Kaylen May Gerkey

E. coli Fears Prompt Recall of millions of Frozen Pizzas
(NATIONAL)Summary: On Thursday General Mills recalled about 5 million frozen said to have contained E. coli. After 21 people came down with the virus nine of them were said to have eaten Totino’s/Jeno’s Pizza at one point. The problem was said to have been with the pepperonis on the pizzas. The pepperoni toppings were claimed by General Mills to have been made by a different distributor and have not yet released the name since the CDC is still investigating. General Mills are cooperating fully and have told customers to throw out all Totino’s/Jeno’s pizzas and to cut off the barcode and mail it in to get refunds or new pizzas.

Opinion: When I first heard this I though nothing of it. Then I remembered how all summer and the beginning of the school year my dad would by frozen pizzas (don’t remember what kind, but they were good) and we would eat them all the time. Now hearing this come out just scares me. All those times I had a bit of a stomach ache or whatever could I have had E. coli poisoning or something. I am fine now but what if? is the ultimate question. I think it’s very good for General Mills, the fact that they are fully cooperating with the CDC and all that is going on. They are keeping their innocence and loyalty to the pepperoni company and fully complying.

Colbert’s Run for White House Stopped Short
(NATIONAL)Summary: Today the Democratic Party of South Carolina voted to keep Stephen Colbert off the Democratic ticket. The executive group met Thursday and decided that Colbert did not meet the standards to be on the ballot. Opponents agree, and say that “Colbert would make a mockery of the political process.” To qualify a candidate must be viable nationally and spent time campaigning in the state. Colbert was said to have not met the requirements for national viability. “He does not appear to be campaigning to win of he is only running in one state,” Carol Fowler, chairwoman of the state Democratic Party said. Colbert announced his running on October 16th and made a campaign stop Sunday in Columbia to receive a key to the city attracting 1,000 people.

Opinion: I had always wondered if this guy was going to run for any White House position. I love Colbert but I would have to agree with those who feel he may make a mockery of the process. I know Colbert believes strongly in certain political issues and if he were to ever win a position would probably do a good job, especially being famous and all. But to some extent I would have to agree with the Democratic Party decision. I think they made up a bogus claim to keep from putting him on the ticket but Colbert still has his very successful career and show to fall back on and this is not going to knock him down or anything but there is always a next time.

Hingis Tests Positive for Cocaine
(INTERNATIONAL)Summary: Martina Hingis, 27, announced her retirement for the second time in Zurich, Switzerland Thursday. To add to the retirement, fans were shocked to hear that Hingis tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon after her 6-4 6-2 defeat in the 3rd round to Laura Granville. Hingis was surprised at the least to the test results and decided to face the press head on claiming that she found the accusations horrendous and monstrous and shocked that she tested positive. She said, “... there is only one performance enhancer – the love of the game.” Hingis hired a lawyer but after a few fights and appeals decided to retire. She said that things like this take years and she did not want to have to deal with that, so she resulted to retirement.

Opinion: I was quite surprised to hear that she tested positive for cocaine. I am always naïve when it comes to famous athletes or whatever and I always want to believe them, but the test came back positive and they are not wrong so I do not know why she thinks it’s wrong and that she did not do it. I’ll admit I want to believe her but it is hard these days with all these football ad baseball guys doing drugs and steroids and now Hingis and just recently the American women’s sprinter it’s hard to believe that they did not do it.

Floods Claim At Least 13 Lives in Vietnam
(INTERNATIONAL)Summary: In Hanoi, Vietnam floods have killed thirteen people and left five others missing over the past two days. Previous flooding within the last two weeks killed nearly eleven people while on the other hand Typhoon Lekima killed almost ninety people and left ten people missing in October. A few streets were flooded in Hoi An but there was no damage to there architectural landmarks. Since then the waters have been receding. In Thu Thien Hue province six people have drowned and nearly 8,000 were evacuated. Disaster officials said that it could have been worse. It’s just that the new floods have compounded the misery of the villagers who have yet recovered from the early disasters.

Opinion: It seems like there are more and more natural disasters these days. Obviously the worlds getting older and it is soon going to come to an end, but I just wonder. I feel for the people in Vietnam, one storm after another and they are just supposed to cope. It is a bad area over there, poverty and all and I feel sorry for them. I find it funny somewhat that the article says that it’s good the architectural landmarks are ok, when people are dying and thousands are getting evacuated because the storm is so dangerous. But I pray the storms die down and they find the missing people and everything comes out ok.