April Newsbytes #2

By: Staff Writer Ansh Patel

 

Local

Facebook’s sprawling new Menlo Park campus MPK20 is now open. Designed by Frank Gehry, the 430,000 square foot LEED gold certified building has a large open floor plan and multi-story windows. CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page, “The building itself is pretty simple and isn’t fancy. That’s on purpose. We want our space to feel like a work in progress. When you enter our buildings, we want you to feel how much there is to be done in our mission to connect the world.” Zuckerberg may not deem it fancy, but it does have some fancy features, including a nine-acre green rooftop park designed by CMG Landscape Architects with more than 400 trees and the work of 15 artists who explored Facebook-relevant themes like systems, networks and communities.

 

National

The Arkansas legislature on Tuesday passed its version of a bill described by proponents as a religious freedom law, even as Indiana’s political leaders struggled to gain control over a growing backlash that has led to calls to boycott the state because of criticism that its law could be a vehicle for discrimination against gay couples. The Arkansas bill now goes to the state’s Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, who expressed reservations about an earlier version but more recently said he would sign the measure if it “reaches my desk in similar form as to what has been passed in 20 other states.” But the bill already faces a significant corporate backlash, including from Doug McMillon, the CEO of Walmart, the state’s largest corporation, who said on March 31, 2015 afternoon that Mr. Hutchinson should veto it.

 

International

Climbers are returning to Mount Everest as the climbing industry recovers from last year’s deadly disaster on the world’s highest peak, said a Nepalese mountaineering official on March 31, 2015. Climbers from four teams have already been issued permits allowing them to climb the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) peak and 11 written applications are pending, and more applications are expected in the next few days, said Gyanendra Shrestha, an official at Nepal’s Mountaineering Department.