Annika's Current Events Blog

In the summer of 2014 Melvin, a 36-year-old mom with three kids had completed the journey of crossing the Rio Grande on a raft. She arrived in McAllen, Texas and was led to a house on the border. Melvin was locked into a room with the men she paid to keep her safe across the border. They drugged her with pills and cocaine, they withheld her and wouldn’t even let her bathe. “I think that since they put me in that room, they killed me,” she said. “They raped us so many times they didn’t see us as human beings anymore.” On the southern border women crossing the are being mistreated. Migrant women and girls become victims of sexual assault. Most of them go unreported. There are many stories like this, women being beaten, impregnated by strangers, bound with duct tape, rope or handcuffs, and some even forced into prostitution. The New York Times found many documented cases through police records, interviews, prosecutors, and federal judges and immigrant advocates around the country. What p...

In Beirut, Lebanon it was announced by the public prosecutor of Saudi Arabia's Office that it had completed its investigation into a group of women's rights activists, who were accused of working to “undermine the security” of the Kingdom. They also were preparing to put them on trial. The treatment of the activists has been frowned upon and criticized by human rights groups. The activists were arrested last spring but have not faced formal charges. Some of the activists were mistreated while the interrogation was taking place according to relatives although Saudi Arabia says otherwise. The group of activists included both men and women. Some of them had campaigned openly on lifting the ban on women driving, and some were in the middle of opening a shelter for abused women, that's when they got arrested. The activists ended up being detained while Saudi Arabia started to lift the ban on women driving. Some are assuming that the current ruler, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, di...

On February 25th at Sugarloaf strong winds toppled a communication tower. Winds increase to 50 mph. The same day winds got up to 53 mph in Portland, ME and New Hampshire's Mount Washington got up to 171 mph. A groomer took a photo of the tower and posted it online. The tower is owned by the Somerset Telephone Company. Franklin County Officials said that they lost three radio stations. Currently, they have a backup before they figure out a permanent fix. Officials said that the snow and ice that was on the tower helped bring it down along with the high winds that went beyond measurements. I find this interesting that winds and snow were able to cause this tower to bend in half. With many years of going to Sugarloaf Moutain, I’ve never seen anything like this. I went not long ago and the most that has happened is lift being closed because of winds. From experience and past knowledge, this tower has survived many storms with high winds and tons of snow. A couple of years ago the s...