There was unexpected news during the week of October 29, when it was reported that a couple died while taking a selfie at Yosemite National Park. The couple’s bodies were discovered after other tourists encountered their empty camera equipment and reported the incident to the staff. It was reported that the park rangers had to use high-powered binoculars to find them.

The bodies were found about 800 ft below Taft Point, and the recovery operation required technical climbing, rappelling techniques, and a helicopter from the California Highway Patrol.

This couple had more than 10,000 Instagram followers. They documented their travels, and they had traveled all over Europe, including to Venice, the leaning tower of Pisa, and at the Vatican.

Yosemite Park spokespearn, Scott Gerdiman had stated that more 10 people have died at Yosemite Park this year.

The couple’s names, Meenakashi Moorthy and Vishnu Viswanath, were revealed a few days after their bodies were retrieved. Moorthy was considered to be a “quirky free spirit” and an “ardent adrenaline junkie” and she had described her husband Vishnu as being “travel obsessed.”

The couple were both born in Indian and had lived in United States for a few years. They attended the College of Engineering, in the Alappuzha district of India’s Kerala state, and graduated together in 2010. One of their professors, Nisha Kuruvilla, had said that both Moorthy and Viswanath were both very good students and had gotten married at a Hindu temple in Kerala in southern India about 4 years ago.

While it is unclear how the couple fell to their death, their social media posts support the conclusion that the couple was taking a selfie which caused the fall.

The couple were known to take dangerous and risky photos. For example, in one photo, Moorthy posed at the edge of the Grand Canyon in a Wonder Woman costume. They did this even though Moorthy had talked multiple times about how fatal and dangerous a selfie can be, and advise her followers to not take those risks.

In one of Moorthy posts, she wrote “A lot of us including yours truly is a fan of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliff–skyscrapers. But did you know that wind gust can be FATAL? Is our life worth one photo?”

On the day to their death, a few hours earlier, another couple hiked to Taft Point too and were able to snap a photo of Moorthy. It was the last photo of her before she died. Sean Mattheson, the man who took the photo of him and his wife said, “She[Moorthy] was very close to the edge, but it looked like she was enjoying herself. She gave me the willies. There aren’t any railings. I was not going to get that close to the edge. But she seemed comfortable. She didn’t seem like she was in distress or anything.”

A study, published in October, in The Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, said 259 people died taking selfies between October 2011 to November 2017. It was reported that a few of the main causes of selfie deaths included: people drowning, being washed away by waves, falling from a boat, posing in front of a train, falling from high places, or taking pictures with dangerous animals.

By: Vivian S

Starting Monday, October 22, bombs targeting noticeable Democrats were found in the mail. The mail bombs were sent to: Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, George Soros, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Eric Holder, Rep. Maxine Waters, Robert De Niro, James Clapper, Sen. Kamala Harris, and Sen. Cory Booker. A bomb was also sent to CNN, specifically to John Brennan, who is a periodic contributor to CNN.

Federal authorities say that the bombs were real and a danger. So far, 15 bombs have been intercepted.

The suspect is a Florida man named Cesar Sayoc, 56. He was arrested by authorities on October 26, at an auto parts store. He had previously been arrested nine times. He had apparently threatened to blow up Florida Power & Light before when the worker he had called recorded their conversation. He was arrested, and Sayoc pleaded guilty was put on probation. On social media, he was an avid Trump supporter.

Sayoc’s van was covered in Trump-related stickers. One sticker read “CNN Sucks,” and there were targets on pictures of those he disliked, such as Hillary Clinton. Investigators believe that he lived in his van and made the bombs there. Inside there were objects that could be linked to the crime.

He apparently had a list of hundreds he was going to target. It is thought that he was still in the process of sending out bombs and that more might be in the postal system.

Prosecutors have called what he did a domestic terror attack and said that he had been planning this since July. They found that he had created a document, in July, with the return address he used, and that he had searched up Hillary Clinton’s address then as well.

Sayoc is facing five federal charges and up to 48 years in prison. The charges are as follows: illegal mailing of explosives, interstate transportation of an explosive, threats against Presidents and other persons, threatening interstate communications, and assaulting federal officers.

For more information please visit: cnn.com

Midterm elections are held halfway between presidential elections. Voters elect one-third of all U.S. senators and all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives during the Midterms. The reason Midterm elections are so important is that this election determines which political party—Democratic or Republican—will control each chamber of Congress for the next two years. The party in control of either chamber is the party more likely to get its proposed legislation passed in that chamber. Because proposed legislation must pass in both the House and the Senate for it to reach the president’s desk for approval it is easier to pass bills when the majority is leaning toward your political party.

The Midterm elections serve the purpose of allowing the public to have more control over the US government. The election also gives the public the freedom to implement their ideas and inspirations in the country’s laws, future goals, and other projects/ moments they might want to include into the government’s think box. The factor that Midterm elections play in this is, is if your party is elected in the majority, then chances are those ideas will be more likely to turn into something bigger. Therefore, the Midterms can present new opportunities, and concerns our day to day lives.

Though the Midterms only happen once every two years, the state and local elections can take place any time in various places throughout the year. These elections can be held for offices such as the state’s governor, seats in the state legislature, a city’s mayor, judges, a local official, or for other reasons. The election can be held to ballot initiatives that affect the laws, taxes, and budget of your state or town. The difference between these elections and the congressional ones is that the latter affect your state’s representation in Congress, which is the legislative branch of the federal government that includes the House of Representatives and the Senate and thus pertains to the entire country. The former, however, is only relevant to your own state or town.

As of 2018, we have the following people running in Minnesota:

• Tina Smith (Democrat) and Karin Housley (Republican) for U.S Senate
• For the U.S House of Representatives: the Democrats – Dan Feehan (District 1), Angie Craig (District 2), Dean Phillips (District 3), Betty McCollum (District 4), Ilhan Omar (District 5), Ian Todd (District 6), Collin Peterson (District 7) and Joe Radinovich (District 8)
• For the U.S House of Representatives: the Republicans – Jim Hagedorn (District 1), Jason Lewis (District 2), Erik Paulsen (District 3), Greg Ryan (District 4), Jennifer Zielinski (District 5), Tom Emmer (District 6), Dave Hughes (District 7), and Pete Stauber (District 8).

To educate yourself with more information on what each of these individual’s takes on taxes, national debt, immigration, health care, and guns, are click on this link!

http://www.startribune.com/2018-minnesota-election-voter-guide-who-is-running-governor-house-senate-politics-issues/483224571/

On Wednesday, October 3rd, 2018, everyone with a smartphone in the United States was expected to receive a text message that stated: “Presidential Alert: THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency System Alert System. No action is needed.” This is the first test that the federal government and cellular carriers put together to alert people of serious things like widespread disasters and terrorist attacks.

These are similar to AMBER ALERTS, for missing children, or serious weather warnings because they both come from the federal government. The only difference is with Presidential Alerts, you can not turn them off in your cell phone’s settings. The system is run by FEMA, which is the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They have stated that all major cell phone carriers have agreed to participate in this.

This test was originally scheduled for September, but it was delayed because of Hurricane Florence. The law behind the cell phone notification system, which was passed in 2016, requires FEMA to run a test at least every three years.

There has been a concern about privacy with these notification alerts. People are worried that the government has too much power over what they can see on our personal devices. Thankfully, President Trump isn’t the one who can just decide what message to send out to cell phones. It is controlled by specific people that work for FEMA. Also, the FCC will ask cell service providers to produce a reflection about how the test went.