Who is: Coy Mathis?

A 6-year-old transgender child named Coy Mathis is a first grader that attended Eagle Elementary School in Fountain, Colorado.

Coy has the body of a boy, but wears girls’ clothes, used the girls’ restroom at her school, and identifies herself as a girl.

Fountain-Fort Carson School District told Coy’s parents in December that she could no longer use the girls’ restroom at Eagle Elementary and would have to use the boys’ or nurse’s restroom instead.

This act has caused Coy’s parents and the Transgender Legal and Defense Education Fund to bring a complaint against the school for violating the girl’s rights.

The school’s lawyers released a letter saying:

                                “The district's decision took into account not only Coy but other students in the building, their parents, and the future impact a boy with male genitals using a girls' bathroom would have as Coy grew older."

Coy’s parents have since begun to home-school her in response to the situation.

Information on transgender can be found here.

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Titanic II: A Cruise Ship for 2016

Although the first ship that sunk in 1912 lies beneath the waves, one man hopes to create the sunken ship’s predecessor.

Australian billionaire Clive Palmer unveiled blueprints on Tuesday of Titanic II at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

Palmer says that the ship would be built in China and would cross the Atlantic in 2016.

The cruise ship would be able to accommodate more than 3000 people, including crew members, and have facilities such as a casino, gymnasium, and a theater.

Blue Star Line has a signup page for the main voyage of Titanic II here.

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Death Toll is 19 After Balloon Crash in Egypt

A hot air balloon in Luxor, Egypt carrying tourists, crashed Tuesday morning, killing 19 people.

BBC News reports that a landing rope caught on and dismantled a gas tube that triggered a fire and caused the balloon to crash.

The balloon was up almost 1,000 feet in the air before it was sent to the ground.

The pilot and one other person survived the crash by jumping out of the balloon basket.

Egyptian authorities are investigating the crash and have suspended balloon rides near Luxor.

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Science News: The Lost Continent of Mauritia

Scientists say they have found evidence of a micro continent that lies on the ocean floor.

The continent that has been named “Mauritia” is said to lie under ancient lava on the Indian Ocean’s floor.

The evidence found for Mauritia comes from the volcanic island of Mauritius that is almost 560 miles east of Madagascar.

Geologist Bjørn Jamtveit from the University of Oslo collected samples on Mauritius's beaches that have sand containing zircons.

Zircons are “tiny crystals of zirconium silicate”, and the samples found at the beaches are at least 600 million years old.

Jamtveit and his peers believe that the zircons originate from Mauritia.

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South Korea Swears in First Woman President

Park Geun-hye took her oath Monday making her South Korea’s first female president.

Park was elected last December and changed the long history of male presidents that resided over the country.

The president is believed to make South Korea’s economic troubles one of her focuses during her term as well as improving the lives of her people.

The newly sworn in president will face challenges such as North Korean relations and division among the South Korean society.

Park's father, Park Chung-hee, was one of the founders of modern South Korea and ruled the country for nearly two decades.

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Car Crash at NASCAR Race Injures Fans

Due to a car crash towards the end of a race at the Daytona International Speedway, flying car debris injured more than 30 NASCAR fans.

NASCAR driver Kyle Larson was sent airborne into a fence, sending parts of his car into the stands.

Some of the injured fans received medical attention at a medical facility at the track, and others were sent to local hospitals.

Although Larson was racing faster than 175mph and the front of his vehicle was torn away from the crash, he walked away unharmed.

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U.S. Justice Department Onboard Lawsuit Against Lance Armstrong

The U.S. Justice Department announced Friday that it is on board the lawsuit against Lance Armstrong.

The seven-time Tour de France champion is being sued on allegations of defrauding the U.S. Postal Service and lying about using performance-enhancement drugs.

Ronald Machen is the U.S. attorney for Washington D.C. and says the lawsuit will try to recover millions of dollars the Postal Service gave to Armstrong’s team over the years.

The Justice Department will file a formal complaint before May.

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Science News: Coronal Rain- A Rarity

NASA released a video this week of a cosmic rarity that occurs on the surface of the sun.

The rarity known as coronal rain happens on the Sun’s surface when a gas is superheated and bursts into the Sun’s atmosphere.

Once the plasma is in the atmosphere, it is cooled and its particles are trapped in the Sun’s magnetic fields.

The particles are then sent back to the sun’s surface and create an aura-like jet stream.

The video footage was captured in the early morning last July at NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.

The CBS link below will show the video footage.

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Strippers Allegedly Hired by Mother for 16-Year-Old Son’s Birthday

A New York mother could be sent to jail on charges of endangering the welfare of a child.

Judy Viger allegedly hired strippers for her 16-year-old son’s birthday party on November 3^rd last year.

Pictures from the boy’s birthday party were uploaded online and then later reported to the police by a parent of a boy at the party.

One of said pictures can be seen here. (CAUTION: Picture could be considered too graphic for some viewers) 

Police accused Viger of "organizing, managing, and paying" for the strippers to entertain the underage party attendants.

If convicted, Viger could face up to a year in prison.

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Nestle Removes Products Said to Contain Horse DNA

Two Nestle products are to be pulled from supermarket shelves in Italy and Spain in light of a horsemeat scandal.

