Campus Protests Lead to Suspensions, Arrests & Negotiations
Testing US beef and dairy for bird flu; Americans under 40 seeing $$$$ increase
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📌 COLUMBIA BEGINS TO SUSPEND STUDENT PROTESTERS
Protests sweep across US campuses. Via: CNN
Talks have ended between Columbia University and pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel protesters after nearly a week and a half of attempting to reach a consensus to shut down a second tent encampment.
The school initially brought in the NYPD to conduct arrests on April 18, but the students quickly returned. The school started suspending students around 5 p.m. Monday, about three hours after setting a new deadline to vacate the campus lawn. The students are vowing to remain.
So far, Columbia is not involving the NYPD again, calling police counterproductive for now.
Columbia’s protests inspired a cascade of similar encampments on college campuses nationwide, which have led to hundreds of arrests.
SCHOOLS TAKE ACTION
Columbia’s latest move appeared to be an effort to dismantle the encampment before the university’s May 15 graduation. Shafik says the school does not want to “deprive thousands of students and their families and friends of a graduation celebration.”
Sueda Polat, a student organizer with the encampment, said the encampment “will not be moved unless by force” given the university had not met the protesters demands to divest from companies that benefit Israel and profit from its war in Gaza. Columbia officials say they have no intention of divesting from Israel.
At the same time, more than two dozen notable Columbia alumni, including a former chair of the board of trustees, criticized the university president for failing to take control of campus and allowing antisemitism to spread.
Breaking Late Monday: Columbia protesters appear to have broken into a building and barricaded themselves inside. Follow Mo News Instagram for the latest.
LAWMAKERS TAKE SIDES
While congressional members of “the squad,” Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, visited the encampment to support protesters late last week, 21 other House Democrats sent a letter to university administrators expressing frustration that the encampment remains.
They wrote of "disappointment that, despite promises to do so, Columbia University has not yet disbanded the unauthorized and impermissible encampment of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish activists on campus."
ACROSS THE NATION
Various schools and cities are each taking different approaches to reaching a resolution with their encampments ranging from arrests to suspensions to negotiations to just ignoring the camps.
Protesters returned to the University of Texas at Austin again yesterday, with six people quickly arrested, after 34 arrests were arrested last week. The governor of Texas says the state plans to keep the campus clear.
At the University of Florida, officials called police to conduct arrests after multiple days of warnings. Officials said that they are not running a “daycare” for college students, and there a consequences for breaking the rules.
In DC, city police have rejected George Washington University administrators’ request to clear an unauthorized encampment.
At California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, protesters vandalized and barricaded themselves inside several buildings — leading the campus to actually close for the remainder of the semester as they negotiate with protesters.
And, at Northwestern, administrators struck a deal with protest organizers and made several concessions, including on investment transparency.
Here’s a list of current protests.
💰 GOOD NEWS FOR MILLENNIALS — YOU’RE WEALTH IS SOARING
People born between 1981 and 1996 are doing much better financially. Household wealth for those millennials is up 49%, or $85,000, from its pre-pandemic level, according to a new analysis.
Wealth is your liabilities (mortgages and student loan debt) subtracted from your assets (stocks, bank accounts, and real estate). Between Q4 2019 and Q4 2023, wealth rose for young Americans from $174,000 to $259,000.
It’s the most rapid wealth growth for young households since the Federal Reserve began tracking the data in 1989.
STARBUCKS DIDN’T STOP ‘EM
Avocado toast and $7 lattes are not keeping millennials from reaching some financial milestones. One of the keys: millennials were willing to take more risks with investments as the stock market skyrocketed over the last couple years and benefited from rising home values.
Average housing wealth rose $22,000 — as homeownership rose and home prices soared.
Financial assets (mostly stocks and mutual funds) jumped by $31,000.
Non-housing debt fell by $5,000, with help from the pandemic’s student loan moratorium which allowed people to pay off credit cards.
SAVING FOR AN EARLY RETIREMENT
While wealth gains were higher for younger Americans, older folks still have more saved. Across the board, the average household has a $1.1 million net worth. So, millennials still have some way to go until they can retire.
