By Kelsey Corley, Student Editor
The spring semester is coming to a close and students are more than eager for summer break. If you find time in between studying for finals and preparing for summer jobs or internships, try and take a few moments to look back and review all that has happened in the semester that has passed us by.
In The World
- The number of Covid cases have been steadily dropping in the past few months since the last spike in February which has led many government bodies and institutions to drop the remaining mask mandates. Over the same period of time, the FDA and the CDC have cleared a second booster, or fourth dose, of the Covid vaccine for people 50 and younger. Large outbreaks across Asia, however, leave the future of the pandemic unclear.
- Thursday, February 24th, Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, a move which Russian President Putin continues to call a ‘special military operation’ to “de-nazify the neighboring country”. The attack has caused one of the largest refugee crises since the second World War and Russian forces have been accused of multiple accounts of human rights violations and war crimes amid the conflict.
- President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, was confirmed in a 53 to 47 Senate vote. Jackson will be the first Black woman to serve as a Justice on the Supreme Court following the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer.
Closer to Home
- The Bristol Landfill has been a near constant source of frustration among citizens in Virginia and Tennessee alike. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality recently held a panel of environmental experts to recommend a course of action for the city to take to deal with the odors and gases originating from the dump. The report is scheduled to be released at the end of April.
- King University hosted the 28th annual Blue Ridge Undergraduate Research Conference in early April.
- Veronica Roach was inaugurated as President of the Student Government Administration at the Spring Honors Convocation on April 18th, along with her Vice-President Katie Eggleston.
- Faculty lecturers for the 2022-23 academic year will be Dr. Kevin Deford and Professor Gail Helt. Student lecturers will be Gracie Delaney and Amanda Meadows.
