News Roundup 11/02/2017

By Erik Estrada

1. GOP Tax Plan:

The GOP passed a new tax plan that makes changes in favor of the way big businesses do their taxes. The previous GOP plan had 7 different tax brackets that applied to the top 59 percent of millionaires based on their incomes and assets is now being changed to three. The tax weighed on corporate businesses is being cut from 35 to 20 percent, something large corporations have been lobbying for. The middle class can expect around double of the standard-deductions and no change applied to 401(k) plans.

Source: New York Times

2. New York Terrorist a Possible ISIS Associate:

Following the terrorist attack that unfolded on October 31, evidence suggests that the attacker was acting in the name of the terrorist group ISIS. The attacker drove a Home Depot rental truck through a bike path in lower Manhattan, killing 8 and leaving over a dozen injured. The al-Naba newspaper, a weekly publication put out by ISIS, referred to the attacker as a “soldier of the caliphate”. The suspect, Sayfulla Saipov, has also been reported to have a phone full of terrorist propaganda, and documents say that he has requested to display the terror group's flag in his hospital room.

Source: CNN

3. The Smallest Ozone Hole Since 1988:

The smallest hole in the ozone layer has been detected since 1988 by NASA and the NOAA. Every year the ozone layer is measured and recorded for its density and coverage of the Earth. The ozone hole spiked on September 11, when the hole covered an area larger than two and half times size larger than the United States, but declined through the rest of September and October. The cause of the fluctuation in our ozone layer was warm air in the atmosphere creating what experts call an ‘Antarctic vortex’ where the stratospheric low-pressure system rotates in a way that helps minimize polar clouds.

Source: NASA

4. Twitter Employee Deactivates Trumps Twitter on Last Day:

A Twitter customer support employee used their last day to deactivate President Trump's Twitter account for a total of 11 minutes. The ex-employee, who normally does not have the power to do so, had a parting gift for the Twitter-sphere and didn’t suspend the account but deactivated it. An investigation is underway to conclude who the employee was and how they accessed the president's account.

Source: Washington Post

5. Push for a California Split:

Timothy Draper, the same billionaire who proposed to split California into 6 different states in 2016, is now proposing to split the state into 3 different states. The new states would be Northern California, Southern California and California. Draper is taking steps towards this and is being told if 365,880 registered voters sign for the petition it will earn a spot on the 2018 ballot. This would bring about changes in the higher education systems as well water, health and tax structures.

Source: NBC News