🥛 FDA SAYS MILK IS OK TO DRINK DESPITE 1 IN 5 SAMPLES TESTING POSITIVE FOR BIRD FLU
One in five milk samples from grocery stores across the US contained particles of the H5N1 virus, also known as the highly contagious bird flu. Now, the USDA will test beef samples in stores, and conduct experiments to see how cooking ground beef impacts it.
Milk from sick cows is supposed to be discarded, so the FDA’s findings suggest the outbreak — which started just over a month ago — is more widespread than previously thought. However, the agency still says the traces of virus found in pasteurized milk and baby formula are totally safe to drink.
SAFE TO CONSUME
Many infectious disease experts and government officials believe the pasteurization process — heating milk to high temperature for a short amount of time — will inactivate the virus. But the agency also said last week they need to do more to confirm the milk is totally clear.
The USDA confirmed over 30 herds of milking cows tested positive across nine states. People who work with cattle are at highest risk of contracting the virus.
Only one person in the US, who worked with cattle, contracted the virus in the current outbreak — and conjunctivitis, or pink eye, was his only symptom.
COVID LESSONS LEARNED
Federal agencies are learning a lot about the virus and how it spreads amongst cows. Some lawmakers, including Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), are pushing bipartisan legislation, the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act, which lapsed last year and aims to bolster the US’s response to pandemics.
Romney said, “Containing this before it spreads among humans is critical. Given lessons learned from COVID, this federal response is insufficient.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) urged the USDA to "quickly deploy additional resources in states that have the opportunity to prevent the disease from entering herds."
✔︎ Mo News Reality Check: The virus has had massive impacts to the poultry industry, with a 90% to 100% mortality rate in infected chickens. It’s one of the reasons egg prices spiked. So far, cows are showing “little to no mortality.”
⏳ SPEED READ
🚨NATION
📌 Hunter Biden threatens to sue Fox News for airing 'revenge porn' (ABC NEWS)
📌 Dog lovers and politicians roast South Dakota Governor over killing dog (AP NEWS)
📌 Rodeo workers help Washington police round up runaway zebras on interstate (GUARDIAN)
📌 Four law enforcement officers killed in North Carolina (CNN)
📌 Texas sues Biden administration over expanded protections for LGBTQ+ students (CNN)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
📌 U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Hamas to swiftly accept Israel’s latest and “extraordinarily generous” proposal (MO NEWS)
📌 US warns of genocide in Sudan (AP)
📌 Ukraine's Zelensky calls for faster arms supplies as NATO chief visits (REUTERS)
📌 Scotland’s leader resigns after conflicts over climate change, gender identity weakened government (AP)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
📌 Paramount Global chief Bob Bakish exits amid scramble to agree merger (GUARDIAN)
📌 AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile hit with $200M FCC fine for sharing user location data without consent (THE HILL)
📌 CDC says 3 women diagnosed with HIV after receiving 'vampire facial' (NPR)
📌 Elon Musk's full self-driving (FSD) software a 'really big deal' (FOX BUSINESS)
📌 Gold pocket watch found on body of Titanic's richest passenger sells for record $1.46 million (CBS NEWS)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
📌 New concerns about Britney Spears as she deletes her Instagram, again (TMZ)
📌 Beyonce and Blue Ivy to voice characters in new Lion King prequel (PEOPLE)
📌 Kate Middleton and Prince William mark 13th anniversary with stunning never-before-seen photo from wedding (PEOPLE)
📌 After Justin Bieber posted crying selfies on Instagram, there's new reports on his mental health (YAHOO)
🗓 ON THIS DAY: APRIL 30
1975: The Vietnam War ended as the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to Communist forces.
1993: Top-ranked women’s tennis player Monica Seles, who played for Yugoslavia and the US, was stabbed in the back during a match in Germany by a fan of second-ranked German player Steffi Graf.
1997: Ellen DeGeneres’ character on the ABC sitcom ‘Ellen’ announced that she was gay as an estimated 42 million viewers watched.
2004: ‘Mean Girls’ premiered in theaters 20 years ago!