Deadly tornadoes swung through the Midwest and South. The latest casualty died today, in a hospital in Kentucky, bringing the death-toll up to 39. The victim? A 15-month-old who was found in a field near her home. Her siblings and parents had already been killed. The storm system really started up on Friday, and affected people all the way from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes. Someone even found a trampoline in a tree in Cleveland. Let’s hope for a speedy recovery for all the devastated areas.

Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh got in trouble for calling a Georgetown Law student a ‘slut’ on-air. Hold up — make that ultra conservative talk show host. What prompted his misogynistic words? The student, Sandra Fluke, testified before a Congressional hearing about why Catholic schools should make birth control available under federal law. Here are his exact words: “What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right?…She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception.” Right then. Limbaugh apologized for his comments on Saturday, but seven sponsors have already dropped his show. Read More »

Russians dealt a blow to Vladimir Putin, the longtime president, in elections last week. After years of unquestionable power in Russia, Putin’s glory is finally beginning to decline. His United Russia’s Party in Parliament lost it’s grasp on the legislature, losing it’s majority of 67% to less than 50%. Without his party in power, Putin won’t be able to get things done the way he used to. And when he runs for reelection in March, he’ll face a steeper uphill battle. Some think this is the beginning of a ‘Russian Spring,’ with young people uprising against the government the way they did in the Middle East earlier this year. Putin must think so too, because he ordered students to school on a Saturday to prevent them from gathering. School on a Saturday? Oh helll nooo. Not the way to win students’ approval…

A gunman shot and killed a Virginia Tech university police officer on Thursday, then turned the gun on himself. The event happened only four years after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, when 33 people were killed by a disturbed student. The school immediately went on lockdown when the murdered officer Deriek Crouse was discovered. Authorities issued the all-clear four hours later when they found the shooter dead in a nearby parking lot, apparently by his own hand. Read More »

Since it’s a holiday weekend, you don’t have to spend your Sunday catching up on homework. Why not use the extra time to do something for fun?  Bake some brownies, go for a run, or…learn judo!