Drug and Alcohol ABuse in College

Today, more and more college students are dealing with drug and alcohol abuse. Students are being forced to go to tratments or classes to help them kick addictions that college has encouraged. According to Santa Clara University EMT's, the number of freshman students being rushed to the hospital has doubled over the past few years. These hospital visits are mainly the result of drug and/or alcohol abuse.

Another issue in college is when friends are afraid to speak up to get their friends help. instead of telling the students to stop, people watch their friends slowly kill themselves by drinking excessive amounts or abusing illegal drugs. These substances could potentially get students kicked out of the University, yet it remains a huge problem. Do your friends a favor and help them. make them aware of what they are doing to their lives and their bodies. These "innocent days of drinking and partying" can cause life long problems of liver damage and addicted behavior. Go to drugfree.org to read up on abuse problems and to talk to people in order to get help for yourself or for your friends. Do what you can to help them now because you never know when they will take their addictions too far.

Playoffs Here We Come!

As the second place team in the league, the San Jose Sharks have stepped it up this season to be the leader of the Pacific League. The Sharks defeated the Anaheim Ducks last night to clinch their spot in the playoffs. So far, on the Sharks and the Red Wings have clinched spots in the playoffs as the first and second place teams in the NHL. Goalie Nabokov made 34 saves to secure his sixth shutout of the season. Nabokov's leadership has helped the sharks to reach a record of 45-13-10 and to make him one of the top goalies in the league with a personal record of 34-8-7. Tomorrow, March 17th the Sharks take on Phoenix who are currently last place in the Western Conference. Watch the game at 7:00 PM and wish them luck!

World Trade Center

It is official! The construction of the new World Trade Center is underway. Although this project will take a very long time to complete, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have placed an order for 22,000 tons of steel for the construction of the new building.

Battered Wife Syndrome

Right now, one of the biggest news stories in the papers and online is the Chris Brown and Rihanna controversies. Despite Rihanna having to have plastic surgery on her face because Chris hit her so hard, he has decided to go back to him. Not only is she going back to him, but they have just finished a duet together and are showing the world that they are still as close as ever. Even though Brown, 19, and Rihanna, 20, are you and they are each others "first loves", this is a typical case of battered wife syndrome; she'll keep running back to him.

On TheRoot.com, Sophia Nelson writes a disturbing piece right after her friends funeral. Her friend was murdered by her husband, which has made women worry for people like Rihanna who can not stand up for themselves and take the abuse. I believe that abuse awareness needs to be a bigger issue in our society, and not just talk about it when a famous person gets hit. The reality is, many people in our society are victims of domestic violence, and Rihanna is not act as a good role model. Instead of inspiring women to stand up for themselves, she has shown her weakness; that she believes this behavior is acceptable and appropriate.

Starvation in India

Today in the New York Times, there is a story about how the Indian Growth is still soaring while child starvation increases. Children are dying of lack of food and nourishment. In India despite growth and good government intentions, has malnutrition at 42.5 percent. Malnutrition makes children more prone to illness and stunts physical and intellectual growth for a lifetime. There are no simple explanations. India’s public expenditure on health remains low, and in some places, financing for child nutrition programs remains unspent.

Maddoff in Jail

It is about time! It is official, Bernard Maddoff was put in jail after pleading guilty to all 11 charges. He will wait in jail until his full sentence is announced.

Record Breaking Game!

Tonight, history was made in college basketball. Syracuse and Uconn went head to head which ended in the second longest game in Division 1 college basketball history. The No. 6-seeded Orange outlasted the No. 3 Huskies, 127-117, after six, count them, SIX overtimes!!! The games lasted 3 hours and 46 minutes and lasted until 1:22 am. Eight players fouled out and Syracuse’s leading scorer, Jonny Flynn played a total of 67 minutes. The game was 10 minutes short of completing two whole games!

In the end, Syracuse prevailed because of UCONN had an ungodly number of turnovers, which in the end helped Syracuse.

Shoe Thrower

Iraqi man who threw his shoes at former president George W. Bush was sentenced to 3 years of jail time.

Campus Safety

Are female students safe on college campuses? Over the past few years, more and more women have filed reports about being sexually attacked or assaulted on their college campuses.

As a student of the University of San Francisco two years ago, we would receive emails about twice a week warning students of current reports are assaults. The school goes to great lengths to protect their students on campus. In order to enter into a dorm building, you much successfully swipe your access card to get through two door. Then you must walk past a receptionist and show her your ID and picture. If you wish to bring in a friend who does not live in the dorm, the guest must check in the ID at the front desk and leave it on file until you exit the dorm. All guest must also leave the dorm by 10 pm or else you will get written up. The school goes to great lengths to protect students, yet there are still several reports on a weekly basis.

When I was a student at USF, I was informed that several female students were sexually assaulted in the bushes directly in front of my dorm building. There are campus safety who drive around to "protect" students, but it still seems like these crimes are occurring on a regular basis.

At Cal University, there is a sexual predator who has been walking around campus and lifting girls skirts and trying to manually penetrate his victims. This has been going on for several weeks now, and he is up to 19 victims. The police and campus safety are investigating this case and trying to prevent it from happening again, but it has not stopped! I believe that a more intricate system needs to be put into action to protect these women, especially on large campuses like Cal's because there are more places for people to be alone and attacked.

Free Agent Signs with Buccs

Derrick Ward has agreed to a four-year, $17 million contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.