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...

With well known booming companies like Walmart and Amazon, another store had to file for bankruptcy like Toys ‘R’ Us, a popular kids store. Sears, a well-known retail store filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Sears was flooded with debt with $134 million dollars to pay.  Sears closed 142 stores, but after months they survived through the bankruptcy auction and 400 stores are being kept open. Eddie Lampert, a billionaire, and the companies chairman along with the largest shareholder, won the auction. Lampert ended up raising his offer to $5 billion to keep 400 stores open in the nation. This move will not only save 400 stores but 45,000 jobs. Bankruptcy is definitely one of the worst things that could happen to a business. As we have seen the well-known crash of Toys ‘R’ Us because of Amazon. This also happened to Sears. Like what's the point in going out to buy something when you could get it delivered to you with a click of a button? I do think Lampert's move was wise to help...

Islesboro a town on an island is three miles away from the mainland. They have to pay for a ferry round trip to leave. Most residents are having a problem with the increase of the ferry price. The change in price went up last May but since then some are really struggling because of it. Maggy Willcox, the publisher for the Islesboro Island News, wants to see her granddaughter but for a round trip, it costs her $30. She can only manage one trip a week. Every time she leaves the island she has to add $30 to whatever she's doing. Many people that live there have spoken out to the Maine Department of Transportation. I think that the Maine Department of Transportation should’ve taken this matter into consideration before they actually did anything. They should’ve thought about the people who don’t have access to the mainland by car or walking. With the ferry prices up some people can’t leave the island very often. It's disappointing when people can't leave to do the things th...

The beloved 74-year-old song, a classic, that would be on heavy rotation during winter time has now caused controversy. Now radio stations are taking the song down and won't play them. The song is about a man trying to convince a lady to stay with him but she repeatedly says “no”, but he still persists. Some interpret the song to sound like date rape. There has been criticism in the past but it took until this year for the topic to skyrocket. The song was originally written as an act for a party. Frank Loesser wrote it for him and his wife to sing as a party. The song ended up being a hit and they started to sing it everywhere. I can totally get where people are coming from especially with the #MeToo movement this year, but with the song being a Christmas classic and being around for more than 70 years then what's the point in criticizing it now especially if it’s been so popular. Why address the problem after years and years of being on the charts? In earlier times things l...

Recently a couple in New Jersey started a GoFundMe for a homeless man, except that this wasn’t for a good cause like it seemed. This whole thing had started on a lie and proceeded to be completely fake. Kate McClure made up a story about how Mr. Bobbitt gave her his last twenty dollars for gas. She said she “wanted to give back” and made a GoFundMe for him which raised $402,706. Apparently, all of the money was spent. Over $100,000 was being used for Casino play, but only 20,000 was actually spent on casino play. In March the couple exchanged texts about how they only had $10,000 dollars left. After a couple of months, Mr. Bobbitt sued the couple claiming they kept it for themselves. The couple and homeless man are now being charged with conspiracy and theft. I know things like this don’t happen very often but when it does it's very disappointing. In this case, Mr. Bobbitt was an actual homeless man and the couple set this up for themselves. Knowing that some people just pulled ...