gabby’s disappearance. Laundrie has not been cooperative with the police and refuses to speak with them. 

On September 17, Laundrie’s family reports him missing. Laundrie is still a person of interest in the investigation, but the police claimed they are “not currently working on a crime investigation”. Both Gabby and Laundrie are considered missing persons.

On September 19, Gabby’s body was found. An autopsy confirmed the manner of her death was a homicide, but there is no final cause of death. 

There is no update on the whereabouts of Laundrie, but many search teams, police, and his family are looking for him.

My suspicions are high when reading this case. I believe Laundire had a part in his fiancé’s disappearance and murder. I believe he, just like anyone else, can carry out a murder. The number of young Native women who go missing in that same area Gabby disappeared in is unfathomable. I am not sure if it is just a place where murders can hide their victims, or if there is something else going on there. There are rumors of supernatural creatures being known in this area, such as demons or skinwalkers. There are endless possibilities to this case since it is all-new, but there are many questions from Laundrie that should have been answered. When Laundrie went missing only a few days after he became a person of interest, it only raised more suspicions against him. 

https://abc7ny.com/gabby-petito-disappearance-timeline-brian-laundrie/11024821/

Before Gabby, Indigenous Girls Went Missing In Wyoming

Global Warming: Bringing Certainty and Clarity to what was once a theory.

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In 2021, climate change, or global warming, has become more prominent in everyday life. From flash floods to extreme drought, global warming has caused different dramatic weather patterns all over the world.

The summer of 2021 had a dramatic increase in temperatures, specifically at night. In cities, the temperatures are increasingly worse compared to small towns or farmhouses. A study conducted by the Global Historical Climatology Network found from 1960 until 2021 temperatures now are immensely hotter.

Many cities in the United States have been taken over by concrete buildings and streets with very little room to grow trees. This is detrimental to climate change since trees bring in shade and moisture. 

Concrete buildings and streets attract heat from the sun in the daytime, then release it at night. This is the suspected to be the cause of cities becoming hotter at night, according to the Global Historical Climatology Network. 

“It’s the extremes – that is, the number of abnormally hot nights – that are rising the fastest. A small shift in the average can mean a large change in the frequency of extreme events, with big consequences for climate change.”, said Aatish Bhatia and Josh Katz reported in the New York Times.

The Pacific Northwest experienced a record-breaking heatwave in June of 2021, and the west coast is in the midst of a historic drought. An analysis from an international team of climate researchers said it would have been “virtually impossible without climate change” for the heatwave to occur.

The average global temperatures have risen by 2-degrees Fahrenheit, according to the same study done by the Global Historical Climatology Network, and if the temperature increases by another 1.4-degrees we would see a “drastic drop in greenhouse gas emissions.” 

Another factor in global warming is precipitation. In the United States, one-half of the country is experiencing flash floods, hurricanes, and thunderstorms while the other half is in an extreme drought. 

Global warming has been affecting every continent on Earth. According to an article by Aatish Bhatia and Nadja Popovich in the New York Times, since 1950 Northern and Central Europe and Asia have had an increase in precipitation, whilst the Mediterranean, eastern Australia, and Africa have become drier.

Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been emitting even more greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, which causes more heat and water to get trapped. It is important to know, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are gases trapped in our atmosphere. 

An article from the New York Times written by Julia Rosen says, “We know this is true thanks to an overwhelming body of evidence that begins with temperature measurements taken at weather stations and on ships starting in the mid-1800s. Later, scientists began tracking surface temperatures with satellites and looking for clues about climate change in geologic records. Together, these data all tell the same story: Earth is getting hotter.”

In the last sixty years, the Arctic’s temperature has risen by 4-degrees Fahrenheit, causing animal extinctions and ocean levels to rise. 

There is an overwhelmingly high number of meteorologists who believe the cause of Earth heating is due to human activity. The main cause is due to humans burning fossil fuels since the late 1880s. The likelihood of global warming occurring without humans emitting greenhouse gas is less than one in one-hundred thousand. 

President Biden is mandating vaccines for American Workers

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On Thursday, President Biden mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for two-thirds of workers. If workers are not willing to get vaccinated, they will need to follow-up with weekly testing for the infection. Healthcare workers and most federal workers will be disciplined if they refuse the vaccine.

The president expressed his feelings toward the nearly 80 million Americans who are eligible for the vaccine but refuse to get it. “We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us.” Said the President.

Biden has promised to “protect vaccinated workers from the unvaccinated” 

Many companies in the country were hesitant about mandates before the Pfizer vaccine was approved by the FDA, but now that it is approved many of them are beginning the process of mandating vaccines. 

Mr. Biden also expressed his thoughts toward governors who are refusing mandates by saying, “If those governors won’t help us beat the pandemic, I’ll use my power as president to get them out of the way.”

My comment:

I believe that what the president is doing is right. There are millions of people who have contracted the disease and were hospitalized, and thousands of people have lost their lives. In January, the death rate peaked, and I am worried that it will only repeat itself if people are not vaccinated. There are too many lives at stake. I understand the people who will not get vaccinated for religious beliefs, but I do not believe or understand the people who simply refuse for other reasons, such as the government trying to track or control us. There is a way to prevent COVID-19, and it may not be easy to get 80 million people to change their minds, but I hope they will soon.

