News Roundup 03/11/19
1. US Women’s Soccer Team File A Gender Discrimination Lawsuit
On Friday March 8, twenty-eight members of the United States women’s national team sued U.S. Soccer in federal court for gender discrimination. The athletes claim that discrimination affects their “paychecks, where they play and how often, how they train, the medical treatment and coaching they receive, and even how they travel to matches.” Issues about pay between the men and women U.S. national teams have been brought up in the past. According to the New York Times, the men receive higher game bonuses, where as the women receive guaranteed salaries supplemented by smaller match bonuses. This lawsuit comes at a time when the team is currently training for the Women’s World Cup in France this summer.
2. 9-year-old Girl Found Murdered Inside a Duffle Bag in Hacienda Heights
On Sunday March 10, the girl found in the duffle bag was identified as Trinity Love Jones. Her body was found near a hiking trail in Hacienda Heights, Calif. on Tuesday morning, March 5. At this time, detectives have not released how the girl died and her death is being investigated as a homicide. Investigators expect to get more information from the autopsy and seek forensic evidence from the duffel bag and the child’s clothes. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department currently have two people in custody as persons of interest in Jones’ murder. This story is still developing.
3. No New Trial for Adnan Syed
A split 4-3 decision on Adnan Syed’s conviction was given by Maryland’s Supreme Court. Syed was convicted in 2000 for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in Baltimore, Maryland. Back in 2016, Syed’s new legal team requested that his conviction be vacated for a new trail. On March 8, Maryland’s Supreme Court denied that request even though they had agreed that Syed’s lawyer was “deficient” for not providing a potential alibi witness, but pointed out that there was strong evidence that found him guilty. Syed has gained popularity through 2014’s podcast Serial and is now back in the spotlight in HBO’s four-part documentary series about the case that aired on Monday March 11.
4. Power Outages in Venezuela
Last week, Venezuela’s main power plant suffered an outage which lead to many days of blackouts throughout the country. President Nicolás Maduro blames the U.S. on the power outage, claiming that they are trying to “sabotage” him because the U.S. recognizes Juan Guaidó as the president instead of him. As for Guaidó, he blames Maduro’s administration for neglecting the power plant. He stated that citizens who died during the blackouts had been "murdered" by the government and plans to declare a national emergency to increase pressure on Maduro and his government
5. 157 Passengers Die Aboard An Ethiopian Airlines Flight
An Ethiopian Airlines flight headed to Nairobi, Kenya crashed Sunday morning six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 aboard. Aboard the plane were passengers from 35 countries, including eight American citizens. According to the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Tewolde Gebremariam, he said the pilot had an “excellent flying record” and the plane had no known technical problems before takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. This is the second disaster involving the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft after takeoff in less than 6 months. For now, airlines around the world are grounding their Boeing 737 Max 8 aircrafts to prevent another tragedy.