February Newsbytes #4

By: Staff Writer Ruiwen Shen

Local

East Bay Regional Parks District is considering imposing a hiker’s fee for Mission Peak as requested by Fremont city leaders. People who live near the Mission Peak trail claimed that the proposed fee would help decrease the crowds and the subsequent noise while those in opposition said the fee would keep out people who cannot afford to pay the fee. The amount of the fee has not been determined yet.If approved, Mission Peak would become the first park in The East Bay Park District  to invoke a hiker’s fee.

 

National

Judge Andrew S. Hanen, of Federal District Court for the Southern District of Texas, in Brownsville, ruled in favor of Texas and 25 other states that had challenged Mr. Obama’s immigration actions on Monday, February 16. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday, February 17, that he feels confident going into the legal fight over his use of executive action to relieve up to five million immigrants from deportation. At the swearing in of new Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Obama said he disagrees with the ruling which stated that the president had failed to follow an administrative procedure law when he took the actions.”We are going to appeal. We believe we are on very strong legal footing,” said White House Advisor Cecelia Muñoz.

 

International

Boko Haram is an Islamist terrorist movement in northeast Nigeria, Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon with up to 10,000 members. Chad’s army advanced into Nigeria on February 11 in a war against Boko Haram, entering a town 50 miles from the Nigerian state capital that has been surrounded by the terrorist group for months.Boko Haram had attacked Fotokol, burning churches, mosques and homes and killing youths who resisted joining them.

 

Quirky

A passerby mistook Daniel Norris, a prospective Toronto Blue Jay, as homeless when he was napping in his van at Whole Foods and offered him money on February 19. Norris tweeted the incidence soon after: “Dude comes up to me with cash saying his brother was homeless for a bit & he’s praying for me.” Norris, known for sporting a scruffy beard, currently lives in his van during spring training, even with his 2011 $2 million signing bonus for the Blue Jays draft.