Nestle made a statement Monday saying it plans to immediately remove Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini from shelves.

The company conducted tests that found traces of horse DNA in the products pulled from shelves.

A spokesman for Nestle said that the horse DNA was very low in the products and above the 1% threshold used by the U.K. Food Safety Agency to detect negligence.

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Couple Dies While Cycling Around the World

The British couple that was trying to bike around the world were reported dead on Monday.

Peter Root and Mary Thompson were east of Bangkok last Weenesday when they were hit by a pickup truck and left lying on the roadside.

The driver of the truck told local police that he was reaching down for his hat on the floor when he struck the couple, 

The driver was also injured in the crash and faces a possible 10 years in prison for dangerous driving.

Peter and Mary left on their trip in July 2011 and had been posting the progress of their journey on the website Two on Four Wheels.

They had successfully biked through Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and China.

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Tech News: 3D Printing – The Billion Dollar Industry

Forbes reports that according to industry analyst Terry Wohlers, the 3D Printing industry will reach $5.2 billion by 2020.

For those who don’t know, Additive Manufacturing, or 3D Printing, is a process in which someone could create 3D models of something designed on a computer.

The “printer” stacks layer upon layer of resin that eventually creates a 3D model from the design on the computer.

A more detailed explanation can be found here.

In a challenge presented by MakerBot and GrabCAD, auto enthusiasts were tasked with designing futuristic vehicles.

There were six selected from 151 entries, and each winning design was designed to hold one passenger.

President Obama spoke on 3D printing labs in his latest State of the Union speech saying he wants “to guarantee the next revolution of manufacturing is Made in America.”

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Bombing in Quetta, Pakistan Leaves 64 Dead, Others Injured

A remote-detonated bomb in a truck exploded near a market in Quetta, Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 64 people.

More than 180 people were injured in the blast at the crowded market.

The Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have since taken responsibility for the bombing, as did they for the January bombings that killed 92 people.

Most of the deceased were Shi’ites, who police say are the continuing target of the militant group.

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Meteor Impact Rattles Russia

 A meteor weighing an estimated 10 tons exploded above Russian skies, injuring more than 1,000 people below in the city of Chelyabinsk.

The meteor traveled at the speed of 33,000 miles per hour and shattered windows of buildings throughout the city.

Witnesses to the meteor’s explosion captured video and uploaded footage to websites such as YouTube.

A reservoir near a town in Russia now plays host to fragments of the meteorite that fell from the explosion.

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Tens of Millions: Cost of Damage to University of Southern Mississippi

The tornado that trailed through Hattiesburg, Mississippi on Sunday has caused an estimated damage cost in the tens of millions of dollars to the University of Southern Mississippi.

On Sunday, the university made a statement on its website that at least four of its buildings on campus had been damaged.

 

The school was closed Monday and Tuesday due to Mardi Gras.

Class resumed on Thursday, making Wednesday the only day of canceled classes.

Most of the damage is to be covered by a $500 million insurance policy.

                                                                                                                                

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C-Plus Pushes Graduate Student to Sue

A graduate student at a university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is suing the university and a professor because of a grade.

Megan Thode attended Lehigh University and claims that the C-plus she received prevented her from becoming a licensed therapist.

Thode received the grade during the fall of 2009 and has since got her master’s degree in human development instead of her desired degree.

Professor Amanda Eckhardt is the instructor getting sued and says that she believes that Thode “received the grade she earned.”

Eckhardt also said that Thode failed to receive her 25 participation points because she didn’t behave professionally, resulting in a full letter grade decrease.

Thode says that the C-plus has cost her $1.3 million dollars in lost earnings and plans to sue for monetary damages and a higher grade.

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Two Deputies Shot by Man Believed to be Christopher Dorner

Two deputy sheriffs were wounded in the Big Bear area of California Tuesday by a man believed to be Christopher Dorner.

The deputies responded to a home invasion and carjacking report by a resident who claimed that the intruder matched the description of Dorner.

The deputies were shot after exchanging fire with the suspect and were airlifted from the scene.

The intruder has since barricaded himself inside a mountain cabin after being pursued by local authorities and is surrounded by police. 

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Pope Benedict XVI to Resign

Pope Benedict XVI made an announcement Monday stating that he is stepping down from his duties effect February 28^th.

In his statement, pope says:

            After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering.

The full announcement can be read here.

The Pope’s decision to step down would make him the second pope to do so since 1415 when Pope Gregory XII stepped down.

It is believed that the Vatican is to hold a meeting in mid-March to elect a new pope.

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Science News: Curiosity to Process Sample from “John Klein” Rock

Over the next few days, the ground team controlling the Curiosity rover will process the sample of rock powder gathered by the rover’s drill on Friday.

The process will examine the sample of rock powder dug from the .63 inch wide, 2.5 inch deep hole as part of NASA’s project.

The rock sample is classified as sedimentary and is believed to have some evidence of a water environment within the area.

The USGS.gov definition of sedimentary rocks can be read here.

The drilling marks the first time in human history that a robot has drilled into the Martian surface and successfully retrieved a sample.

The rock where the hole was dug has been named “John Klein” after a deceased associate of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory.

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