Symbol of hate, symbol of hope

October 27, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

The University of Mississippi removed the Confederate-themed state flag Monday. What a difference 14 years makes.

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A strong earthquake in northern Afghanistan shook buildings from Kabul to Delhi, cut power and communications in some areas and caused more than 150 deaths, mainly in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistani officials said that at least 147 people were killed and nearly 600 others wounded across the country, while Afghan officials said 33 people were killed and more than 200 wounded. The US Geological Survey said the epicenter of the 7.5-magnitude earthquake was in the Hindu Kush mountains, in the sparsely populated province of Badakhshan, which borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China. It said the epicenter was 130 miles deep and 45 miles south of the provincial capital, Fayzabad.

A majority of Republican voters view only four of their party's presidential contenders as potential general election winners, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that reflects the sustained strength of the GOP's outsider candidates. Billionaire businessman Donald Trump is viewed as the strongest. Seven in 10 Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters say he could win. Six in 10 say the same for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush tops the field of experienced political leaders on the question of electability. Six in 10 Republicans say Bush could win the general election, followed by 54 percent who view Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as a potential winner. None of the other candidates is viewed as electable in a general election by more than half of Republican voters.

The University of Mississippi removed the state flag on its main campus on Monday morning because the banner design includes the Confederate battle emblem, which has come under fire in recent months for symbolizing slavery and segregation. A student-led resolution had been calling for the removal of the flag, and the removal finally came days after the student senate, the faculty senate, and other groups adopted the resolution. The flag will now be sent to the university’s archives, according to Interim Chancellor Morris Stocks. Over 200 people had taken part in a remove-the-flag rally on Oct. 16, sponsored by the university chapter of the NAACP.

Few things symbolize American culture more than the hot dog. But after a closer examination of the ingredients that make up the beloved frank, an unsavory image emerges: meat in vegetarian hot dogs, pork in chicken and turkey sausages, and even human DNA in some meat and vegetarian hot dogs. According to a molecular analysis by Clear Labs, a California startup that analyzes food, 14 percent of the 345 hot dogs tested had unexpected – and undesirable – ingredients. Not all of the 75 hot dog brands flunked the Clear Labs test. Ten major national brands earned quality scores higher than 90 percent, with Butterball, McCormick, Eckrich, and Hebrew National ranking the highest. Target, Walmart, and Safeway sell the highest-scoring products out of the 10 retailers where samples were collected, Clear Labs found.

Five county sheriffs with over 120 years of collective law enforcement experience stood in a house outside Pageland, S.C., last Saturday and agreed that they had never seen anything like it. Authorities say they have seized an illegal stash of thousands of guns, most of them stolen, from a house and warehouse in South Carolina. Authorities don’t have an exact number on the size of the stash – their best estimate is between 7,000 and 10,000 – but it was enough to fill four tractor trailers.

Thanks to the kindness of strangers from around the country, a couple of New Jersey families have finally moved back into their repaired homes this fall, three years after hurricane Sandy devastated their coastal community. Many of the few thousand families displaced after Sandy ravaged their coastal Monmouth County town of Belmar in October 2012 were able to return to their homes by 2014, but these two families couldn’t afford to finish repairing their homes. This prompted the city to launch a fundraising campaign in February 2014 that brought in $240,000 in cash, materials, and labor, to help Krista Sperber and Teresa Keefe make repairs so they could move their families back into their homes.

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