Lawsuit filed against Ambrurn’s Produce Market for $100,000

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In Circuit Court, Ellie Maston is filing a lawsuit for negligence against Amburn’s Produce Market.

Maston claims an open can of green beans was left on the floor causing her to fall and break her hip. The incident happened on April 2, 2021.

The lawsuit declares, “Maston suffered permanent bodily and mental injuries, incurred medical expenses and lost income.”

The lawsuit is still under investigation.

One dead and three injured in a multi-car collision outside of Sioux City on Highway 28

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Yesterday morning just outside of Sioux City on Highway 28, Moyer Quick was killed in a head-on collision. Three more were injured, two are stable and the other driver, Randy Radin is in critical condition currently.

Quick, age 65 of South Iowa City, was pronounced dead at the scene while the three other victims of the collision were transported to Sioux City General Hospital. Quick was survived by his wife, Dorothy, 61, who is in fair condition.

The South Iowa highway patrolman, Patric Stewart, said both vehicles were heading West. Quick attempted to pass Radin’s vehicle but struck the rear-end of the truck while completing the pass. Quick rolled his vehicle.

The weather conditions at the time were cloudy with a chance of rain, but the road was clear and dry. The accident is still under investigation.

East Dakota highway patrol orders a ban on hand-held radar guns that may cause cancer.

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Yesterday, the East Dakota highway patrol ordered a ban on hand-held radar guns due to the concerns of troopers developing cancer from long-term exposure to radiation.

There are seventy guns being withdrawn from the service. Although many of the radar units are being removed from the service, the highway patrol officers will have radar units mounted on the outside of their cruisers.

“The feeling here is to err on the side of caution until more is known about the issue,” Smith said.

In Central City, Iowa, three municipal officers had filed workman’s compensation claims, saying they developed cancer from using the hand-held units. With this supporting evidence, it may be able to aid the East Dakota highway patrol in their case.

Hurricane Ida’s wrath destroys power in southern Louisiana

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The article I chose is from CNN and written by the highly respected Chris Isidore. The Category 4 hurricane, Ida, swept through the city of New Orleans taking out power for nearly a million people. The city is hoping to have most of the power back on by Wednesday, but the possibility of thousands of people being without power for weeks if not months is very high. St. Charles Parish, a town west of New Orleans and home to more than 50,000 residents are expected to be without power for at least a month. The possibility of creating an electrical grid that will stand through Mother Nature’s wrath is nearly impossible. Quickly restoring power is crucial, according to both experts and public officials in Louisiana, writes Isidore. The financial losses due to the hurricane creates larger problems both right after the storm and during the clean-up. Fixing power grids will take time, but the longer the residents must wait the more losses and costs they will experience as well. Huge power lines were sentenced to the ground during the storm and will take months to fix. Sending the power lines underground is a common practice in Europe, but it is extremely expensive. While the state decides, solar panels and batteries are being offered to the residents to get power back up. The costs of making a change to the power and the costs of doing nothing are both greatly impactful to the residence of New Orleans and the surrounding area. “But it will take both time and massive amounts of money to fix the system. Cohan said to do the minimum to make the US electrical grid as resilient as it needs to be would cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Webber said it would cost trillions of dollars spread over decades to do the complete upgrade. The current massive infrastructure bill sets aside less than $100 billion for electrical grid improvements, though.” said Isidore.

The storm that took place in southern Louisiana is tragic, but I believe that the officials and the Louisiana government should adopt the method of putting their power lines underground. Doing so will decrease the costs of clean-up, prevent most residence from long-term power loss, and overall be more beneficial in the long run. 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/01/business/hurricane-ida-fixing-electrical-grid/index.html

Rory’s Reflection

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Rory Bredlow grew up in Ravenwood, Missouri. Ravenwood is a rural town in Northwestern Missouri. Rory is the youngest of three with an older brother and sister. Growing up, Rory loved to play baseball with his friends. His hometown loves baseball, and he grew up around the sport his entire life. When he was young, he and his friends would get together nearly every night to play baseball at the local ball diamonds. Since he is from a small town, the whole town would come down and watch the kids play. At home, Rory is a proud owner of a bearded dragon named Sandor. His dragon’s name was inspired by one of his characters on Game of Thrones, which is also his favorite show. 

He graduated from Northeast Nodaway High School in 2020 with a class of only 13. Like others who graduated during the pandemic, Rory was nervous about the future and how things may play out for his career. He is studying mass communications and sports broadcasting. After graduating from Morningside, Rory plans of moving to the west coast to start his sports broadcasting career as a play-by-play broadcaster. He dreams of making it to the big leagues to broadcast professional baseball. Luckily, the pandemic is beginning to lighten up and he has high hopes and dreams for his future in sports broadcasting. His favorite baseball team has always been the Seattle Mariners.

Rory has always had passions for baseball, band, and track and field. He was fortunate enough to continue his passions by playing in the drumline and competing in the long jump for Morningside University. In Rory’s free time he enjoys spending quality time with his friends, listening to a variety of music, and playing numerous video games. His favorite video game is Diablo 3. Rory and his older brother would play the game and ever since then, he fell in love with the gaming series.